The following is a long post about an 88 240 wagon with 237,500 miles that I have only owned for 9 months and I now offer for sale in northern NJ. The biggest issue is that the auto trans is not shifting into 4th (overdrive) but I'm expecting to receive a replacement solenoid and relay and I have my fingers crossed.
Yesterday I gave into an impulse and bought a new car (2005 Mazda), perhaps because I was feeling good about paying my son's last college bills and because of news that I'm getting a pretty good end of year bonus from my employer. Another reason is that I just don't have time to maintain 4 older cars (88 240, 87 740, 86 Accord, 96 VW Golf). Today I own 5 cars in a 3 driver family so I'm looking to move the 240.
I bought this car for $1000 last February for occasional utility use and I've only logged 4000 miles. At the time of purchase it needed exhaust work which I put off until warm July weather when I replaced the cat, both mufflers, and all the pipes. In July it passed NJ inspection including emissions however I had to do some temporary wiring to get the license plate illumination to work -- I suspect the wires are broken at the tailgate hinge and some work there would probably make the light fix permanent and perhaps fix the rear wiper which according to service records I found has a relatively new motor.
The big issue however is the AT which currently does not shift into 4th gear. A reader of this NG is sending me a solenoid and relay but it hasn't arrived yet and the final resolution of the transmission problem is unknown. I've been driving the car locally as a very smoothly shifting 3 speed. This problem developed about a month ago and was intermittent for about 10 days until it became permanent. I removed the solenoid and found cracked and deteriorated rubber at the entry point of the wire. When I peeled back this rubber I found the wire broken but I can not say for sure whether my inspection may have caused that damage. I repaired the wire and resealed the end and I believe the solenoid was working however I still did not get 4th gear. Hence the next step is trying a different solenoid and new relay but this remains unresolved.
Following is a complete list of all other issues I can think of.
- The AC does not work.
- There is a fair amount of rust at the antenna attachment points.
- A side molding strip needs to be reattached (have strip).
- The headlight switch works but is loose and rotates somewhat when operated (I don't see a shaft nut).
- The Sony radio/cassette deck sometimes has static (filter needed?) and the channel tune control needs a replacement knob.
- The driver vinyl seat has a large tear.
- The map pockets on the front doors are broken (have all pieces so maybe this can be creatively repaired.
- The plastic knob for folding the rear seat latch is mostly broken off but the mechanism works and you can push the release with a screw driver.
- The rear seat head rests/supports are missing.
The following is more information about the car.
I don't know much about the history of the car except to say that it was previously maintained at Larry Costa's Long Valley Garage which is widely known in this area as outstanding (the last time I tried to make a service appointment the wait was 5 weeks). The car was on Larry's lot for sale although my dealings were with the owner. Larry recommended the car to me based on his knowledge of it. Except for the transmission problem and the other mostly minor problems I've described I think the car is fine but for light commuting, utility use, new driver school commuting, etc. The previous owner used it as a nanny car. Larry told me he would feel fine about "driving it to Florida."
Anyone interested can contact me by changing the letters "3e" in my return address to "eee". I'd like to see the car put to a good purpose but if I don't get any fair offers I'll probably work through the transmission problem and then either donate it or turn it over to a niece or nephew.