gorgeous e30 need some advice, might purchase.

[Pantless Spency]

beautiful 86 e30, 5speed.
new tires, rebuilt driveline, new battery.
clean interior. nice exterior.
the seller says he recently replaced the waterpump, and he missed some essential component of the cooling system that withdraws air bubbles from the cooling system. ive never heard of such a part? but then again i don't know alot about e30's yet. he said due to that component missing it over heats within an hour or so of driving. he's asking about 1000$ but says obo.
he said to fix up to great running cond may cost around 500$

its a two hour drive.
should i check it out?
and if i do what should be some major things i look for..
and also does anyone know anything about this "missing component"
that causes the car to over heat?
or does it just sound like a lousy excuse and a blown headgasket.
i need help!
thank you r3v members.
:)

[JT325is]

overheating = no bueno

*edit- still looks nice enough to put money into

[mbonder]

Missing a component, that is straight up bs right there.

Sounds to me like he has no idea what he's talking about. Probably just doesn't know how to bleed a cooling system.

If you're really interested, go check it out with an 8mm box wrench in hand. Start the car up with the heat on high and crack the bleeder screw on top of the thermostat housing. bleed until pure coolant is coming out, no bubbles.

See if it overheats then. You would see signs of a head gasket failure such as white smoke in exhaust, oil in coolant or coolant in oil.

Also, maybe its just the pic, but looks like the front fender and the driver's door don't match the rest of the car, could have been in an accident, if that matters to you.

[DRTSRFR]

Where is it spence?

The sellers lack of knowledge regarding the "component" is a little sketchy. The only component that can be missing and still keep the system sealed would be the thermostat which would be a total bonehead move.

As far as purging the air bubbles...theres a little bolt on top of the thermostat housing that lets the air out of the system. If it is not bled correctly the system will cavitate air at the waterpump and cause overheating. I don't think the car would go an hour if there was air in there.

[leadphut]

I would echo what mbonder and cgmark said. Take a look at the coolant too. If it's clear, the car is most likely using coolant and the user is having to continually add water.

Picture of the bleed screw-


You might just take $500 cash with you as an offer. If you wind up buying the car and it's a total failure, you could make your money back selling parts.

How is the rest of the car? Can you post any pics of the interior, engine bay, trunk, etc. so we can see the rest of its condition?

[Pantless Spency]

he hasn't send me any more pics... i told him im not interested, i don't think my dad would wanna drive 2.5 hours just to mess around with the car... on the other hand if i could bring someone with more experience i think my dad would be more interested in going.

[Danny]

Go up there, bleed the cooling system, drive home. Done.

[Pantless Spency]

Go up there, bleed the cooling system, drive home. Done.

you sure thats whats wrong danny? i hope so because im really thinking about it.

[Pantless Spency]

danny i should just bring you down there with me hahaha.

[Pantless Spency]

The sellers lack of knowledge regarding the "component" is a little sketchy. The only component that can be missing and still keep the system sealed would be the thermostat which would be a total bonehead move.

As far as purging the air bubbles...theres a little bolt on top of the thermostat housing that lets the air out of the system. If it is not bled correctly the system will cavitate air at the waterpump and cause overheating. I don't think the car would go an hour if there was air in there.

it's in watsonville. right by santacruz. wanna go down with me? haha.

[DRTSRFR]

I'd love to if i wasn't fixing e30 EVERY weekend! LOL

[Zacm829]

My car was doing the exact same thing when I bought it. Checked the oil for a milkshake mixture, it was clean. Used the aforementioned bleeder screw and now she runs like a top!

[snowbrd83]

most likely just need to bleed the air out, but you could always take it to a near by saftey and emissions place. They can put a probe in the coolant and see if it has any trace of HC's and if it does then the head gasket is blown.