speedingpenguin

*sigh*
Last month I finally was able to buy a car...so I started looking for a third gen...
I'd looked at a few before, but both werent good at all...lots of rust and stuff, V6, hardtop...just werent what I was looking for.
Anywho, I was talking with a guy i know from one of these forums that lives by me, so i asked if he knew of any for sale. Turned out he had one for sale, so I stopped by to look at it that afternoon.
89 Formula, had a carburated 350/automatic...body didnt have any rust on the fenders, just a little on the doors (but theyre easier to replace and crap...)...Interior was fairly nice, no rips in the seats, no big stains, nothing broken...took it for a drive, loved it...none of the gauges worked so I was sorta scared to really let it rev high (used to a german V6, sounds a LOT different than an american V8), but it was fairly quick, and felt powerful enough to keep me happy through the winter...Tranny shifted nice and firm, the suspension and brakes felt nice and tight (Again, my previous car, a Catera, was a LOT smoother, but its a 97 and this was an 89), overall I liked the car.
Got back to the guys house, discussed the price...
he wanted 2500 for it, at the time I was like "Oh, well the gauges wont be hard to fix, and it runs nice and isnt in bad shape, but it IS a little high...", so he said he'd throw in a set of slightly used edelbrock headers, so I said "Okay" and the next weekend I put the deposit down on the car....he was still waiting for the title to come in from the RMV, cause he had bought the car only a few weeks before....Finally they get the titel and I buy the car...As is, no warentee, etc.
So it sat in my driveway for a few weeks, I tried to get the gauges to work with no success.....did the plugs, wires, etc....A friend finally got the gauges to work by using a 20 amp fuse (there was a 10 amp before...dunno why)...anyway, finally got it registerd yesterday and it wouldnt start. let the battery charge for a few minutes and it started up...drove it around the neighborhood, the engine stutterd at WOT a little, but seemed fine.....leave for work, get 5 minutes out of the neighborhood and its BARELY running....pull into a parking lot, wont start back up....Finally after getting my mom to drive over to let me use her car to recharge the battery, I get it started and back home....gauges crapped out, barely made it home...

I know I paid too much for the car....I know I shouldnt have trusted everything the guy said, I know I should have had someone else look at it before I bought it....But I was excited about it, I trusted the guy completly, I thought I was getting a fairly good deal. This was the first car I've ever purchased, and now I look back and I know I should have done everything different. Now I've got a car with a nice body and interior, no gauges, and an engine that runs but needs a little work, and an electrical problem somewhere that i havnt been able to fix. I dont have any other way of getting around, and no real place to work on the car (Doesnt help that its COLD outside)
Nuttin I can do about buying the car now, i've got it and i'm gonna have to deal with it....Should I concider an engine swap? Maybe go back to EFI? I dunno what to do! I've got a little money but I'd planned on getting the car repainted and getting some go-fast goodies....but I do have some money and could borrow a little too...What should I do?

Silver

Well first off find out what's wrong with it. Man, you're skipping a LOT of steps :O

I wouldn't feel too bad, other than the guy not being honest with you (yes, withholding information is dishonest). For that age, it's probably about average.

Heck, it could just need a tuneup.

moparman

Take the battery and have it tested.

1stz28

Doesn't really sound like that bad of a deal to me. Try not to get too worried and just go after one problem at a time. You said it ran ok but missed just a little at WOT. Probably just some minor tune up needed. You also said you had the guages working once so that probably isn't that big of a deal either. You might even fix one problem and find out you fixed another in the process. For example, you said the battery was giving you troubles so when you get the charging system working properly some of the other problems may disappear. Lots of weird things can happen when voltage is low...may run poorly (which it is) etc. In other words, relax and try to take a slow systematic approach to it and I think you will end up with a decent car that you enjoy. Good luck.

Rice Killer87

get the batt. checked and replace it if necessary.

another problem u might not know about and wouldnt b/c the guages dont work is if the alternator is charging.

u said it run ok but then got worse,which could be the cause seeing as how the battery was dead,jumped it and it ran but got worse, which would b/c the voltage would slowly drop till the battery went dead again.

dont get down in the dumps man,its an older car and things are going to break and stuff w/ age,it just needs some love and care.

BirchMan98z

might just need a tune-up or a cleaned out carb. What's the mileage on the car? Alternator could be an issue too.

speedingpenguin

Well, as i said, the engine is from a 70's truck (According to the guy who sold it to me) so i have no idea on the miles on the engine, but the car itself, according to AutoTrader, had 95k last year.....the odometer reads like 96500 or so....but if the gauges dont work then who knows how accurate it is...
I guess i'm just upset because its my only means of transportation....my dad doesnt want me driving his G35 (for obious reasons, LOL) around, and my mom would let me use her van when i need it, but she's always going places so i'm outa luck there....
gonna get it in the garage tonight and up on ramps (just bought some of the 30$ Rhino Ramps...figure it will work for now...), and i'll start getting VERY familiar with the haynes book, LOL
Meh....