Inspection revealed problems with car, recommendations?

[esprit]

Hey everyone,

I had a car inspected today I was about to purchase. Its a 1989 R32 GTS-t 4 door auto. The pre-sale inspection revealed:

ENGINE HAS VERY LOW OIL PRESSURE

Needs air filter - coolant overflow lid missing

Caster arm bushes split

Left hand steering rack split

Steering rack leaking

Left hand rear strut boot missing

Rear discs need machining

Exhaust system has heavy corrosion

Rust in boot floor

Right hand light has moisture in it

The inspection was carried out by the guys at Brisbane Turbo & Tuning Center Woolloongabba.

They said that fixing the low oil pressure problem would require the engine to come out and then be put back in and would cost about $2k to have done by a workshop.

What do you guys reckon about the report regarding the car? I'm not familiar with how serious or non-serious a low oil pressure problem is, along with a few of the other issues. If its fixed will the engine be ok again or is there a chance it has incurred long term damage? Do all the things on the list have to be addressed and are they expensive?

Are these problems consistent with many 1989 R32 GTS-t's? I expected a few small things to come up.

Opinions please

Cheers

[Links]

Jeepers.. that's a fair few things to fix on it.. personally - if the person that's selling it really isn't prepared to fix it or atleast reduce the price than walk away.. as everyone says - there is plenty more out there..

the car i'm just finished buying had 4 things wrong with it that an inspection picked up - they fixed all of them..

do you want to inherit all these issues??

just food for thought..

[Cubes]

How did the test the oil pressure?

I wonder if they simply looked at the stock dash guage.

How much were you going to purchase the car for?

[esprit]

They tested it using the gauge, but they said they made sure the gauge was working first, as sometimes they are a bit of a problem and don't work properly.

I still might purchase the car if the seller fixes everything. My question is, taking into account these issues, will the car be in good condition once the problems are fixed or has long term, expensive damage been done?

Anyone have experience with the low oil pressure problem and what does it mean exactly?

Thanks

[krzysiu]

If you think thats a bit list, you should have seen mine when i got a RACV check done. Made the dealer fix EVERYTHING, then sent it to the inspection again to make sure it was all done. Then it was all fine

[RB30-POWER]

You would really want to get it at a bargain price with the above issues, and the possibility of an engine rebuild if it fails.

Sounds a bit rough, unless its priced well below 10k stay away.

[predator]

they looked at the stock gauge I bet you.. idiots..

ENGINE HAS VERY LOW OIL PRESSURE

not much .. either the oil pump is about to go and destroy the engine, or its all fine and nothing to worry about.. So I guess you need to establish for sure what the problem is. Oil pump replace I am not even sure is a full in/out job?? Mine reads pretty low, but car otherwise seems to run fairly well, I think its more the gauge.

Needs air filter - coolant overflow lid missing

bit of a worry on the airfilter.. no panel filter at all? engine could have been sucking a lot of dust and things for months.. not good.. coolant lid.. somebody lost it

Caster arm bushes split

common in older cars (mine were gone).. probably looking at about $250 to get those replaced... will improve steering feel / handling so not a bad idea to replace anyhow.. at least you know they are stuffed.

Left hand steering rack split

I assume they don't mean the actual rack itself (hope not!).. Do they actually mean *rack* bushes or steering rack boots? rack bushes hold the steering rack to the chasis.. rack boots are $15 each, and 1 hour job to change both.

Steering rack leaking

can be expensive if you need a reco'ed rack put in.. depends if its a couple of drops, or major leakage. Few hundred dollars to replace the rack.

Left hand rear strut boot missing

(Suspension) strut boot?? They are the plastic protective sheathes that sit over your shocks.. not too much, again.. if stock shocks I wouldn't worry.. I assume you will replace with aftermarket sometime?? if aftermarket coilovers, could mean dust and grit has got into the shock, reducing its life, may require rebuild.

Rear discs need machining

yeah, they always do.. unless its below minimum thickness, that is not a concern. replace rear pads at same time - may as well.

Exhaust system has heavy corrosion

yeah, they get that sitting under the car exposed to a wet road.. possibly salt in japan. Stock exhaust, again, how long do you plan on keeping that on? Otherwise annoying as it will rust through eventually - require new exhaust system.

Rust in boot floor

A fair concern.. could be others lurking under body, sideskirts, etc.. if its not just a little bit of red /oxidisation (which should be attended to anyhow), thats probably enough reason to walk away.

Right hand light has moisture in it

yeah, most cars can do that.. it has been raining for nearly 2 weeks solid up here afterall..

Look in the end, are you getting a really good price? Are these things required for you to get the safety cert? Do you plan on modifying the car and replacing these items over time? or do you want to leave everything "as is" for as long as possible, and just enjoy the car as is?

It sounds like, if workshop does the work, you're going to be hit with a $1500-$2k bill for all that work (assuming oil pressure problem is just the gauge).. If the car is still worthwhile (checking the rust issue carefully) after that cost, then why not.

anyhow, hope some of my rambling helps a bit.

[nF]

Rated oil pressure for a r32 gtst at idle is 0.7. (According to the engine manual i have.)

[FATGTS-R]

Not that it means anything but what does the odometer read?

The other thing I would be concerned with is not what they found but what they didnt find.

Did they perform a compression or leak down test? How much does the seller want for the car?

[sproosy]

sounds like a dud, its not like there arent many skylines around. personally id look for anothr one dude, it looks like it has the potential to be a total bucket of shit if it isnt already.........

[Nr01]

Sounds like there are better cars out there. You dont want to be stuck with something that you are constantly fixing for teh next few years..

[Bazelinez]

Sounds like the shop are talking shit about the oil pressure. THe R32 guages are notoriously bad. How did they "test" it to see if its was working properly?

Mine works one day then sits on zero the next......6 months later....

[esprit]

Good question. I'm not sure exactly how they tested but the guy who owns the car asked if it was a faulty gauge and they reckon they eliminated that from the equation. Is there any real way to test if the oil pressure is low if these stock gauges are so bad?

Car has ~66,000km on it. I'd be getting it for a tad under 7K.

[RB30-POWER]

For that price it might be worth persisting with.

Get another workshop to test the oil pressure with an externally connected guage to confirm what the first workshop has said.

Secondly, confirm how bad the rust is in the boot. If its surface rust, you should be able to clean it all up and re-prime/seal and paint it to stop further problems.

Other major place for rust in skylines is under the rear wheel guards, make sure there isn't any rust there, by inspecting feeling underneath or looking for the rust bubbles in the paint work itself.

If it costs you for another inspection it still has to be better then risking it and buying a lemon if your not fully clued up on car mechanical and physical condition yourself.

[midnight]

my recommendation, dont buy it, wait for a better one

[Shaun]

^^^^^Im with him^^^^^ Rust in the boot? Once there's rust, your gonna have problems i reckon.

[BHDave]

16yo car with genuine 66k on the clock, not likely.

I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, even for the price (which would be pretty good if not for the oil pressure concerns).

On the other hand, if you can hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge and do a proper test and it come's up good. Go for it. The cost of the the other replacement parts wont total more than 1k in parts and labour and you've still got a bargain.

Mine had a bit of rust in the boot. It hasn't got any worse in 2.5 years. It will be related to your leaking rear tail light most likely. Fix that and hit the rust with some converter and it'll be fine.

[predator]

Its funny how many go "dont touch it all", and a few are "well its probably fine if checked out properly"

if I listed all the things wrong with mine when I imported (not that i really had a choice what turned up in the end) that any inspection would show up (half the same things as that car you are looking at actually).. you'd be going "no way".. Same price roughtly too.. But all of the things have been fairly minor wear and tear items, that could show up on a car 5 years newer and I fixed for low cost. Never has given me grief.. other than a fuel pump -- which was installed by myself, and not factory fit.

[wizard2k]

as others have said get a workshop to hook up a mechanic oil pressure gauge and get it rechecked if it comes out ok i would consider purchasing the car

mine has rust in the bottom of driver sill and some in the rear wheel arches that i slowly getting worse as i havent treated it (stupid i know) its fairly common now for jap cars to have rust in them as the quality of items isnt as good as it was a couple of years ago so you wont get the best of the best

mine has 98500k's on it and hasnt had one problem yet must say the best car ive had

it mostly comes down to what your happy with, if you think it is ok to you then buy it, if you have doubts then dont we can only offer an opinion but most ppl have been in a similar situation

i bout mine for 14k last yr prob spent about 1k on repairing things and replacing this includes timing belt and aircon stuff ive also spent around 1k on mods and thats all its cost me so far in 12months

[esprit]

Just called the workshop and they said they did use an external gauge. They recommended I don't touch it so that's probably what I'm going to do