I recently bought an Elite with oil cooler failure, after seeing it discussed in the "Where to buy a decent Elite" thread. I couldn't view, as I was abroad, so decided to take a punt due to it being very local and buy it unseen.
I bid, on the basis that I might get burnt, and adjusted the amount accordingly, working on the principle that if it's a total heap, I could recover my costs breaking it. I won the auction for £320.
The car was delivered yesterday. It was advertised as having head gasket failure. Having had a look I can see that it's classic oil cooler failure - there are traces of oil in the coolant tank, but none on the dipstick.
Apart from some rust creeping into the arches which is only just about visible without kneeling down and looking by the wheel, the body is immaculate, I cannot see a mark on it. It's covered in crap having sat for two years, but my gut feeling is that I could bring that paintwork up really, really nicely.
The interior, whilst is a bit dirty in places, would come up very nicely indeed with a clean, the leather is not excessively worn. The drivers doorcard is poor, but I have a spare in good nick.
102,000 miles. No MOT. No advisories on the last one, aside of tyres and exhaust, which I don't count because they are consumables.
The battery is as dead as a dodo, to be expected having sat so long. I will try a charge but don't hold up much hope, I think it'll need replacing.
When jump started (to move it off the truck onto the drive) it started OK. The emissions light immediately began flashing, and it was idling as rough as a badgers. Definitely misfiring. It also cut out once on the drive. I think the reality is it was struggling due to the battery having literally, nothing. The ABS and TC lights flickered and the dash did funny things.
I ran it again briefly this morning. It immediately began missing and the light flashing. The codes were 0300 (Random misfire) and 0301 - misfire cylinder one. Once given a gentle rev, the misfire seemed to clear and was only then intermittent, with the odd "pop" through the exhaust. I didn't run it for long at all, as I don't want to cause more oil cooler contamination.
The seller describes the "cats being blown through". This isn't the case at all. My gut feeling is the cats are absolutely fine - it would appear that the centre exhaust section is hanging on by a thread. It's simply an exhaust blow, not a cat problem.
Two tyres have a fair bit of life left in them. Two need replacing before the MOT. The fronts are SLIGHTLY more worn on the inner edges, but there's no telling if this has happened over a long period of time or not.
My gut feeling is that this car can be saved with a little TLC but I'd appreciate thoughts from others here. I don't want to throw good money after bad.
The 246 camcover gasket appears to be smoking when it got warm. I suspect both sides will need doing.
I suspect plug wells are probably full of oil, but haven't checked yet, or equally with water, from being stood so long with scuttle drains blocked.
If I'm honest my biggest fear is the rear arches and the fact they are starting to go. I'd like advice on what realistic and cost effective measures could be done to, ideally restore them, but at least, stop them getting any worse.
I also noticed a slight air leak in the servo pipe, which is detectable by feel / sound, which might be making the idle a little poor.
To make the car good, it will need
Oil Cooler
Cam Cover Gaskets
Cambelt Kit
Auxiliary Belt
Brake overhaul + maybe new brakes
2 x tyres
Geometry and probably wishbones
Rear arches looking at
Cat back exhaust
Battery
3 or 4 short oil changes and filter
Spark Plugs
Maybe coil packs - or maybe the existing ones are ok, I could look to put them in the airing cupboard etc.
New MOT
What are the thoughts?
Worth fixing, being a 3.2 Elite with, (aside of the arches) excellent bodywork?
To finish on a high... I forgot how bloody good BOSE sound is
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Topic: Ebay Elite. Project or Money Pit? (Read 15637 times)