I have been reading a lot on the site and have been learing a lot. So I thought I would try to get your opinions on an 93 R1 with 78000 miles that I have been looking into purchasing. The first problem that I know of is the whole cooling issue. Apparently its been leaking coolant into the engine for some time. I was wondering what kind of domino effect this could have. Could that take the repairs beyond a rebuild? It has also been in a "minor accident" but repaired in which the fender and small stuff was damaged. A new spindle apparently fixed any problems it had from the accident. So im wondering what else I should be worried about. His asking price is 8500. All opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Bad coolant seals just mean an engine rebuild. (Bad apex seals will send metal shards out the exhaust and into the turbos, destroying them too). In your case it shouldn't affect anything else in the car, although you should probably price in some other vitally imporant things:
- injector cleaning
- replace engine wiring harness
- replace oil metering lines
- replace coolant hoses

Definitely get the 'minor accident' checked out thoroughly by a collision shop. Sounds like somebody lost control and checked a curb. So whatever force damaged the spindle was also borne by the suspension and frame.

Be very wary - in most cases a car being sold as-is has plenty more surprises than the seller knows or cares about.

Dave

 

A 93 R-1 was offered for sale in Central Indiana with similar engine problems and repaired body damage and very close in miles to this one for $4000. The owner decided to keep it and had a Mazda reman put in.