Looked at a 95 on a cheap dealer lot

bobotech

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Car has been there a while. The body is straight except for the right front fender has lifting bondo. Interior is somewhat trashed but I'm not worried about that, I was thinking of transferring my 93's interior over to the 95 (seats, door panels, etc). The console is okay.

Here is the main issue. The car starts up fine but it has a miss, a noticeable miss that doesn't go away. Also it runs hot. I was driving it around for about 15 minutes and the temp gauge was hovering in the upper part of the normal range whereas my 93 and 97 hover right in the middle.

So the things that really bother me are the miss and the heat problem.

Car has plenty of antifreeze, so its not low. The fan is kicking on, when I opened the hood, the fan was spinning fine.

I like the car because its green like my 97 evergreen (hate the white of my 93), has the sunroof that my 93 doesn't have, has the chrome plated snowflakes which are in decent shape, and of course has the double din dash which i like.

The guy is dreaming, he is asking 995 for the car which I think is way too rich. I would be inclined to offer 500 and go up to 600 max for the car with the trashed interior. The seats are tore up, the door panels are a mess, and it needs a headliiner on the sunroof, the rest is fine. Also I would have to have that fender fixed too.

What is your initial thought about the hot-running missing engine? Broken valve spring? Head gasket? Could I use my 93 engine in the 95 with no problem if I had to? If it came to swapping engines, I would not pay more than 300-400 for the car max, probably 300.

But I still want the sunroof, double din dash, and chrome wheels (even if they are crappy snowflakes).
 
I'm only looking at it because its cheap. I don't need another Mark, but if I got one with a nicer body than my 93 and a sunroof, I would be happy. The console is good in the 95.

I'm more concerned with the engine issues.
 
what to do , is to unplug the fan run the car till the thermostat opens, then the radiator should have some heat going through it, if none of that happens it is just a clogged thremostat that is shut closed, otherwise just look for a new one
 
Could be a plugged radiator. My 96 used to do the same thing. It would vary between o and r. The radiator started to leak, and was replaced. Now the temps normally stay around a with an occasional m.
 
Car has been there a while. The body is straight except for the right front fender has lifting bondo. Interior is somewhat trashed but I'm not worried about that, I was thinking of transferring my 93's interior over to the 95 (seats, door panels, etc). The console is okay.

Here is the main issue. The car starts up fine but it has a miss, a noticeable miss that doesn't go away. Also it runs hot. I was driving it around for about 15 minutes and the temp gauge was hovering in the upper part of the normal range whereas my 93 and 97 hover right in the middle.

So the things that really bother me are the miss and the heat problem.

Car has plenty of antifreeze, so its not low. The fan is kicking on, when I opened the hood, the fan was spinning fine.

I like the car because its green like my 97 evergreen (hate the white of my 93), has the sunroof that my 93 doesn't have, has the chrome plated snowflakes which are in decent shape, and of course has the double din dash which i like.

The guy is dreaming, he is asking 995 for the car which I think is way too rich. I would be inclined to offer 500 and go up to 600 max for the car with the trashed interior. The seats are tore up, the door panels are a mess, and it needs a headliiner on the sunroof, the rest is fine. Also I would have to have that fender fixed too.

What is your initial thought about the hot-running missing engine? Broken valve spring? Head gasket? Could I use my 93 engine in the 95 with no problem if I had to? If it came to swapping engines, I would not pay more than 300-400 for the car max, probably 300.

But I still want the sunroof, double din dash, and chrome wheels (even if they are crappy snowflakes).

If you can get the car for 500, and you have a good engine, Jamie is having a get together......

Drive one down there trailering the other........

And bring a hammer....
 
The miss could be as easy as a bad plug wire, as bad as a compression miss, on a car like that it's fatal. The temp gauge is probably (partially) a result of the dead miss, but if the needle is within 'normal', it is not necessarily bad. Too bad it is not OBD2, you could plug in a scanner and read the engine temp-it sounds like a parts car, and if the parts are junk, it is not worth alot, maybe 300-400 tops. If you are serious, pull plug wires to find the miss, do a compression test on that cylinder. Then low-ball the guy. Good luck.
 
I think I might do that. Bring my tools and compression tester and see whats up. If the guy doesn't want me to play, then i will walk.
 

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