Hey guys, I'm going to check out a car tomorrow, just a 94 LX sedan with a 5 speed, 134k miles, and stock. The three issues the car has is a dent/rust spot near the taillight, a few blown speakers which isn't a big deal, and an occasional idle surge between 700-1300 rpms. Are there any other things I should look out for on these cars? Should I be worried about the surging, the seller suspects its a leaky throttle body gasket but I know tracking down vacuum leaks can be a pain. What do you think a good price to pay for this thing would be?

 

Carefully examine the rear quarter panels, in particular the wheel arches, feel up inside, these are notorious for rusting, especially where the meet the rear bumper, check the floor, especially where the driver's footwell, they ofter rot here. ask if its ever hard a headgasket replaced (If it has i'd stay away or be aware that its somewhat likely to blow again) check the exhuast for excessive corrosion, suspension bushings for wear. The idle surge would more likely be a dirty IACV IMO but it could be a leaky TB gasket.

 

Sounds good. IACV is a good one, didn't think of that, I had the same issue in my mustang and it kept throwing me off because it acted like a vacuum leak but only occasionally. Rust isn't the end of the world for me, at least the typical rust, since its only a beater I won't be investing much money or time into it. You think 1800 is a good negotiating point? Assuming no surprises.

 

To me $1800 sounds like a pretty decent price assuming that it doesn't need a complete body job and the powertrain is good. Check your are though to get some baseline prices as they vary wildly depending on where you are.

 

Yea its weird around here. The hatches and DA tegs are way overpriced but the sedans seem to be alright.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Overkill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yea its weird around here. The hatches and DA tegs are way overpriced but the sedans seem to be alright. </TD></TR></TABLE>

No thats pretty much everywhere i think, although sedan prices actually seem to be coming back up a little with the price of gas.

 

One thing from the ad is throwing me, says he gets 27 mpg and thats including highway. Shouldn't he be doing better that that? It has recent tune up too according to the ad.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Overkill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing from the ad is throwing me, says he gets 27 mpg and thats including highway. Shouldn't he be doing better that that? It has recent tune up too according to the ad.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, i have pretty much the same car, 94 LX special edition (Its between a US DX and LX) I swapped a D15B vtec in mine with a DX tranny and i still get 41 - 43MPG, i used US gallons too, not imperial. Either its not running right or he doesn't know how to drive.

 

Yea, I'll have to look into that in person.

 

or he might not know how to calc the mpg and just guessed with what he thought sounded good

it may sound stupid but make sure the cel light comes on when you go turn the car on i didnt notice that when i boughty my car it turned out they pulled the bulb so no cel for coolant temp sensor showed it overheated and blew the hg on the ride home 3 mos ago, i have only gotten to drive my car twice


Modified by JoeDel at 11:36 AM 8/13/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JoeDel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it may sound stupid but make sure the cel light comes on when you go turn the car onModified by JoeDel at 11:36 AM 8/13/2008</TD></TR></TABLE>

X2, people have been known to pull the CEL to sell a car, make sure it works and its not showing any cels, if it is throwing codes see what they are before you buy the car.