danglerb

I looked at a tempting car today, depending on what I find out more from a few sources I hope to setup a PPI very soon. Its a nice 83 5 spd, many plus points, but two big issues.

Carfax shows 115k in 2001, and 224k in 2003, speedo in the car looks new and reads 13k, and the person selling it knows it had some problem and was replaced, but I haven't found anything in the receipts yet (and they are pretty complete, but from many different shops, most good, but some cheapo oil changes).

Car was parked for a good year outside under a car cover, and seller "cleaned" the engine with I think some spray on stuff and water. Doesn't look to me like it was driven much in last 5 years, but maybe some due to aa few receipts.

Once a number like that gets in the carfax any chance of getting it sorted out?

JHowell37

A lot of these things have issues in Carfax regarding inconsistent mileage. There are two reasons. The first is the poor quality of some of the components in the speedometer/odometer. They frequently fail and can be expensive to repair/replace unless you are certain of what the problem is (usually a bad gear.) The second is that a lot of the early 928s came with 85mph speedometers and were promptly swapped for units that went much higher. Maybe yours was done more recently?

JHowell37

Another possibility is that carfax will flag a car for anything with the belief that it is better to err on the side of caution. My car has been flagged for mileage due to what appears to be someone made a mistake and reported incorrect mileage and then later, when the mileage was reported again, the number was lower (not by much though, maybe 400-500 miles.) So it got flagged.

Jim bailey - 928 International

The old very brown 1980 which still has the 85 mph speedo reads about 800,000 miles before it stopped counting it did one of the the roll over 100,000 miles at a time routines a few times in the past. Unless you have supporting documention all odometer readings are a bit suspect. So you pretty much have to rely on the condition of the car to determine how much life is left.

danglerb

I am not too worried that the car actually has 230k, condition in no way supports high mileage so far, and receipts show no indication of high recent miles, and CarFax doesn't flag it for tamper, just shows a 99k mile bump between 2001 and 2003 smog tests. My concern is that the odometer now says 13k, so when I try to register it the flag goes up, and I have this explaining to do if I ever sell it.

Funny each passing minute has me wanting to make an offer right now so it "doesn't get away". I was as nervous as a teenager asking for a date today.

Anybody have concern over engine getting a wash or car sitting a year under a cover, or just leave it to the PPI to sort out?

Wow, I need a sedative before I get goofy. And I still have no place to park it, thats gonna be 'fun'.

Charley B

Quote "Wow, I need a sedative before I get goofy." DANGLERB

Too Late.

i kid

danglerb

I've found my inner calm, whatever the PPI shows will decide what I do. Its just the leather did smell kinda nice ...

JEC_31

Colors? Options? Test drive?

danglerb

If I can do the PPI on Wed I will take my Nikon digital camera and take picts of everything I can think of, and hopefully be smart enough to include looking at the options tag. Pewter/dk blue.

leperboy

It's a 23-year-old car. Washing it with a foam or degreaser wouldn't worry me. The likely damage would be water int he caps or water somewhere it shouldn't be. But that would affect it starting then, not now.

It sat under a cover for a year. If there were damage from that, you would see it, like fading or peeling int he paint or mildew. You should have all the ground points and the pliability of hoses and seals looked at as part of the PPI (within reason), but otherwise I think you have to expect these cars have probably had some down time.

Matt

fbarnhill

Hey danglerdb,
One of my favorite cars by far was my old 83s 5 spd. I changed the clutch at 170k. The transmission at 220 etc... It ran great and I drove it almost 100 miles a day. I would buy another 83 in a heartbeat. The first time I did the tb/wp on mine the grease around the tensioner was so thick i had to scrape it with a putty knife. Once cleaned, it stayed that way for as long as I had the car.

Good luck, can't wait for the pics