Well i am about to get a 1988 camaro TPI

And he wants 2800 Its got 19hundred (i thinK) miles on it

Umm He says the engine light is on but it just needs a sencer?

Here are pics:

 

I think it is a good buy as long there is nothing major wrong before you get it take a really good look over every square inch of that car and look for any that may cause problems later

 

Any other comments?

 

Definately try to go for a test drive, make sure the car doesnt wander all over the road and will also give you an idea of the condition of the motor and trans.

Check around under the hood and see if the motors been held together with wire and zip ties

 

HAHAHHA loll that made me lauph zip ties loll!!!

yeah i am going to test drive it sunday after i get off work(only free day)...And will deff check under the hood

 

if everything is in good shape, its a great price, check underneath for rust

 

Will do

 

I think that's a bit steep for a 305. Being manual it may justify it, but I got my car in similar condition for $1500. Only difference is its 86 and an auto. 1900 sounds rather absurd for mileage, 19000 is more likely but even then that sounds low for an 88.

 

I mean it has alot of miles a tad over 100 thousand miles.. but idk i just peried in teh window..when i test drive it i will find out everthing, if it has mods

i saw a headunit..Didnt see the speakers..trunk had some leather covor in it

but umm me and my dad are a good negoatator(sp) we will try to work something out

 

Looks good in the pictures to me, if it's all there, it all mostly works (AC, power windows if it has them, stuff like that) then you have a decent deal provided it is rust free underneath.

It will have a lot of miles on it, but to me that's not relavant. I have seen worse cars sell for more money!

 

k, you've gotten a lot of opinions, but not a lot of good solid advice here. Check for things that cost a lot of money, or are a big hassle to fix.

-Check for door sag, open the door (driver mostly), and see if you can lift it up from the outer edge. Not too expensive of a fix, but a pain

-check the underside of the door for rust, and the wheel wells, from underneath

-if you can crawl under it, check sheetmetal joints for rust, where it joins - if there's rust, it's inside the car too, and worse. tap your knuckles under the clutch/brake pedal area, see if the metal is all rusted out.

-if you can, hose the car off (if it's in buddys front lawn...), see if the inside of the car leaks water

-make sure that when you go over to start up the car and see how it runs, buddy hasn't just been driving it, you want a nice cold start. watch for a puff of blue (valve seals)

-listen for engine knocking. a soft tapping could be an exhaust leak (no biggie), a deeper sounding one is....bad.

-when driving and taking it through the gears, listen for howling, or other weird bad noises

-of course do the standard push down on the cars on a corner to check the struts condition, not a huge deal, but it's another couple hundred $ to cough up

-check to see if the brakes pull hard in either direction, or if the car tends to wander when driving in a straight line (accident...)

-100k miles is pretty low actually. I'd be pleased.... is this US dollars? that's a steal of a deal to me....

- check engine light eh? that's kinda scary, always be extremely wary of a guy selling a car with a check engine light on, and he tells you "it's no big deal"...... with a capital B!

buddy who sold me my car, shows me the low k's, (110,000miles, on an '82!), and the "slight" surface rust, bubbling.... Find out the odometer/speedo wasn't working (and for how long you ask?), and he told me he never winter drove it.... BS!!!! flintstones holes in the floorboards!


anyway, thats about anything I can think of to check, have fun in that car, TPI's rock!


PS. ask him what sensor is needed. O2, or TPS are fairly common, and not too big of a deal, that is, if he tells you the truth...

 

lOnEstArMx250r,

I believe the asking price for the vehicle is "Fair", but only if it passes ALL of the tests that "Sonix" outlined with flying colors. Otherwise it seems much much too high priced.

The only addition I would make on Sonix's list would be to actually pull the codes on the ECM to verify what the computer says is wrong. Personally I would be very very leary of a vehicle that has a check engine light on. The owner apparently somehow "Knows" it only needs a sensor and yet he has decided not to fix it? If the seller has a brain at all, he has to know this has a negative impact on the re-sale value by several times more than the cost of a new sensor (assuming that is all that is wrong?).

Did the seller explain why he didn't go to the trouble to replace the sensor after he determined that was the problem?

Buyer BEWARE! My Son and I know!!!
We purchased his Camaro on E-Bay and had no opportunity to inspect it. We were purchasing it from a Police Department and felt comfortable that the advertisment would be correct and non-misleading. Well.....you guessed it... NOTHING was as advertised!

Sincerely,
Kurt

 

I would say 2800 is a bit steep unless that things in very good condition. I picked up mine for 1500 not a single spot of rust and still had the original dealer sticker in the window! It just needed a good polishing and some wax to bring the paint back to life.

 

yes, pulling the code is a very very good idea... In case that's greek to you, it involves a paperclip... try a search for the exact info on it...


I guess it depends on where you are, that car would go for $5k easily in Canada, and sell like a heartbeat, since it's 5spd and TPI, with low kms. My standard trans car was sold to me for $1300, and it barely ran, and was a total basket case. (chugged and jerked from cc carb not hooked up right, tons of rust, many dents, mismatched speakers, unknown kms...)

 

Alright guys thanks for hte pointers...and i mean im sure my dad will know alot..he had alot of cars in his days..