It is going to my girlfriend who will be driving it 2c a month to school and back. It was given to her by her friend who loves the car but hasnt done anything with it in 5 years (except for starting it every now and then) before that her friend received it from her uncle who used it as a show car It is silver. It currently has 13,000 miles on it and shes getting it for free It has NO rust except on the sunroof.

Now here's the....bad??? It needs a battery, an air filter and the sunroof "clamp twisty thing" is broken and the sunroof is open and has been sitting under a tarp for 5 years. I'm the only mechanically inclined among all whom are involved and thus falls on my shoulders to take care of said car.

So what should I do/change? I believe its a 12a engine. First thing ill be doing is changing the oil (I heard mineral oil is best, maybe penzoil? 10W-30?) also heard NOT to use synthetic as it may foul the apex seals. Next I may change the coolant. I heard to use green coolant. Ill be looking for leaks when i have time to closely inspect it, oil cooler and dowels and oil filter. BUT what else should i expect. I wanna do this right.

 

By "mineral oil" you mean non-synthetic motor oil; not like baby oil, right?

15-40 in the winter and something heavier, like 20-50, in the summer. Synthetic is ok if you don't have the OMP hooked up (thats the tube that sucks the motor oil out of the sump and pumps it into the carb). If the OMP is hooked up try to stay away from synthetics.


Run lots of seafoam in the gas tank. LOTS OF SEAFOAM constantly.


Then run the car and stuff will start failing naturally as with any 35 yo car. Fix the problems when they break.

 

Also the car is an automatic. Is there anything I should know? Are they more likely to fail? Does the mpg differ? thank you

 

Before doing anything, i.e. changing oil or maintenance items, make sure it runs. Use a good strong battery and fresh gas. Since it's an auto trans, a strong battery is the way to go and hope it has good compression.

 

You should know that giving someone a 30+ year old car as a dependable driver is a
prescription for disaster for the driver and the car. What you have is a barnfind in
IMHO and it will require a $$ to go through and refurb/replace all wear items to get
it running at an acceptable level for a dependable driver. Oh, and if this doesn't go
well for her driving the car, it will be your fault and you will probably be short one
girl friend in the future.

Regardless of the outcome, you should change/replace all rubber, all fluids (including
tranny), full brake service, new tires, check the tierods, replace shocks. The list goes on.

We can help here but be aware its an old car and you or your girl friend will need $$
(my estimate ~$1,000.00) to make it a driver. That estimate is probably a low one too.

 

My '83 rx-7 is a reliable DD,and it's 34 years old. Fuel pump left me straded once, and the starter trice.

 

Be prepared to drop 400$ into it for the following SELF Maintenance that I would highly recommend flushing/topping off
Oil ( 40-50$ )
Coolant ( 20$ )
Gear fluid/ AFT ( 30$)
And
Tires (250-250$)


YOUR CAR NEEDS TIRES, after 5 years ALL tires are rotten, I don't give a rats *** what any one else says. Study after study shows a tires chances for blowing out increase EXPONENTIALLY after 5 years. Your car probably has 6-7-year-old tires.

Brakes might need to be changed ALSO VERY IMPORTANT
CHECK your brake fluid and brake lines!. It shouldn't be low, if its low, there's a leak = new brake lines. You probably won't need it though, but better be safe than sorry. Don't skip out on the tires, and check the brake fluid. Saftey > any other maintenance