I looked in the FAQ sticky and didn't find anything regarding what to look for in a SA or FB for sale. Besides rust, what are "red flags" I should look for when inspecting a potential purchase?

 

I would say get it compression tested just to make sure the engine is in good internal shape... Take it for a drive and listen to make sure there is no noises and pretty much look for rust is all I can think of right now...

 

These cars aren't really that bad.

Check for all the window seals, hatch seals (they go bad), check that the starter works well as those can go bad too.

 

Watch for white smoke on a cold start. White smoke = steam = bad.
Look at the oil dipstick. If it is milky white, coolant is contaminating.

 

WHEEL WELL RUST!!...if you can see any looking in from the outside see if its possible to take out on of the bins and check the well for serious rust...if the car seems to run fine engine wise but your not sure how the wheel wells are staying in in their current condition then probably not a wise purchase for 1k.

 

ChasRX,

Mine smokes up pretty bad on a COLD start (cold out side and first crank of the day) for like a minute or so then it clears up, it only does this every once in a while.

I had a picture of it but I read somewhere it was just the oil burning off from the previous engine start.

- Tech

 

every car will have a white fog come out on startup and when it's cold. Its mainly b/c the exhaust gases are hot, where as the exhaust pipes are still cold, similar to you breathing on a cold day. If you can actually smell that it's coolant or oil burning..then that's on the bad side.

 

Well,

My car always smells like a burning pot of fuel but I don't smell coolant on startup but I can smell oil a little bit when I kill it after a hard run.

- Tech

 

aye this one is big. it only takes like 3 phillips head screws and about a minute to take off each bin. no excuse not to check.

 

it works a little like this:
grey vapor: typical rich state at start where the cold engine isn't getting very good burn. don't worry about it; it'll clear once the engine warms up.
white vapor: coolant - if this keeps up for more than a few seconds, the coolant seals are starting to fail
white/blue smoke: oil burning - if you get excessive oil smoke after running for 30sec-minute (as in clearly visible) the oil seals are starting to fail. both my rx-7s have puffed a moderately thick cloud of oil when i start 'em up. no biggie there.
black smoke: super rich mixture. the carb or EGI is somehow messed the hell up.

if you've arranged to go see a car, request that the owner leave it cold until yuo get there. that'll give you a good idea of where the startup oil consumption is at and how much of a pain it's going to be for you to start it in the morning.

 

I should have clarified.
A cold start meaning when it's not necessarily cold outside and you see alot of white smoke; like when it is 60 - 70 degrees. Especially after the car hasn't been driven for a day or two.
I didn't mean exhaust condensate. I meant coolant-smelling white smoke. It's a condition that usually happens if you've overheated the motor to the point-of-no-return. Just look at the dipstick for coolant, or worse, checking and seeing coolant on a sparkplug. It just makes ya sick =)
I speak from experience. That engine is in my garage, now, on a roller-dolly waiting for a rebuild one day...