I've found a '92LX Hatch 2.3 Auto that I'm thinking of getting, but it has some issues.
This car is fairly clean, its got newer paint on it and the like so it looks pretty good. The tranny has recently been gone through and the fluid looks good. The car has 151,xxx mi on it.
The problems:
At first start it ran great, it pulled into traffic just fine. 3-4 minutes later, it began to hesitate and run doggy, progressing to hardly running at all. I nearly had to floor it to run 25 mph. After parking the car, it immediately quit. I also noticed that the cat underneath the car was glowing bright orange. I popped the hood, but didn't notice the first cat but the manifold didn't appear to be glowing.
Now, I did some searching and found two possibilities:
1. Clogged cat- this would co-incide with the fact that the exhaust system doesn't seem to be flowing right IMO. Though there is a decent amount of exhaust coming out the tailpipe. It just sounds like too much back-pressure up into the EGR as its making a fluffy clicking noise. Also I noticed that Cat #1 has a white-ish sticky looking stuff coming through, so it could be cracked. It also is very slow to rev-up even in P.
#2: running rich.. its possible because the Check engine light is on and it could be the O2 sensor. Though I had my O2 sensor's fail in my 5.0 thus it ran terribly rich, but I had no such issues with the cats in that....
Other problems that concern me:
1. Tach doesn't work. It bounces when you first turn on the ignition then it sits at 0.
2. Check engine light: This is probably because of the bad cat. I don't have a code scanner at this time or I would diagnose this
3. A/C compressor doesn't engage, and the HVAC system blows through DEFROST only. This is no matter what the setting. The fan starts blowing through defrost, even if I selected A/C, vent or floor.
The good news is, that the car doesn't appear to be leaking severely and doesn't appear to be burning oil. The transmission also shifted firm and quick when it was running properly during the first 3 minutes of the drive.
Overal the car doesn't appear to be in too bad of shape. It was smoked in, and the seat covers are in poor condition, but no cracks in dash etc. There are a few dents and the like, but overall its fairly decent.
Are the problems with this car very major. I know that replacing a cat (IF it is the cat) can be a few hundred, but what about the tach and HVAC issues? In your opinion is this car worth the few hundred asking price? I don't want to be dumping money into it since I probably wouldn't be keeping it long anyway. So if the issues are going to be spendy on this one, I'll pass.
Thanks!
This car is fairly clean, its got newer paint on it and the like so it looks pretty good. The tranny has recently been gone through and the fluid looks good. The car has 151,xxx mi on it.
The problems:
At first start it ran great, it pulled into traffic just fine. 3-4 minutes later, it began to hesitate and run doggy, progressing to hardly running at all. I nearly had to floor it to run 25 mph. After parking the car, it immediately quit. I also noticed that the cat underneath the car was glowing bright orange. I popped the hood, but didn't notice the first cat but the manifold didn't appear to be glowing.
Now, I did some searching and found two possibilities:
1. Clogged cat- this would co-incide with the fact that the exhaust system doesn't seem to be flowing right IMO. Though there is a decent amount of exhaust coming out the tailpipe. It just sounds like too much back-pressure up into the EGR as its making a fluffy clicking noise. Also I noticed that Cat #1 has a white-ish sticky looking stuff coming through, so it could be cracked. It also is very slow to rev-up even in P.
#2: running rich.. its possible because the Check engine light is on and it could be the O2 sensor. Though I had my O2 sensor's fail in my 5.0 thus it ran terribly rich, but I had no such issues with the cats in that....
Other problems that concern me:
1. Tach doesn't work. It bounces when you first turn on the ignition then it sits at 0.
2. Check engine light: This is probably because of the bad cat. I don't have a code scanner at this time or I would diagnose this
3. A/C compressor doesn't engage, and the HVAC system blows through DEFROST only. This is no matter what the setting. The fan starts blowing through defrost, even if I selected A/C, vent or floor.
The good news is, that the car doesn't appear to be leaking severely and doesn't appear to be burning oil. The transmission also shifted firm and quick when it was running properly during the first 3 minutes of the drive.
Overal the car doesn't appear to be in too bad of shape. It was smoked in, and the seat covers are in poor condition, but no cracks in dash etc. There are a few dents and the like, but overall its fairly decent.
Are the problems with this car very major. I know that replacing a cat (IF it is the cat) can be a few hundred, but what about the tach and HVAC issues? In your opinion is this car worth the few hundred asking price? I don't want to be dumping money into it since I probably wouldn't be keeping it long anyway. So if the issues are going to be spendy on this one, I'll pass.
Thanks!