ok i found a 92 RS teal with grey interior for sale... its smashed on both doors, and doesnt run. they are asking 1900... but is way too overpriced for what it is... the lady is open to all offers though, and her 16 yr old son put a "big" stereo in it, and i guess it was too much strain on the stock battery and alternater or something, and its been sitting since the winter, and it doesnt start now. it only has 70k miles, so i would think its an electrical problem, but if it was cause of the stereo what would pieces of the electrical system would be affected by that "big" stereo that it wont start? just the battery? its a solid car with potential in my opinion... just dont know if im barrying myself in a hole if the thing is like eternally dead lol

what else besides bringing a new battery and trying to fire it up like that can i do to see if it runs before considering buying it?

 

You could try to jump start it. Obviously it needs an oil change if it's been sitting for that long, there's a good buying point to lower the price right there - no maintainance

Just be honest with her. A car that doesn't run is mostly worthless and not worth $1900. Add up what you'd have to spend to get the car running if you paid the dealership for the work and tell her you'd have to spend that much to fix it. Make sure it's smogged, otherwise there's another bill for you.

You know it would really be good to get it running. Put your battery in it to try to start it if you have to.

 

Find out if that 16 year old kid was driving the car as well as playing with the radio. If he was then you might be in for trouble. Try to start it with the new battery, have someone stand behind the car and check for a puff of blue smoke when you start it. Or better yet, let him start it, while you stand behind it. Then you will be able to observe his "warm up" procedure. If he revs it while it's cold, or doesnt even understand the concept of warming anything up, you might end up with a bad head gasket or scrored cylinder walls, or leaky exhaust gaskets, or even a leaky intake. Once it's been running for a couple minutes, hold the rpm at 500 rpm steps, until a high enough rpm that you think it's going to run smooth across it's powerband. Once it's hot, listen to the valve covers and see if you hear any tapping, dirty oil could cause a lifter to be stuck. Then put the car from park into 'verse, and then to drive and etc. If it bangs at all you can be lead to assume the kid did some neutral drops and other stupid but fun stuff with it. The problem could be in the rear, universals, trans mount, or in the trans itself. That's The best way I know to test an engine without driving the car.