tranced

been googling for like 4 hours and cannot find any info to either confirm or deny that an area of oxidised aluminium on the head would suggest a coolant leak and internal corrosion... could it have been caused by something else? hmm

well i was looking to buy a 97 trueno bz-r as i said in my other thread (dunno if making a new thread is frowned upon but i kinda need help fast here) the bloke selling it was the actual compliance workshop. he repeatedly said the vehicle was 'perfect' and i was welcome to get it inspected cos i wouldnt find anything. also apparently a 'friend of the family' was interested but they were overseas at the moment. well i almost bought it but decided to get an independant inspection done anyway... heres what it turned up... first, and most worrying is that he thinks there is a coolant leak between the head and block, over the starter motor. said he could barely see it, but the aluminium was oxidised in that area and he thinks its leaking coolant as the inside of the head has begun to corrode... HRRRM also the left CV boot is broken so i guess that means i could be looking at rebuilding the CV joints sometime soon? one of the suspension bushes i think is broken too, tho he wasnt familiar with the superstrut system so it might have been an error on his behalf... he said soemthing about the wheel turning when he had the car jacked up... said the valve train was noisy and you should assume you need a new timing belt since there is no service history. and idle was too fast?? and a bunch of other stuff, but i think he would have to get this all sorted to pass the pits anyway. including... several oil leaks no immobiliser left stop light not working spoiler light not working left headlight not working windscreen washers not working and its had some spray work done... SOOO... i think i will definately avoid this car, unless there is some unique feature of this engine that would make it look like the head had corroded and was leaking radiator fluid?? the rest of the stuff i guess i could live with...replace the broken boots and bushes and hope that it will come good? and some of it perhaps the seller was planning to fix before he took it over the pits, but this sounds like a serious engine problem! and anyway, the car is pretty far from 'perfect' despite him insisting it had been fully tested, fixed up... he had a 20 page report of things that i don't understand to prove this!! do you think he could have genuinely not noticed these problems or perhaps he was trying to flog me a lemon?? i agreed to buy the car depending on the condition report and registration. i think this is grounds to say 'no thanks' but should i trust this guy to get me another car? i kinda need to get back to him on monday at any rate... and lastly... am i living in a fantasy world where a car this age will not have these problems? is this sort of condition to be expected?

what? i wasnt trying to rebutt anything... i was just aking for help and opinions?? i don't know how you got the impression that i wasnt listening but i really appreciate all the advice people have taken the time to give me in theis thread. i really don't know anything about cars so if it seems liek I'm ignoring something i probably just don't understand! like what cover do you pop off, the black cover with "twin cam 20" written on it? and where would the sludge be, under that cover on the top of the engine?

so its just luck? i am getting a condition report from an independant person so hopefully i can avoid any nasty suprises ! fingers crossed...

how do u check this with an imported car? this ones straight from japan with 136,000 km on the clock. the service history, even if it had one would be in japanese right :dance:

well i found one, single car for sale :( 1997 trueno BZ-R with 136,000 k's on the clock. i would be the first aussie owner (its from a car dealer) and he wants $11,000 for it. i was kinda hoping for a 1999 model with around 100,000kms, and its not the ideal colour! interior is a bit worn as well. sounds like a good deal or not?

very good point! brilliant advice there, thanks :( there is absolutely NONE for sale in WA that i can find at the moment! is importing one a BAD idea?

thanks for all the great advice so far! (keep it comin) in regards to kilometers on the odometer... i mean you would want to buy one with as few as possible... but at what point would you go... no thanks. 100,000km? 150,000km? 250,000km?? it probably depends on how it was driven for it lifetime but should i have a cutoff point... i want it to run for 4 years with no major dramas, after that i could probably afford to buy a new one of rebuild the whole thing.. i drive about 10,000-15,000 km per year.

i don't think i will worry about it too much... if its superstrut, cool i have good suspension. if its not, oh well i have easy to replace suspension. thats what they call win/win isnt it :) but yeah the superstrut sounds pretty cool anyway, it would be kind of a shame to get one without it? if i go look at one.. what should i look for/listen for? what sort of funky move should i do in a test drive to figure out if its used or abused?? about all i know would be to test the steering at full lock for the CV groan, and maybe try braking lightly at decent speed to see if the discs are warped? thats about the extent of my car knowledge :) is there any point in the cars life where some major thing has to be done, like at 150,000 km you have to replace everything or anything like that??? sorry for all the questions, but i don't really know jack about cars and never had any interest in knowing until very recently... **edit** more reading... the limited slip differential that these cars might have is the viscous type correct? so on a car with high km's it would probably be no longer working as intended? still driveable but no longer a LSD?

hi, i am currently looking for a new car. really keen to get another toyota, and want to try something from the corolla lineup. my dad had a really old, bright orange corolla we used to call "the clockwork orange". it was awesome, it just wouldnt die. until a firetuck ran over it. doh. so anyway looking through various corollas, the japanese imported, late 90's levins have caught my eye. i really like the way they look! i could probably afford to get one locally or have it imported, HOWEVER... being a student i definately couldnt afford to keep pumping money into the thing to keep it running. so I'm wondering, am i about to make a huge mistake and fall into an endless money pit? i have done alot of reading and it seems the superstrut suspension would be quite costly to replace... also the wheel bearings and CV's i hear are unique and probably rare/expensive. but then again its a toyota corolla right? it should be fairly reliable right? i have always bought very boring automatic v6 cars and i would like to try something fun/exciting before i get too old and decrepit. and i really like the looks of the levin... but i wonder if i would end up regretting buying one?

i am looking to get another car, been driving a commodore for a few years and i finally killed the beast. i used to drive an 89 camry V6 and it was a nice car!! built to last for sure. so now I'm thinking of coming back to a toyota, reliability is my main concern being a student and what not, and have about 11k to spend. ive been looking at some corollas and in that price bracket i could get a 2005 conquest with 50 000km on the clock or an earlier model (2002 or so) ultima with 100 000km. do you think it would be worth getting the older ultima over the newer conquest? the extra features are all well and good but i think they have completely different engines so are for all intents and purposes, two separate cars. so let me know what you think... and anything i should be aware of. many thanks.