[siragan]

I haven´t driven it yet, but I´ve taken a look under the hood and in the interior. The interior looks really good, even though the seats suck and it´s really cheap looking. Under the hood, everything looks really good, except that it´s an automatic and I´ve only worked on manual escorts (my 95 LX wagon) and it looks like all the hoses were replaced, the valve cover is nice and shiny looking (I´d bet they do that to make you think it looks newer) and the intake manifold was also quite shiny. The transmission on the automatics is huge!! A bunch of stuff I don´t understand in there.

Anyway, even though I haven´t driven it, the dealer who is selling it says that when you first start it up, it smokes for about 5 minutes and then goes away. He says it´s a problem in the valves, but I personally think that the piston rings are bad and it may be burning oil.

Even though this car is not for me, I don´t want to get shafted with a lemon. Do you guys have any idea what the problem may be and how serious it is?

 

[siragan]

Also, it has some damage that was fixed. A small crack in the front right corner light (the amber one) and it looks like (from the damage) that the car was rear-ended. There is a crack on both sides of the bumper and some slight damage nit eh rear quarter panel.

The guy who is selling is asking 1095 for it. I want every valid reason I can get to talk him down, while also sounding like a fairly educated car person. thx guys. I love you people!!

[ This message was edited by: siragan on 06-01-2003 16:57 ]

 

[siragan]

Okay, just talked to the guy. He said that the problem the engine had with smokng was serious enough that it was probably better to replace the engine than to work on the engine that is already in there.

The car has 163,000 miles on it.

 

[2redscorts]

Siragen,
In the condition you´re describing, that scort is probably worth more like $300 to $500. I think you can do a whole lot better if you keep looking.