Help on buying a Mark VIII

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BigBen

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Hi to all,

I plan on buying a used Mark VIII, its seems like the best match between comfort and power. I also want to pwn all the **** civics I live around. Anyways, I'm looking at all the used Mark VIIIs around me and I'm particularly interested in a nice 97 white LSC with around 80k miles on it, from a car wholesaler. I took the car out for a drive and I noticed it was shaking when I was braking because one of the front brake is finished, the guy had told me about that problem and said he was going to get it fixed shortly. I also got the low oil message. I also noticed It was quite hard to move the shifter around, but once it was in proper gear, no problem. Apart from these issues, the car seemed to be in good shape. The guy wont give me any guarantee what so ever, which is kind of scary, I always like at least 5k warranty on a used car coming from a wholesaler. I'm going to take the car to a mechanic and try getting a full inspection on it. Is there anything i should be aware of, anything i should pay attention to or ask the mechanic to check?

Thx

Ben
 
It sounds like you should just keep looking. This doesn't sound like a good buy.
 
Yeah, definitely not a car I would go with. The "Low Oil" warning, from what I've heard, usually doesn't come on until it's too late to avoid engine damage. That stiff gear-shift doesn't sound right either.
 
If you can afford to fix it and the price is good (really good) go for it, but if your pockets are shallow like mine keep looking.
 
One thing I considered when putting together the budget for, and choosing my most recent car purchase:

Anything costing $3,000 or less is probably going to cost you another $1,000 or more within a year. So, either have that extra $1k set aside or just go for something in the higher price range.

The last car I got was $2,000 about a year ago, and it put me another $2,000+ in the hole before I got into an accident and finally decided to park it. Now I've got another Mark VIII that cost me about $5,100 and it's absolutely GOLDEN!
 
I would keep looking, too many problems, I want to spend my money on extra goodies.:cool:
 
Thx guys, I guess ill keep on looking, they're not easy to find in Montreal.
 
They are still abundant here in Florida... less so every year though.
 
Iszi said:
Yeah, definitely not a car I would go with. The "Low Oil" warning, from what I've heard, usually doesn't come on until it's too late to avoid engine damage. That stiff gear-shift doesn't sound right either.
Click to expand...

Then mine should've killed itself about 200 times by now... I had a filter adapter gasket leak, I just added oil when the low oil level message came up. I didn't fix it for awhile since it was winter and I don't have a garage. No problems for me... I think it comes on at about 1qt low. I know my Eldo's comes on at 2qts low, but that's a 7.5qt w/filter.
 
Iszi said:
Yeah, definitely not a car I would go with. The "Low Oil" warning, from what I've heard, usually doesn't come on until it's too late to avoid engine damage. That stiff gear-shift doesn't sound right either.
Click to expand...

That's the oil pressure warning. And yes, by the time you see that, the pressure has dropped below ~5 psi and your engine is probably toast.

The low oil warning (which comes on when the level is 1-1.5 qts low) isn't exactly a good sign, but it's not a huge issue either. Then again, considering that the dealer isn't offering a warranty and didn't even bother to top off the oil before showing you the car, I'd inspect it VERY thoroughly before buying it.
 
You need to check to see if the blend door arm is broken, also make sure the air ride and front suspension is in good shape. It is getting near the mileage where all of those things need to be replaced.
 
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