sorta bought a 240..questions..

[dvdevo]

hey, umm do you think its worth 2100 for a 89 240sx with 114k miles. The power window on the driver's side doesnt work, the guy siad there's a loose wire. The powerbelt doesnt work as well. It keeps jerking. We smoged it but reading for the CO(%) was 1.24, and the max is 1.00.. this was for the idle test. We assume the guys there cheated us because they didnt warm up the car, as my neighbor said. What should i do? smog it somewhere else? I know its hard to know what the repairs would be but anyone had similar probs? for the smog thing.

[citizen]

The car sounds a tad overpriced, even if everything else is in immaculate condition.

[dvdevo]

:( yeah i know but its so hard to find one around here. But anyways we gave them a check for 300 so if they wont give it back to us then we got the car for 1800 i guess. They'll probably give it back. Its weird cause then the guy bought the car like in december, and he drove it for about 3k miles or so..and it failed..i dont know, we're still suspecting its the stupid smog place, we should have went to soemone we know, that probably wouldnt try to rip us off.

[SiL1480]

Check the blue book, prices will be different for certain areas. Check a CarFax and see if it has trouble passing SMOG in the past, and next time, run the car hard before taking it to a station.

[logo20]

to know the what a car is worth you need to take a lot of details in consideration, exterior, interior, is it mecanicly sound, history(car fax). looks like it needs some work, so 2100 is overpriced. I wouldn't worry about smog, I would car fax it to make sure is hasn't been wreck or flooded, etc, and if you really like it make him an offer.

[dvdevo]

yeah i think we're gonna go take it to another shop.. Can we take the car to another shop to smog? or would i have to repair, then go back to the one i went to in the first place.? thanks for all your quick replies guys..

[dvdevo]

yeah the carfax is clean and it has always passed smog. 2100 is a little too much? I guess we canceled the check so its really 1800 now like i said, but gonna be weird bargaining after we gave the money hehe.

[Bill Roberts]

Well, sorry to report this "after the fact" of you paying but consider this:

89 240SX 103K miles offered from a "friend" for 2000 dollars, all documentation. Was a daily driver, been sitting 6 months, I could pay, over a few months "don't worry about it" kind of deal. Some "minor patched rust on hatch" New AC! (it gets better..)

This said, I committed, needed a car, a 240SX would be better than just "a car" I figured...and I can have a few months to pay on it..so I committed.

Here is what happened.

Tag and insurance 560.00
Battery (it was shot) 55.00
Battery cables (shot) 47.00
Injector went out 105.00
Tires were dry rotted, leaking 390.00

The wife of the friend demanded all the money after 3 weeks of ownership all at once or they were going to take it back (some friend..his hands were tied, etc..

2000.00 Cash.

Alternator went out 115.00
Front brakes to the steel (DIY) 80.00
ECU went out, Replacement would not work due to engine mods, new modded ECU to old ones specs 515.00
New radiator hoses 37.00
Would not start one day, late to work, tow 75.00
Dealer repair 447.00
Ok..At this point, I have had the car 3 months..had to spend another 1400.00 on it to make it right and still have a rusty hatch.

AC went out..not repaired, hot as hell to drive.

So I have a nice 14 year old car with no A/C that needs a starter, A/C repair, Bodywork, and a million other things.

Total for 14 year old car:


5826.00

What is that car worth you are looking at?

500.00 to 700.00

My experience. Has it been worth it? It would have been worth 20,000.00 to find out who your friends really are...AND, even with No A/C and Push Starts, I love driving it. Call me a glutton for punishment. Now that I have found Zilvia, I am retaining my value by interacting with this fine community of 240SX owners so all is not lost. Make lemonade out of the lemon..cost be damned.

I will love to drive up to his house one day 20 years from now in a mint 89 240SX with a 400HP engine and say...not bad for a 2K car eh?

Just let them know...no, I did not get f ucked, I get even...wonder at that point how many tens if not hundreds of thousands they will spend on meaningless Volvos or Hondas.

Ever notice how they drop in value? I saw a 97 Accord here with 110K miles for 1900 bucks...and a 5 year old 30K Volvo wagon for 4799.00


7 months later, they have to drop many many grand on their house..ate up with termites.Tens of thousands. Yep...how is your buddy today eh?


BTW, In S. Florida, for 2000 dollars, I could get a whole lot nicer car..but was new to the area..and could pay "on time"..Little that I knew the time was 3 friggin weeks.

(sigh)

BTW, the thought of doing a CARFAX on this car scares the hell out of me...anyone game..I can be scared...as long as I don't have to pay.

[logo20]

bill where you getting those numbers from? specially this one "Ok..At this point, I have had the car 3 months..had to spend another 1400.00 on it to make it right and still have a rusty hatch."
didn't even say where 1400 went to.

insurance: 560, I would get liability
battery cable: 47???
hoses: 37???
dealer repair: 447???
beside the car price, tires and ecu they really ripped you off.
towing shouldn't be included.

edit another thing to notice is that in the se region, from lousiana to florida, car prices are lower than every where else.

[Bill Roberts]

560 a year is Liability and PIP here with tag.

two factory battery cables (dealer)

Upper and lower radiator hose (Dealer, Autozone did not list them here)

Dealer said the distributor was bad, put in a new one.

My hands were tied, my tools were not all here and I did not have a good place to live yet. No internet access, no Zilvia.

Other repairs, Exhaust, tie rods, fuel pump, water pump, another injector, oil sending unit, Clutch PP and TOB, New MAFS, new vaccum hoses, new timing chain, new belt tensioner, 2 windshields not covered under liability/PIP, and towing is a cost. If the car lets you down, they will not tow it free. You can't leave it on the street. I included one tow charge, their were 7 before I got Triple A.

I was not in the position to DIY then..I had to be a work at 7AM and I could not spend each weeknight working on the car...I had to have it repaired. That simple. Everything you could think of has gone wrong and has had attention to.

What I am saying, as much as we love 240SX's, they can eat you up until you garner experience with them..and especially at that age and mileage.

Now that I have Zilvia..and plus I have a lot of basic experience building racers over the years, and my tools are here and have a covered garage to repair it myself..and a job, I can get things done now...not like before.

[logo20]

my experience with my 240 is totally diferent. all that's gone bad wit my car is a battery and a window motor since I bought it two years ago.
it's an 89 too and it had 96000.

[Bill Roberts]

I can tell you right now, the history of the previous owners means everything.

Some are good, some get ruined and need to be gone through tooth and comb.

I would always expect any used car I buy to have at least as many problems as mine had with the years and the milage. We are dealing with humans that don't know, or care here.

Face it, cars are different depending on their care.

I have seen Cadallacs with 40K miles on them with sludge so thick it had to be scraped from the crankcase with a puddy knife....like 2001 cars..due to never changing the oil. Different owners, different conditions..assume the worse always..OK???

[dvdevo]

wow bill, you had one bad experience. But for me, we're just gonna do a tuneup to see would it pass. I know buying a used car is really risky. But i guess around this area, its very hard to find a 240sx with low mileage(something my mom just looks at). But this car seems good, the engine isnt loud as hell. We'll see, i gotta call the seller telling them we're keeping the 300 dollar check we gave them.

[kazuo]

Look for a different car. You are asking for trouble.

Unless you are doing an engine swap...

EDIT: Or, you could go over the car with a fine-toothed comb (doesn't sound like you did), and point out every little thing wrong with the car, and then talk him down. Offer him like... $1200 for the car (he wanted $2100 right?), and bring a friend who knows his ****, have him toss in a lot of car jargon if the person seems like they dont know much about cars.

Then you can prolly walk away with it for $1500 cash... $600 should be enuff to fix whatever's wrong with it.

Good luck :bow:

[dvdevo]

hrmm we've decided to pay our mechcanic friend and he tuned it up and it passed smog. SO basicly all in all i got the 240 for 2300 before tags n reg . Oh well. Guys know how much it cost to fix the power belts and power windows? are power windows easy to fix? The guy said it was just a loose wire.. i'm sure he knew his car **** cause he had his fixed up mr2 up for sale.