How many miles is too many?

[Logical]

Alright, I am not really sure if this belongs here, but who better to ask than people who mod their cars on how far you can take it.

Alright, im looking into buying a 1997 eclipse gs-t. Now the only thing that is holding me back from going out and buying it right now, is the fact that it has 109,xxx miles on it. Now as i do not have much knowledge on the quality of the engine, im just wondering if this would be a bad investment. About how many miles until the engine should crap out?


Logic

 

[spoolup]

I have more than that on my 96 and still run the 1320 in 12.8 with a T28. I would do a compression check and see when the last time the regular maintance stuff was done, IE timing belt, balance belt, tensionor, pulleys including crank. Then give it a good lookover/ drive. Drive it long enough to see if it overheats, stop and go traffic and then free way for alingment issues. See if the previous owner has prior maintance records.

You could also check for shaftplay on the turbo (before driving soyou dont burn yourself o the hot turbo). If its original, it may be starting to get some, but chances are you will want to upgrade after getting the car. Then do the RRE test for crank walk. Its not 100% or even close but prevents you from buying it right off with it.

 

[FORMONTOYA]

I have more than that on my 96 and still run the 1320 in 12.8 with a T28. I would do a compression check and see when the last time the regular maintance stuff was done, IE timing belt, balance belt, tensionor, pulleys including crank. Then give it a good lookover/ drive. Drive it long enough to see if it overheats, stop and go traffic and then free way for alingment issues. See if the previous owner has prior maintance records.

You could also check for shaftplay on the turbo (before driving soyou dont burn yourself o the hot turbo). If its original, it may be starting to get some, but chances are you will want to upgrade after getting the car. Then do the RRE test for crank walk. Its not 100% or even close but prevents you from buying it right off with it.

All very good advice. The only thing I would add is once you believe that you've found the car you're going to buy, to also take it to a mechanic that you trust and have them take a look at it. If they know what there doing they will check out things you never thought of. Even if you have to pay for the service, it generally shouldn't cost more than about $50. A small price to pay for a little extra "piece of mind".

I've looked at cars that during my "test" all seemed well, but after a buddy put them up on a rack....

Needless to say I didn't own a few cars that I initially thought would be good to go.

 

[reeper]

Also if you get the car and have any questions, check out this site. You can usually get 70% of all you questios anwsered there.

http://vfaq.com/index-main.html

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

Only buy it if you are willing to put (up to) a few grand in it over the next 2-3 years, because there is a good chance you may have to.