Bump..the fan doesn't work. Bump..it does.

[w261w261]

In spite of my son's reluctance to accept a 3G, it's my money and I might make him take one. I've located an '88 LX-i coupe 5 spd near Philadelphia (Haddonfield Township), and the problem is I live in suburban CT, so I would take Amtrak down and hopefully drive the car back. Or not. Sounds like the current owner is a 20-something guy that got the car from his uncle, who got it from his uncle, who owned it for quite a few years. He's selling it because he bought an SUV. The mileage is not what's indicated, odo says 74k, title says 120k. There was a story for that. Typical little rust in wheel well, fixed in some fashion. Paint otherwise is supposed to be good. No a/c but it's winter anyway. No squeaks, no cold start issues, new alternator, muffler and fuel pump, and 4 brand new tires. Nice cream interior, newer radio, antenna and windows work. I'm not sure he knew what a timing belt was, let alone if it had been changed. Prob needs a new one. Says no slip in clutch.

So far so good. There is a potential problem, that I haven't heard of on this board before, and that is the fan will cut out sometimes when the car hits a bump. Another bump and it comes back on. Nothing else seems to be affected in this way. So here's my question, *most likely*, is this a problem in the switch itself, which means I can pull out the control unit and maybe just push in a connector better, orrrrrrrr....a problem in the connection to the fan motor itself, which I suspect is a whole different issue.

Anyone been presented with something like this before? I really don't want to start off with a take the dash apart kind of problem. It's too cold.

Seller is asking $2,000. If it's as nice as it sounds (fuelie 5 spd light interior relatively low miles one family coupe, I'm thinking it's worth around 1500-1800. It has a tilting sunroof.

What do you guys think? Thx.

[ShyBoyCA6]

hmm sounds good and the tilting run roof is bad ass i think 1800$sounds about right and check a fuse if the fan has one

[charliekuney]

Well, with my car cost history, I wouldn't pay that much, especially with the mileage problem.

[nswst8]

Post some pics if you can get ahold of some, gives a better idea of what the value is. But like anything for sale the value i only what someone is willing to pay. This is a 20-22 year old vehicle from PA and has a milage conflick.

I'd only pay $2k if there weren't any issues. I paid $710 and am already at around $1200 and still fixing items that need attention. By time I'm done I expect to be somewhere at around $2000 to $2500. But on a car I know that I can keep for another 10 years its worth it to me.

[2oodoor]

sounds like a nice car, the fan temp sensor plugs up by the radiator pass side lower, what I would check

[w261w261]

Sorry, I should have been more explicit on my first post. The "fan" I was speaking about is actually the heater blower. After a certain amount of prodding, the seller (150 miles away) says that the blower is mostly off but comes on sometimes when the car hits a bump. The lights on the control unit are on all the time supposedly.

Now this could be a deal killer. The last thing I need is a cold ride home and maybe a problem with the heater blower, which I assume is a bear to get to. It's now Friday night, and I'm going to go over the schematics and see if there's any way to trouble shoot this on site.

Is it easy to take out the heater contol unit from the dash? Maybe the fan control slider switch is just screwed up?

Anyone got any comments on this let's have em because I was going to go down there Sunday. He was asking $2k, now down to 1500, but with the mileage discrepancy plus this I'm thinking more like 1200 tops. Ideas?

[ShyBoyCA6]

probably a lose wire turning the heat blower on and off cause it only happens when you hit a bump right....just check the wiring see if everything is pluged in rite and check for a ripped wire and use black tape

[Dr_Snooz]

Kinda tough to say. It could be a lot of things from a bad fan motor to a bad wire. The fan motor comes out pretty easy, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The fan circuit goes from the battery, to the ignition switch to the motor, through the switch to ground. If it's a bad wire, I'd say the worst, worst case scenario is that you run a new wire. There's no real reason to have to pull the dash for any of that.

I wouldn't be especially afraid of that. Growling noises from the trans that people three blocks away can hear scare me, but not a wonky fan.

Now it's also possible the guy is telling you about the most obvious symptom stemming from when he and his buddy decided they were going to hack into the dash loom to rewire in his awesome new stereo. The other symptoms he's not telling you about are the strange dimming of all lights and the occasional burning wire smell. If that's the case, run like hell.

[w261w261]

Well thanks everyone for the advice. I'm passing on the car....too many issues, but have found a nice blue LX-i coupe 5 spd in Annandale, VA, $1550 asking. Now I'm 300 miles from home....but at least near an Amtrak line.

Really hard to find 5 spd LX-i coupes. This one has wheel covers...I thought all the LX-i had aluminum wheels.

I pulled a Carfax on it (btw I have 7 inquiries left so if anyone needs one pm me) and it was bought at auction from a dealer in October. Guess there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it looks so clean I'm surprised the dealer didn't take a whack at selling it himself. Maybe he did.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/1502422863.html Looks like the original mats in the trunk!

[Xybris]

Oooh, gotta love that black/beige interior combination. On the upper timing belt cover there is a Volvo sticker? Looks clean from the pics though.

[JDM 3g Racer]

Oooh, gotta love that black/beige interior combination. On the upper timing belt cover there is a Volvo sticker? Looks clean from the pics though.

I wonder if Volvo built theses engines for Honda? i know alot of companys used to do that in the 80s,

but WOW that is a really clean car!! I wish you good luck on getting it!

[w261w261]

Oooh, gotta love that black/beige interior combination. On the upper timing belt cover there is a Volvo sticker? Looks clean from the pics though.

Good catch on the Volvo sticker! Absolutely no Swedish tractor motors in our Hondas, but I'll ask the owner about it.

[carotman]

It looks like a really clear car.

If you ever get this one, you should have the original floor mats reproduced :D

[w261w261]

I spoke to the owner today, whose English is pretty bad. He's the one bought it at the auction. There was a dealer sticker on the windscreen in the pic, I'm going to try to call the dealer and see if they remember the car at all.

The only thing is it has sun damage on the roof and trunk. Worse comes to worse, $500 could fix that I would think. I may go down tomorrow on Amtrak and have a look, maybe come home with another 3G! First thing I'd do is get rid of the wheel arch rubbers in the back. The car appears to have no rust there (Bonus!).

[Dr_Snooz]

Take your time looking at that one. It's been freshly detailed. It's hard to say what it looked like before they detailed it. You'd be surprised what a detail will do to a skunky car. The thing that gives me pause is that it still has a lot of random bonks, stains and flaws even after the detailing which tells me it was pretty rough beforehand. With a really pristine car, a good detail will take it back to showroom perfect or at least very close. It could be fine, but just be aware that this one has been given the hide-all-the-problems treatment. It's also been through auction. That's usually where dealers send the very worst cars, the real stinkers. The buyer is also unloading it shortly after buying it, which makes me even more suspicious. It may all be on the up and up, but just have your wits about you when you go to see it.

Good luck.