1990 plymouth sundance, 2.5L, 4dr liftback, 127000 miles, $400
> is this a good buy? I know nothing about these cars....this one is an
> automatic, with 2 new tires and a new timing belt
Test drove this car today. Suspension is great, engine seems smooth (though weak), auto transmission shifts smoothly AC, heat and electronics work good
paint is peeling badly, no major rust though. Small oil leak, small crack in windshield, needs better tires
I think I'm buying it. I have arranged a used-car check tomorrow at a local garage. After some research, here is a list of things that I think are most important to consider (in order of importance): Head Gasket VCG leaks Compression test Drive Belt Gas tank rust Fuel pump
Anything else that sticks out about these cars? It does need new tires, but seems heavy and i've read that it handles well in snow.
Camshaft, crankshaft and intermediate shaft oil seals. Timing Belt Hidden Rust (recently had the jack in my LeBaron go through the rocker panel while changing a flat, looked great on the outside with no obvious signs of rust but the metal had the consistency of corn flakes under the paint) I just noticed the price for $400 a viable running vehicle is a bargain.
-- "They that can give up essential liberty to obta> > 1990 plymouth sundance, 2.5L, 4dr liftback, 127000 miles, $400
see...what you say makes sense now, but this summer I bought a sweet '79 BMW
528i for $450, and it ran just fine, pretty fast and pulled hard. I babied it for a month, then the head gasket blew on the highway. Being a poor student, that traumatized me, heh heh, so I'm just trying to be careful.
Did all the fluids check especially coolent & oil weekly, keeping watch on others like transmission oil, etc?
The head gasket blow could be either coolant went low or got filled with exhaust gases from leaking head gasket.
If you're on your severe budget, the chrysler 2.5L cars or caravan
2.5L is great and excellent for beater car! Once helped a friend pull gas tank to change fuel pump on a 1990 2.5L caravan without jacking it up.
Chrysler 2.2/2.5L engines cars/ caravans are not too bad on maintaince like brakes, cooling systems, electricals, even head gasket on many things by yourself. Parts are inexpensive even from dealer's. 2.5L is 1 injector engine which is BIG plus for you on ease of troubleshooting and repairs. Getting computer codes is with this key trick you start car with. Get the real service manual is a MUST and don't worry that book will pay by itself in one repair, ebay or dealer's. Hayes isn't worth the paper to clean with. I got the service manuals via ebay for my 1987 voyager 'van.
Keep watching this newsgroups. it's great also EEK mailing group via
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Oh, if you get the car, please straighten out everything previous owner or fly-by-night mechanics messed up on car especially that emissions, vacuum stuff! It will make car run MUCH nicer! Every cars that anybody I knew or seen had messed up vacuum stuff. Get it fixed RIGHT. It is not a big deal to repair if anything go wrong even on a proper set up vacuum system. The manual is the key for troubleshooting. Oh, straightening out even the worst one is not that big budget actually.
My 'van has three things I'm working on, messed up vacuum stuff, screwed cooling stuff (temp sensor thread ruined also wrong thermostat (185F instead of 195F as stated in manual) and ruined carb yet engne runs but way rich and have to baby the throttle to keep rpms up till engine starts to warm up about a minute or so. Two plastic covers missing & cast valve cover, instument cluster, fasteners already got them from junkyard for a song. Already located a good carb from ebay and it's on the way as I speak. 1987 was half year period from carb to TBI like yours has. For caravans in 1987, early ones had 2.2 & 2.6 both carbed 4 cyls to 2.5 & 3.0 V6 both fuel injection, by late 1987.
Bolts and stuff is metric, other fasteners is usual like torx, philips etc. Very few items uses imperial. If you have badly rusted or partially stripped fasteners replace them if you get them removed. Anything you need even screws, junkyards, hardware stores, dealers are great.
Oh, when you do get that car, replace battery with decent brand not that kind from chain stores & double check electricals & alternator is good. No matter!
Oil leaker on these engines is fairly common, did it smells like burning oil from the engine bay? It is the leaky valve cover seeping oil onto hot exhaust manifold, check PCV valve is good or replace (cheap) and replace valve cover with cast aluminum valve cover with new rubber gasket. Cast valve cover off either turbo or regular 2.5L cars, make sure you do get the steel curtain that hides under that valve cover, grind bit of metal off on all the valve cover bolts, sometimes they bottoms out. The steel valve covers is hard to seal with RTV. If you have to stick with steel valve cover, clean all the old sealent off and buff off scraps with 3M scrub pads. Check the valve cover bolt holes are flat and tap them flat if they are dimpled, a sign that somebody overtorqued. This stuff isn't high pressure stuff, just firm torque just to fasten valve cover. Degrease REALLY GOOD both valve cover & head sealing surfaces with brake cleaner spray and lots of clean rags, apply 1-2mm bead of RTV glue and circle each hole on the head before laying valve cover on head.
Oil leak from other sources isn't that bad, just get them dealt with by mechanic or dealer's. That means new timing belt & timing belt idler is good idea. Water pump is external driven off v-belt. Not too bad by yourself.
Broken timing belt on 2.2/2.5L is non-event but annoying. Once you take care of everything and keep good maintainces, you can beat the stuffings out of 2.5L and will come back wagging for more. Those 4 cyl engines is really overbuilt like slant 6.
Oh, have a body work check the body and fix if it's not too bad. It's both safety (required) & helps to keep dust & cold air out and sound structual body. More and more states are starting to have emissions checks and be reposonible to your enviroment even that state you're in doesn't require, just keep car's emissions in good repair.
I loved my 92 Shadow (same car). Peppy, handled well, lots of front-seat room and trunk space. Head gasket problems would prevent passing an emissions check if you have them where you are, but if you can get it on the road for less than a grand it's a deal. As long as the body holds up, other things can be fixed fairly easily and cheaply..
Absolutely NOT!! You need a *FACTORY* service manual; the Haynes and Chilton aftermarket books are full of incorrect info.
[ebay item 2450078274 ]
Yes, that is one of the three-volume set that is the factory service manual. It is the engine, chassis and body manual -- you'd also need the wiring diagrams manual and the electrical, fuel and emissions manual. Usually it's not hard to find the full 3-piece set on Ebay.
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