Hi,

New member looking at purchasing a 96 Stealth R/T in my neighborhood. Its going for 3000 and only has 96k miles on it. Is this a good deal? What kinds of things should I look for in this car and what should I do to it after buying it?

Thanks

 

3k is a good deal, as long as it's clean, in good shape, runs and drives well. Make sure the timing belt/water pump service has been done.

If you don't end up buying it, I'm interested!

 

I'll have to ask the gentleman if it has been done. There is no rust on the car that I can see, told it wasn't driven in winter. However he mentioned that the AC core was removed because it got rotted out and he didn't feel like spending the money to replace it. So I am wondering how it got rotten?

I will have to take pictures when I go to look at it again when its not raining.

If the timing belt/water pump service hasn't been completed, how urgent would it be to take care of that service, and would that warrant trying to get him to go lower on his price?

Thanks!

 

Timing belt/water pump service is something you're going to want to do immediately if the car has been sitting, and especially if you have no idea when/if it was done. It's roughly an $800-$1000 service. If you don't do it, and the timing belt goes, It's more along the lines of a $3000 rebuild on the top end of your engine.

I've never seen an A/C core rot... squeal and squeak, yes. It makes me leery that he just removed it, rather than fix it... makes me wonder what other issues he just ignored, or "rigged".