[MR2DRAGON]

hey i am intrested in pruchasing a mr2 from one of the members on this board. He is a very nice guy and gave me descriptionsof everything. The only problem with his car is the fact that it is leaking some oil and that it is relatively high milegaed ( 180,0000) and that i would have to change its timing belt soon.

can people on this board tell me if i such a high milegaed car give me any trouble???

Would there be a problem, coming from two turbo volvos, i know that turbos get worn out by the time they hit 100,000 miles.

thanks the car is in the forsale section.

again he is a very nice guy and i dont wish to insult him by making this post, however i am a student and have limited funds.

 

[eatpie]

at 180k miles youd have to look into replacing the turbo if it is the stock one, if you want alot of boost. But then again if you want alot of boost youd probably plan on changin turbos anyway. And the engine leaking would be something to look into since its a turbo, on the N/A they always leak oil at 90k+ miles, but im not sure on the trubos. Probably something small but i dunno. There is no way i could tell if ya the call will give ya trouble. If the previous owner took very good care of it then maybe not. If he didnt take care of it you should look into swaping out the engine. If you are on limited funds, meaning you wont have any cash after buying the car, then i would say dont buy. No matter how good mr2s are(and they kick ass the reason i have 1..=D) they are still older cars and will require more upkeep. Id say, plan on doing an engine swap for another 3sgte. Then with all the other matinence(sorry cant spell) id say try to have atleast 2k after you buy the car for replacing/repairing. You probably wont need 2k, but since i dont know anything about the car then at 180k itd probably be a safe guess if you dont plan on doing any performance upgrades to it.

 

[kimbo15]

I've got a 91 NA with about 215,xxx on the body and a JDM 3sgte with about 45,xxx on it. When i first got the car i did a complete tune up, flushed and changed all the fluids, and anything else that i saw it needed right away. If the car still has the stock suspension you might want to look into replacing some of it, my struts and springs were shot so i got all new stuff. I also ended up replacing the clutch and tires. I still have a lot of work to do on the car before it is in the condition i would like it to be. Some of the interior pieces are broken and the door panels aren't in the best condition. New problems come up here and then, i dont know if its just because i am having bad luck or what, but it is costing me more than i expected. But you have to expect some expense in keeping the car running well. After originally buying the car i've probably spent an extra 3,000 on replacing stuff that was worn out. So, i guess i agree with eatpie when he says you may want a little extra cash after buying the car just in case you run into some problems. But to answer your question, atleast for me, high mileage did give me a few problems like what i wrote above.

 

[MR2DRAGON]

ohh that kind of money is okay... like mantience matter is no matter. Little things like that is the cost of owning a vehicle. I was just wondering if there would be major problem with the turbo...after such a long period of time.

I am buying mr2 to keep inside my garage and admire from afar until i have the funds to "pimp it out"

 

[bentheswift]

In case you didn't know, the 3S-GTE is a non-interference motor, which means the valves and pistons never occupy the same space. So if the timing belt breaks, your motor stops running and you go put another one on and start it back up without worrying about breaking valves.

I owned a high-mileage modified turbo for a while. My car burnt a little oil, the valve cover seal around the #4 plug leaked and the PCV would also leak into the intake just a little bit. I have heard of both of those problems in other cars too. Also, if you are thinking you may need a turbo rebuild, it might just be wise to go with an uprgraded CT27 unit from ATS. Why spend seven or eight hundred bucks to get back to stock when you can have a better turbo?

 

[MR2DRAGON]

cool thank you very much

 

[MR2DRAGON]

any other opinions?

 

[babybooda]

hi mileage 2'

just remember to set aside a healthy cushion of a few grand for those rainy day repairs

for eg. tranny in 2nd gen mr2 die quicker than gen 3's (this can get expensive.. but budget maybe $2k to $3k all in for this repair)

oil leakage is one of those thing you kind of watch over time.. and a good cleanup job can give the illusion of no leaking, until a few hundred miles have past (by then it's too late cuz you'd already own the car)

get the car up on a hoist and take a peak around

You'll know right away if the car's a piece of junk rust bucket just from quick visual inspection...

t-top leakage: can end up costing you several hundred bucks or more if your carpet gets damaged by rain (it will stink like ass if this happens.. and 9 times outta 10 the damage is best treated by replacing carpet)

power window motors slow down from usage...wear and tear.. but unless you want to wait a million years for your windows to roll up everytime you park, budget for actuators,

also ac recharge or conversion to non-freon system if you value cool summers haha

If you're really anal about interior.. i've never seen a 91 mr2 with factory leather that wasn't dried up like ____ and hard as hell
the really bad ones get cracked and even worn thru sometimes.. around wear the seatbelt hits the sidebolster and around where your ass hits the fabric

small things like climate control buttons, centre armrest, plastic runners along the sides, door hinges all wear out...
each thing is small on its own, but once you start, you wont be able to stop and could end up costing you a mint to restore


check the frunk and look for brake fluid leakage onto the firewall and rust in the sparetire tub.. you'll know the fluid leaked at some point cuz the paint will be all gunky and/or not even there

exhaust itself from factory is stainless, but the pipes joining it up are not..and they rust over time.. check those things..

the cats will get used and dirty over time too.. not cheap to replace

thats all for now

g'luck

 

[kimbo15]

I totally agree, as i am having a couple of those problems