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Am I insane or brave.

MarkT said:
Like WhatsThisFor said, corrosion is the main thing to look for. These generally aren't undersealed as they don't spread salt in Japan. If you've a year or few to go, don't overthink this - get on ground with torch and look at the structural stuff.

MOT history will indicate whether the owner was on top of maintenance (did they wait until those advisories became majors?) and if rust has got really bad.

A 'sniff test' will check for head gasket issues quickly and cheaply. That's generally paying out £3500+ for a (second hand) replacement engine to be fitted.

Walk away from any blue smoke. White smoke on start-up may be water vapour, LPG valve saver being burnt off or... smoke.

Plugging in a code reader (select Nissan Consult II protocol, not OBD2) makes sense. The socket is behind the little coin tray by the driver's right knee.

Get on the ground and check the inside corner of the rear tyres for premature wear - tired rear springs means they'll wear very fast there and you'll get blowouts/have to replace tyres years early.

Always go for a test drive. Should be a quiet engine with no clunks or rattles. Go for cars where the owner talks about bushings etc being replaced... that's an indicator that they're a preventative maintenance kinda person who can afford to spend money on making it right.

It's much less risky buying these cars - no turbo, no direct injection, no having to plug into computers to change parts. Any time-served mechanic will love working on it - go to back-street/independent garages.

Much of the little bits of maintenance like droplinks can be done yourself. If doing work, essentials are a spare 10mm socket or 3 for when you drop it into the engine bay, magnetic pick up tool for fishing out nuts and bolts you've dropped into the engine bay, non-magnetic grabby-pick-up tool for fishing out non-metal parts you've dropped into the engine bay, ramps that don't catch the bumper when you drive up them (used to give you room to get underneath and remove the undertrays so you can retrieve the things you dropped that somehow made it right through the engine bay), cheap angle grinder with decent cutting disk for the bastard droplinks. Small blowtorch for other bastard seized bolts.
With the money saved you can buy tools to do the next job 🤪
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I'm lucky I have a tame mechanic who lets me provide parts for my "weird" cars. Usually new only but he did allow a used part of the brake compensator for a 1982 Toyota Estima Emina as the whole thing was ridiculous money but only part that seizes but doesn't wear or mechanically fail was needed.

His repair pricing is fair too, and his "testers opinion" means you don't get fleeced on the spot for fails that should be advisory so he gets your repeat business and your recommendation locally.
 
skraggy_uk said:
The other option is it is general crud and a mix of accumulated sea air/road salt built up which doesn't bear thinking about.

Fingers in ears, lalalala, I can't hear you negativity 🤣
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I'd have to say no, living by the sea myself. My engine bay is nothing like that. In fact, aside from the expected road dust type of stuff (and very little of that) mine is clean. After 3 years of use and none of this pressure washing/steam cleaning engine bay nonsense.
 
@skraggy_uk the one you posted videos to....
I'd walk away.
He flew through double whites at a junction.
More to the point, he's very cavalier in using a mobile with one hand hanging kit the window to record the front wheel...so there's no real care for the vehicle or other road users aside from it's not legal to use a phone while driving....
Why? What he hiding about the interior rattles and shakes when in motion? Clunking suspensio and drop links chattering away? You probably wouldn't hear them from outside, but they resonate like billy-o on the inside.
Also, when its been started up and is idling, the revs seem rather high. I know it's been cold and all, but mine doesn't sit that high even when there's ice outside.

Plenty of other contenders out there, and it's already been mentioned, there's a very honest E50 3.5 with LPG done by the a real pro for sale at your budget on here.....
 
Thank you both. I get what you are saying but it is an E51 I'm after.
 
Nah back yourself. Gotta take the risk every now and then
 
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Gwilo365 said:
I'd have to say no, living by the sea myself. My engine bay is nothing like that. In fact, aside from the expected road dust type of stuff (and very little of that) mine is clean. After 3 years of use and none of this pressure washing/steam cleaning engine bay nonsense.
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I live by the sea (300 metres from the North Sea) and my engine bay doesn't look like that, and I've not cleaned it in 6 months. It might look like that after a few years 😬😬
 
Bowdog3 said:
Nah back yourself. Gotta take the risk every now and then
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I did in the end. Decided to take punt. So far so good a week in. So far shocks a bit soggy (soft in corners but jarring over speed bumps if you hit them direct), some life in the tyres but I'm getting ready to sort them, and someone never added the GPS or dab antennas to the alpine headunit so I have FM, cd or Bluetooth audio but no video.

Good news is not too much suspension /steering rattles and the LPG system works but the tank seems very small, need to stick my head under to have a look see.
 
JagoGell said:
I live by the sea (300 metres from the North Sea) and my engine bay doesn't look like that, and I've not cleaned it in 6 months. It might look like that after a few years 😬😬
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He mentioned that.

Said they had to buff the headlights with a polisher for the MOT and never got round to cleaning were it spattered under the bonnet from doing the upper lamps just the body.

I might get round to cleaning it. I'm not good at things like engine bay detailing.
 
skraggy_uk said:
He mentioned that.

Said they had to buff the headlights with a polisher for the MOT and never got round to cleaning were it spattered under the bonnet from doing the upper lamps just the body.

I might get round to cleaning it. I'm not good at things like engine bay detailing.
Click to expand...

Now that explains a lot. Engine bay detailing isn't too bad or that time consuming really. I just use a microfiber and a cleaning compound followed with a silicone based product.
 
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