radiator half empty on car Im looking at buying
#11
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Here is my take on this.
Obviously if the radiator was allowed to lose 1/2 its volume then imagine how long the owner allowed the low coolant light to remain on. That engine was sucking air for a long time. No wonder there was no heat. This sounds like an individual that did not give a twit for maintenance. I'll bet the owner exceeded oil change intervals too, by far.
Knowing all of this I would not want to own this potentially abused machine. Let some other dude buy the thing.
Obviously if the radiator was allowed to lose 1/2 its volume then imagine how long the owner allowed the low coolant light to remain on. That engine was sucking air for a long time. No wonder there was no heat. This sounds like an individual that did not give a twit for maintenance. I'll bet the owner exceeded oil change intervals too, by far.
Knowing all of this I would not want to own this potentially abused machine. Let some other dude buy the thing.
#12
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I did not see any coolant light on but it was low. The car was only driven less than 2k miles in the last 2 years. Still thinking maybe 5k and I could end up with a decent car ?? Thinking......
#13
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I say be very careful. The last two times I bought cars from old people that didn't drive much the car fell apart when I started driving it. I put alot of miles on cars and within 10000 miles of a 2001 minivan with 50K i bought I went through 2 trans, about 5-7 check engine light for all different things. I just think when cars sit they aren't ready to be driven alot and that is when bad things happen!!
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Originally Posted by cvc
I did not see any coolant light on but it was low. The car was only driven less than 2k miles in the last 2 years. Still thinking maybe 5k and I could end up with a decent car ?? Thinking......
#15
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If it was only driven 2k miles in two years I would stay away. My 2nd car was ten years old with 46K miles and once I started driving it every day it blew three head gaskets in a year. I've also been told that the Dexcool does not like to sit. Aparently if allowed to sit for long periods of time, the stuff will just totally gunk up inside the engine.
#16
yeah i really would say just back away slowly...or fast...whatever your preference
I mean because, my car, was bought new by a lady in her seventies, and then sold to another lady in her eighties. In between that...the car sat from Sep 1997 to Dec 2004. No maintinance done for 7 years. I mean hah, of course, fluids expire. things rust up! Thats also why my paint is so bad is because it sat in the elements with no care for that long. My cooling system was a complete mess because the coolant had expired, the radiator was clogged, and it had no THERMOSTAT you know what? This just goes to show...I asked why it had no thermostat...she said it was because the car was getting too hot, and by taking out the thermostat, it cooled it down. Right. Apparently this car had the FACTORY coolant in it from Late 1988!!!!! The coolant/antifreeze properties broke down like some time in the early 90s and they blamed it not cooling on the thermostat...
So then I put in a new Stant SuperStat 195 in and woah, wtf? She over heats now...right. so replaced the coolant, then she REALLY overheated and killed my MAF sensor. So then I was like wtf? So then I figured, oh gee...maybe the radiator is clogged...yep, that was it, so i got another radiator (found a near brand new aftermarket one at a yard) and then filler er with long life orange antifreeze and she NEVER gets above the half mark, EVEN in the WORST traffic imaginable.
Also found out that the oil had only been changed 10 times in 117k....yeah...do the math. Thats almost 4x over the recommended interval... So I chaged the oil 10 times in two months...and EVERY TIME it came out black..until just about the 9th oil change. (I really didn't know about seafoam)
I was so scared when I drove her home...she was sputtering, would not get up to operating temp, and was chugging and surging. I mean, COME ON. Now she works like shes brand spankin new. go figure... Its like a miracle that this engine was not destroyed.
And the TRANSMISSION!!!! omg, the trans fluid looked like strawberry milk chocolate! good lord, it smelled SO burnt and so neglected i almost wanted to cry knowing that trans would not last much longer and...for some weird reason, it still works perfectly...and then it became a miracle that my transmission was not destroyed!!!
hmm, i still have never seafoamed my combustion chambers...hah, i wonder how much white smoke i would get....
But now you know why I always try to disprove that theory about oh cars that were owned by old ladies are the best...why cause they didn't drive them hard? well they also didn't maintain them either.
[/rant]
I mean because, my car, was bought new by a lady in her seventies, and then sold to another lady in her eighties. In between that...the car sat from Sep 1997 to Dec 2004. No maintinance done for 7 years. I mean hah, of course, fluids expire. things rust up! Thats also why my paint is so bad is because it sat in the elements with no care for that long. My cooling system was a complete mess because the coolant had expired, the radiator was clogged, and it had no THERMOSTAT you know what? This just goes to show...I asked why it had no thermostat...she said it was because the car was getting too hot, and by taking out the thermostat, it cooled it down. Right. Apparently this car had the FACTORY coolant in it from Late 1988!!!!! The coolant/antifreeze properties broke down like some time in the early 90s and they blamed it not cooling on the thermostat...
So then I put in a new Stant SuperStat 195 in and woah, wtf? She over heats now...right. so replaced the coolant, then she REALLY overheated and killed my MAF sensor. So then I was like wtf? So then I figured, oh gee...maybe the radiator is clogged...yep, that was it, so i got another radiator (found a near brand new aftermarket one at a yard) and then filler er with long life orange antifreeze and she NEVER gets above the half mark, EVEN in the WORST traffic imaginable.
Also found out that the oil had only been changed 10 times in 117k....yeah...do the math. Thats almost 4x over the recommended interval... So I chaged the oil 10 times in two months...and EVERY TIME it came out black..until just about the 9th oil change. (I really didn't know about seafoam)
I was so scared when I drove her home...she was sputtering, would not get up to operating temp, and was chugging and surging. I mean, COME ON. Now she works like shes brand spankin new. go figure... Its like a miracle that this engine was not destroyed.
And the TRANSMISSION!!!! omg, the trans fluid looked like strawberry milk chocolate! good lord, it smelled SO burnt and so neglected i almost wanted to cry knowing that trans would not last much longer and...for some weird reason, it still works perfectly...and then it became a miracle that my transmission was not destroyed!!!
hmm, i still have never seafoamed my combustion chambers...hah, i wonder how much white smoke i would get....
But now you know why I always try to disprove that theory about oh cars that were owned by old ladies are the best...why cause they didn't drive them hard? well they also didn't maintain them either.
[/rant]
#17
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some old people take their cars to the dealer every 2 months and the dealer talks them into replacing parts that dont need to be replaced, fluids that dont need to be flushed, and repairs and tuneup items that dont need to be replaced. some.
some old people dont care.
if you buy it get ready to invest some cash into repairs
some old people dont care.
if you buy it get ready to invest some cash into repairs
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