Hi all, I'm a newbie.
Ok, now that i've got that out of the way, I'm looking at buying an 88 20th Aniverary T2, but I have a few questions. Some background on the car is 87k miles, origanal engine, racing beat exhaust, turbo timer, and a crappy paint job. The car is in excelent shape. The car runs and drives fine. Also it stays very cool.
However, you can smell a faint smell of coolant, and when we popped the hood after driving it a bit i saw a small puff of smoke come up from around the turbo, smelled like burning coolant, it appeared that it came from a small drip onto the turbo.
I was wondering if you guys have ever heard of this being a problem, and if it's something i should worry about.
The turbo is stock, and the owner doesn't drive it hard, he's actually afraid of the raised boost pressure from the exhaust. I know i'll probably want to get and FCD I know.
The owner is wanting to get around $4k. Any thoughts/input/suggestions would be appreciated.

Travis
(I'm going to look at the car again on Thursday)

 

Well, if you hang around the boards enough and lurk and read everything you can, you'll be fine. You made a good decision. Welcome to the club.

As far as the car goes, I would be wary having over 80k on the clock and smelling coolant. Eventually, it will need a rebuilt engine, which can goe from relatively cheap, to pretty pricey. If the leak is coming from any of the housing seals, it also requires a rebuild. Just check it out, b/c I imagine it could also be some plumbing going to the turbo. I would also recommend a compression test. The cars can run fine, even with compression getting a little low.

Also, 88 is 10th anniversary

Other than that, I would recommend checking out

www.fc3s-pro.com
www.fc3s.org
www.teamfc3s.org

Each of these sites have used car buying FAQ's for the new buyer.

You can also perform some searches on these boards for some good info too. RX7Club is a great resource, and I would advice milking it for all it's worth.

And good luck.

 

The car has good compression, and pulls strong. I do think that it is a coolant line going to the turbo, because the smoke i saw only came in two short spurts when the hood was popped and the car had shut off. It seemed that just a drop of coolant was hitting the turbo or manifold.

 

I wouldn't pay 4k for it. You'll need to put a new engine into it in the near future anyway. I got my 10th AE for $2400 with a leaking FPD and 136,xxx miles on it all stock. I figured that i'd have to buy a new engine soon so tack on another $1000 for a j-spec engine. Try to talk them down. No doubt I love my 7, but paying 4k for one with paint problems and possible engine issues sounds like a little much. Beware, our cars got the **** end of the stick with the paint jobs, they've been known to flake badley. Heh, my hood paint is flaking all over the place!!

 

I'm thinking of offering $3500 when i go back to look at it, depending on how the smoke situation checks out. The paint isn't exactly crappy. It was done at Maaco, it's been on a year, and actually looks alright aside from some overspray here and there, it's not flaking and what not.

Thanks for the help guys. It's nice to see a board welcome newbies (I'm used to Honda and DSM boards)

 

My tII was leaking coolant near the turbo, it turns out that one of the lines was cracked. Make sure your problem isn't something as simple as that.

 

Unless you're talking Canadian $, the car shouldn't be worth more than $2,000.&nbsp With the smell of coolant, SOMETHING is wrong, whether its a bad engine or a leaking cooling system.&nbsp $4k is top dollar for an '88 10AE, so the owner is trying to rip you off.&nbsp Get the price cut in half or walk away from the deal...


-Ted

 

If it was mint inside and out and that few of miles, I would not have a problem paying blue book. The only other car I would buy at this point besides an s5 (89-91) is an AE.

HOWEVER.. A paint job will cost you some cash - deduction - Coolant leak - duduct some more.

Fine everything wrong and drive the price down.. Check all interior ***** and switches.. Also, check the front end really hard for previous wrecks. Pop the headlights up and look inside the hole.. Are there any shims in there?

Yada yada yada

 

Hey don't forget about getting the original exhaust if you need to pass emissions. The RB is really nice, but won't help you at the emissions check..

 

hey, my name is travis

 

Hi Travis. And Thankfully we don't have emissions ***** here.

 

Take it to a mechanic familiar with rotaries before buying, and have them check it over.

 

Aye, Listen to TED, he knows what he's talking about. I would say hang out on the boards and read all the posts you can for at least 5 weeks before making a decision on a Rex. I jumped in and bought a TII without knowing nearly what I know now about them (most of what I have learned came from this forum) and wish I would have waited a little bit. I got a pretty good car but I paid too much for it. Now I search on ebay and autotrader and see deals much better than what I got. Take some time and learn a bit about em before you commit to a car and you'll be happy you did.