Buying Advice D8 exec

[gumby6371]

Had to pop out at lunch to my local breakers (a tree ran into my back light last night )
While I was there I had a look around the runners he sells and sure enough there was pretty tidy looking 97 D8 2 litre turbo executive for the princely sum of £700.

As I said I was on lunch so it was just a quick look, flakey paint on the mirrors, and stone chips, leather had seen better days and it needed a good clean but all in all at £700 it looked good.

Planning to go back when I've got more time to check mileage etc and have a proper look, any advice on what to check specifically on the petrol engine and gearbox?

I'm not expecting all the toys to work for £700 but if the engine and transmission are sound it might be a project for the summer.

[Bailes1992]

Check the sills, D8's rust.
Check all the electrics.
Take it somewhere bumpy and listen for any knocks.
Make sure the turbo boosts OK.
And slam it into 3rd as fast and hard as you can.

[highlander]

Doing my usual broken record bit here, but check for water ingress, specifically in the rear light clusters, spare wheel well, and driver/passenger footwells. Water in the sills will also give a horrible sloshing that will make you want to go to the loo a lot, but worse, will cause the sills to rust away from the inside out.

[Welly]

It's possibly a former MOT failure and the owner spat the dummy out, the breakers might have thrown £200.00 quid at it and are looking to make themselves a bit for doing fairly little (having said that it must be a worthy cause to even bother).

Check the Radiator and for signs of coolant leakage anywhere, look at the condition of the coolant and oil (check the filler).

£700.00 is a bit steep I would say and to be fair you've gotta buy it with your eyes open, you might get a knock from the sussy but you aint buying a £10K motor here

Primary things are:

Make sure it's Boosting.
Doesn't over-heat (feel the coolant hoses once it's hot - they shouldn't be rock-hard fit to burst open.
Look and smell the exhaust (check no blue smoke or water steam)
Feel the carpets for wetness.
Look at the tyre wear for signs of miss-alignment (you could easily be straight into 4 new tyres)
If the a/c works then that's just a Win on your part.

Above all - if you're not sure about anything at all then walk off, they want your money far more than you need them for anything

[steve_earwig]

Seems a bit top money for something the breaker thought was too good to break. I just had a squint on Autotrader and there's a couple of newer coupés for that!

[gumby6371]

thanks for the quick responses, I know most of the stuff to look for from this club and running my 1.9td for the last year.
It was really the engine and gearbox I was concerned about as everything else should be the same as my current 406.

Have just checked the MPG's for a 2 litre turbo and am thinking with fuel the way it is might not be a wise move anyway, stick with my tried and tested diesel and break out the veg oil !!!!

Thanks again for the advice tho

[omega]

id 2nd what steve says its to much money
you can get a much better car for that sort of money from a better source as well.