A few months back a buddy of mine told me about a neat tool/website that can perform a variety of tasks one of which will continually watch Craigslist and instantly email you when a match to your search is posted. Long story short, I got an email about this 200 20v Avant within mins of the guy posting it for sale. Sent him and immediate email saying I was a serious buyer and would meet him ASAP.
Off to check it out. As soon as I saw it I knew I had seen it before. Almost two years prior I had actually test drove this car when it was for sale by the previous owner!
Car is in meh shape, needed a rear brake hose, hydro system leaks galore, coolant leak, misfires, etc. Typical things we've all seen and been through. Not a big deal to people like us, though a normal person would be in over their head. Done deal, bought it 9/8/2013.
First thing I did before even making it back to my house....CAR WASH!
Home sweet home with it's other friends:
Nestled in the garage with it's sibling:
First order of business, repair the rear drivers brake hose. $11 later back in action.
Car has 310K on the original cluster though of course it was not working anymore. Speedo worked but was bouncing and no odo/trim function, tach didn't work it all, when you turned the lights on the directionals lit up...normal cluster issues. I attempted to repair it as I have done in the past, got everything resolved except the tach and odo/trip. Decided to just get another cluster and swap it in. Pulled it from a local parts car with 160k, threw it in and of course half of it didn't light up and the speedo bounced, lol. Replaced like six or seven bulbs and cleaned up some solder joints and it's good to go!
On to the next, the misfiring. Started off by checking the plugs of course. Found some recent BKR7E's in it but they were soaked in oil from a leaky valve cover gasket. I picked up a new set of plugs and a new VC gasket and swapped them out. I had a spare set of good ignition cables, a brand new cap and new correct rotor too! Threw all that at it and took it for a spin. HUGE improvement. Something is still not right though now it's not a misfire, it's hitting fuel cut out...hard. Changed out the MAF because I had a spare to test. No change. Turns out it had a broken vacuum line at the FPR and the ECU wasn't getting an accurate vacuum/boost reference. Replaced every vacuum line in there. Good to go! There's still one little glitch where the car will randomly miss and I know this problem all too well. It feels like a trigger error and I'm pulling a code for sensor G28 (crank pos sensor). I'll be replacing that soon. There's also a code for carbon canister solenoid. I'll try replacing that.
So, there's still quite a list as most all have. Pretty bad hydro leaks, warped rotors, rear defroster seems inoperative, tails lights have some funky wiring issues, stereo makes crazy noises (needs a deck), etc.
Aside from that, I've installed my 034 silicone boost hose set and a Forge diverter valve that make funny noise (perfect for a winter beater
).Sorry for the long read and poor cell phone images. Updates to follow.
Nick
