strut towers, rocker panels really just look everywhere for rust theyre notorious for it.

Check the oil cap, notorious for leaking. Check the timing belt. There is 2 bolts on the oil pan that if installed incorrectly can wear a grove into it. Check the CV bolts every dsm I have purchased has had a torn CV boot. Make sure when your driving it to shift in and out of all the gears a couple of times at different rev ranges. At lot of the ones I test drove had bad synchros and killed the deal when I asked the seller to come down on the price.

Its an AWD so get underneath it and check the transfer case for leakage. I would do that after driving it as the owner may have wiped it clean to hide the problem. It could be a haggling point, but most often you can get this fixed by the dealer as it was a recall.

What 2 bolts on the oil pan are you talkin about? Im bout to be putting mine back together and i would like to keep from doing that.

Bring a compression tester with you and check it's compression! If it has low compression then you know it will be a long road ahead of you. If the compression is good on it then you know it has a healthy engine atleast.

WORPeclipse said:

What 2 bolts on the oil pan are you talkin about? Im bout to be putting mine back together and i would like to keep from doing that.

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There should be 2 shorter bolts that go on the side of the oil pan that lines up with the timing belt.

Best advice for DSMs is Research, research, research. Then you can turn wrenches. Doing things in the right order will save you headaches down the road.

^ listen to that i learned the hard way!

check the tranny and see if its cracked...idk most stuff is common sense..either way you can't go wrong the dsm has gotta be better than a honda

dsm over honda any day .

Make sure it runs, it is a dsm

bwahahahhaha welcome to the dark awd side.

everything the guys have said above are the big one's to look for..

enjoy the car man.

95eclipser said:

bwahahahhaha welcome to the dark awd side.

everything the guys have said above are the big one's to look for..

enjoy the car man.

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...the dark awd side?

Wow I didn't know about the two shorter oil pan bolts. How much shorter are they??

Yeah, dont jump right in and do ghetto fixes, im in the middle of a full engine rebuild doing it the right way because i did ghetto quick fixes.

tsd123 said:

Wow I didn't know about the two shorter oil pan bolts. How much shorter are they??

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Noticeably. Around 4-5mm range.

Congrads on the trade! Like a few others said, mainly common sense stuff. Any car that old will undoubtedly need some work. Hell, I have alot of money in my car, and it still needs work. You gotta pay to play in the DSM world

Maintenance before performance and it'll treat you well

welcome DSM>Hondas all day. You better be ready to become one great mechanic. hahahaha