pitzfat

hey guys, found a 94 fd with 52k miles. previous owner had a garaged and covered so needless to say it looked BRAND NEW.

i picked it up from him yesterday for $15,750. 'rotaryextreme' came over and did a compression test just on the rear. 6.5, 6.5, 6.2. F*CK. spark plugs were black and also there was some oil in the tube coming out of the intercooler, so it seems the turbo was leaking as well.

the previous owner is a family man in his 30's and is pretty reasonable and sympathetic. however he wanted a 2nd opinion so the car is at the dealer right now. its getting another compression test and a check over of everything else.

i know i'm stupid for not getting it compression checked before i bought it, but it was somewhat complicated since i live in LA and the car was in san jose, ca (6 hour drive). so i only had the weekends to complete the transaction.

so any suggestions? paperwork's been finished so i doubt he'll take back the car. what else can i possibley do? like i said the previous owner (who's also original owner) is sympathetic and reasonable. this is a 10 year old car and with 52k miles he obviously drove it sparingly, so i'm assuming he didn't really drive it regularly and keep up with the maintenance regularly. he doesn't seem to know much about cars, let alone rotary engines.

im thinkiing he might agree to paying for half of repairs. such as a rebuilt engine and turbos. this is my estimate:
$2500 rebuild engine
$900 rebuild turbos
$1500 for labor
so about $5,000 for everything.

if he pays for half, is that reasonable? also, anyone know a good shop in LA that would be the right shop for this job? i ve lurked awhile here and read a lot but everyone disagrees on what shop in LA is the best.

thanks guys.

westfield32

That hurts - you just paid 16k for a car and now you got this...

He really isn't liable for anything, but you should try and get as much out of him as you can as you paid top dollar for a car that is about to go bust...

JK.

rynberg

First of all, for the price you got, I really wouldn't be complaining to the previous owner. Not for an otherwise mint 94 with 54k in the Bay Area.

Secondly, what was the cranking speed for the compression test? Was the throttle closed? Was the car warm?

Thirdly, those numbers aren't really that bad in any case. They are above Mazda minimums for compression and they are pretty even. I'm guessing that the engine will die of coolant seal failure long before you blow an apex seal.

kyle@insight

I agree with Rynberg. Something certainly isn't 'right', maybe you performed the compression test incorrectly? Test the front rotor w/ the same conditions and see if it returns similiar results.

Typically as long as it's consistant all around that's a good sign. I don't think you've blown an apex seal, I think the test was done improperly or the gauge was faulty.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

IMO, suck it up and get the problems looked at by a decent shop.

You bought the car, deal with it...

pitzfat

yeah, chuck didn't think the apex seal was gone. but he predicted that the engine would probably go in about 10k miles or so. you guys agree with that ?

he thought that the car might have over heated at some point or another. we saw a couple specks of dried coolant in the engine bay.

also we didn't compression test the front because it was idling pretty smoothly, so we figured the compression would be kind of even up front.

deal with it i will. im just wondering if the car will be ok driving from SF to LA. i gotta get to work on Monday....

Little 7

The major reason for the FD's owner their baby is they won't want to pay for rebuild, maintaince fee. That why they sell it. You got a good deal for 94 with that mileage. So, no more complain because you bought already. You will get fun after you fixed it

pitzfat

yeah, i know i can't complain cuz its my fault i didn't get it properly checked out. also, i saw some white smoke. thats caused by coolant seal problems right?

i was a little frazzled before just cuz i gotta drive this thing down to LA and make it to work on Monday. i knew what i was getting myself into when i bought it, but with 52k miles i just figured i had maybe 30k miles before i was looking at an engine rebuild.

but again, i was wondering which shop in LA you guys recommend. i was thinking RRR but some of the forum members seem to disagree. also, how long for a rebuild to take place? i know they gotta take out the engine and then ship it out somewhere. do they not rebuild that original engine that's in the car?

crazysuprakid

Yes. the first think they teach freshman in business school is a latin saying "caviat emptor" means "let the buyer beware."

You might be able to drive the car for a long time without tearing it down. Keep coolant in it, and drive it. Of course if the old owner wants to kick in great.

pitzfat

hmmmmmmmm....

so i should get a report from th dealer soon. most likely they will say compression is low, turbo's are bad. what should i ask the previous owner to kick in for? i guess asking him to kick in for rebuilding the motor won't fly well with him especially if the motor is still running. maybe i can ask him to chip in for the turbo?

LoveBone

There is no implied warranty when you purchase a vehicle from a private party. You can certainly ask for some reimbursement, but legally he is not obligated to do anything for you so you'll have to deal with it if you get blown off. You know, you really shoulda done your homework before buying that car. Oh well...

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

It should be fine to make the drive SF to LA. However, if you are that worried about it, tow it.

Ask in the West forum about shops in the LA area. Pick one and then take the car there to see what is going on. After you find out, then you can decide what to do about the problems.

Mr rx-7 tt

iTrader: (5)

The engine numbers are low but I would just drive it. I have seen engines with those numbers last for YEARS.
It is also important the compression procedures were done on a hot motor with the butterflys open.
Don't sweat it, It sound like you got a great buy.

cpa7man

iTrader: (2)

Well spoken.

pitzfat

just got teh car back from magnussen mazda in fremont. at idle, the numbers were about 7.3 across teh board. at full throttle, numbers were 8.8, 8.9, 8.8. so i dont know what the guy did wrong yesterday, OR i don't know what the dealer did wrong.

i am very relieved to say the least. i'm going to tinker around with it some more at my friend's shop in fremont tomorrow. i might put in a downpipe, change the oil and change the spark plugs. does anyone in the bay area wanna stop by? i'll buy you lunch. 949-244-3445, cell.

kyle@insight

Good to hear the results on the compression test done right

Now what you need to do is read the sticky for newbies at the top of the forum. Couldn't hurt to search for 'reliability mods' either. The FD is a car you'll need to learn inside and out. Enjoy it and good luck.

Nathan Kwok

Chuck probably checked the compression at a lower rpm, resulting in a lower number. Honestly I would pay more attention to how the car drives than the compression, because low compression will show through in the way the car idles at lower rpms. The most important thing is that the compression is even. Absolute numbers are hard to compare because there are many ways of measuring it (as you have seen) and also many factors changing the absolute values.