I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but a TTA has come up for sale here in Ontario Canada(extremely rare opportunity since none were sold up here when new), I was wondering if anyone knows what to look out for as far as the drivetrain is concerned. I realize that any emblem or decal is like gold, but what common problems did this driveline expierience?

 

Look for a rear main seal leak.

 

Its a Buick Problem, all of their engines seemed to do this up until the late 80's. I think its because they had not yet gone to the 1 piece rear main seal, like Chevy did in 1986.

I personally would not worry about it, I think it would be awesome to own a TTA. Unfortunately it makes a little bit of a mess on the undercarriage.

Make sure you get the owners pack, not really sure whats in it, but I know it is usually sold with the car.

John

 

Rear main leaks because of the crappy rope seal. A neo prene seal takes care of the leak.

Rear spoiler cracks. Side bolsters tend to wear too easily. Flaring on the shifts, usually from racing. Headers may crack. Other normal TA stuff to look for.

Mine had the rear main leak and had oil all the way to the bumper. Cleaned up extremely well with Simple Green and lots of rags. Actually looked like it preserved it pretty well. It was spotless after that. Mine also had the cracked rear spoiler. Got a fiberglass replacement and all was well.

After about a year of racing, the trans started flaring on the 2-3 shifts. This was when it was low 12's though.

They are fun cars, that is for sure. Some parts are expensive to replace, some you can't even find...

Owner's kit is an easy $500 item. Has the decals(if not already on), key fob, cassette, and letters from Pontiac.

 

common problem?

extremely high price tag.




just make sure all of the parts are there and accounted for. look at as much stock stuff as you can so that you can tell when somthigns been changed.


thoes turbo guys have a habit of jacking up boost, then when the motor is about to go, bringing it back down and selling it....
this goes for all turbo cars, not just TTAs.

 

try and get the car hot, then thrash it, and leave it idling for a couple of mins, if it gets hot the head gaskets could be shot, or if it starts to blue smoke (while idling), the turbo oil seals are toast, and probably the turbo as well.

get the owner to drive it, then see if they turn it off right away when they stop, or if they leave it to idle for at least 30 seconds.

sutting down the engine without letting the turbo cool off for at least 30 seconds bakes the oil onto the oilways inside the turbo, slowly restricting them.

With the turbo spinning in excess of 100 000 rpm, it needs its oil.

 

Good advicve Phil, personally if I had a turbo I'd let it idle for a lot onger than 30seconds after a good ragging! Or just fit a turbo timer!

Zedder, in addition to all the other advice I think the best thing to look for is a fastidious, pedantic, collection of each and every bill and service document that the car has every had.

 

Precicely Grodon,

30 seconds is an absolute minimum, if someone is careless enough to not alow a 30 second spool down time after running the engine for any amount of time, dont buy from them.

I used to have a Renault 11 Turbo. even though it was only a 15 min drive to work, id pull into my space, go inside and clock on, then go out and turn the car off. Most people didn't understand why i did this.

A wealth of recipts is a must, a turbo car requires a fastidious owner with regards to maintainance and operation, this sort of owner simply doesn't loose recipts.

With a turbo car, its not only how hard they have been driven, it is just as important to warm up and cool down properly. Turbo engines are performance orientated, so it can be just as harmfull to pootle about in them, respectfull excercise is the order of the day...

 

Good call Phil

 

 

Can't help but notice that you didn't tell us where or how much...

 

Its in St.Chatherines, the asking price is $13 500.00(is in the autotrader), my wife kindly put an end to my Turbo dreams so no TTA for me. I didn't even go look at it, i have heard from someone on another board that went to see it that it is in rough shape.

 

thats a shame, people who buy a peice of history and trash it