300zx

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Warner
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300zx

Post by Warner »

Hello everyone, I'm looking at a '91 Nissan 300zx twin turbo at a dealership near where I live and have a few questions:

1. When I'm sitting at idle the RPMs seem to bounce up and down between 500 and 800. Is this a sign a problem of any kind? It seems harmless, but I want to be sure.

2. Does this car come with a cable clutch? It's not a big deal; that's just what it felt like when I test drove it.

3. Does $12,995 seem like too much money for it? It has a recently replaced engine, turbos, clutch, BOVs, intercoolers, and timing belt, and a stage III computer chip. The exterior and interior are, both, almost flawless minus being slightly keyed on one side of the car. The body has 96,000 miles on it.

I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on this car. Thanks in advance!
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Re: 300zx

Post by Johnf514 »

Warner wrote: 1. When I'm sitting at idle the RPMs seem to bounce up and down between 500 and 800. Is this a sign a problem of any kind? It seems harmless, but I want to be sure.
I'd check into it. Look for oil spots, drips, etc. As you mentioned, its a replaced engine . . . that makes me wary.
2. Does this car come with a cable clutch? It's not a big deal; that's just what it felt like when I test drove it.
Yup.
3. Does $12,995 seem like too much money for it? It has a recently replaced engine, turbos, clutch, BOVs, intercoolers, and timing belt, and a stage III computer chip. The exterior and interior are, both, almost flawless minus being slightly keyed on one side of the car. The body has 96,000 miles on it.
Considering the years and mileage, I wouldn't take it for over $8K. The dealer will try to whine and complain about how everything in the car is new, however, that is a sunk cost of the previous owner. Tell the dealer what I told the guy selling me my old Camaro: "would you sell a car without a ________?" The Camaro was missing a spare, rear speakers, a key FOB, floor mats, window motors, etc. Long story short, the dealer had to replace those and attempted to pile the cost onto me (selling a 50K mile V6 3800II at $10K is a ripoff). In the end, I bought it for $7K flat, including TT&T.

By the way, I just KBB'ed the car; true value hovers around $7.5K. I seriously suggest you don't pay over $8K, and walk if he balks at you. Remember your arguments about the replaced components, arm yourself with knowledge about the car, be extremely cautious about the condition of the car, and know your pricing. Remenber, the dealer will always make a profit (after all, business is business), but you can minimize his profit with education.

Don't be afraid to walk! At $13K, that car will NOT sell fast. Good luck!
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JackBauer
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Post by JackBauer »

WHAT!!!! a TT 300zx is worth well over 12 grand. check the KBB just to be sure. I'd buy it in a flash. You could say that you want them to lower the price because of the mods done to it. 10g would be a steal for this car.

edit: you did KBB. still the car is worth 10g
edit: kbb doesn't have the pricing for the twin turbo i think. Go to http://www.Autotrader.com and see how much people sell this car for. you will see that the Twin turbo is always selling around 12 13 14 15k.
Paolo300zx
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Post by Paolo300zx »

OK, comming from some one who owns a 300zx TT:

1.500 to 800 rpm idle: mine does that, so we can assume most if not all do.

2. Up here in Canada (canadian $'s of course) I got an offer for $20,000. I think that $12,000 is a great price for a TTzx, and you could probably get the dealership down to 10,000.

3.There are quite a few mods on the car, which will add to the resale value.

4. I love my 300zxTT to death and i would never trade it in in a million years. It has neck snapping torque and steering tighter than a virgin's... well you get the idea.

GET THAT CAR... YOU'LL LOVE IT I GAURANTEE IT!!! :D
Warner
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Post by Warner »

Thanks for the suggestions.

The dealer says there are only ~15 of these cars for sale in this country in great condition "like this one." That number seems a bit low, but I wasn't sure so I kept my mouth closed.

The car stays parked in one spot and I've visited it a couple times and haven't seen any evidence of anything leaking.

Again about the bouncing RPMs at idle--what could be causing this? It isn't just periodically. It is constantly bouncing off 500RPMs and getting to about 800 before falling back to 500 and bouncing off it again. You say this happens in your car too, Paolo?

Occasionally after hard acceleration the aftermarket exhaust would *pop*, for lack of a better term. I've heard this on other cars and I'm still unsure as to what this popping noise is and whether or not it's a problem.

One more thing (for now :) )--When I first started the car, it took a few seconds for it to start up. Is this a sign of a bad starter or something worse?

Thanks again, guys!
JackBauer
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Post by JackBauer »

the car has been sitting at the same spot for a while, it could have trouble starting from the battery. 99.9% of cars in the dealership have a crappy battery. TT 300 is not common, but i doubt its 1 of 15. The 800 to 500 dip could be a vacuum leak, its very common in a 16 year old car, it can be fixed for under 20 bucks. better yet, let them change all the vacum lines before you buy. 10k would be a steal for this car man. The pop means that the car could be running rich, check the o2 sensors, or the maf. both of these sensors could also cause the idle to dip like that. infact, it may be the o2 or mass air flow sensor instead of a vacuum leak that is causing this problem. A vacuum leaks dip in idle happens more commonly than it would if the problem were a maf or o2 sensor. does this pop sound normal? or kind of unexpected
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Post by Sypher »

I would think that the pop sound you heard would be backfiring
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JackBauer
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Post by JackBauer »

you can feel back fire
Paolo300zx
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Post by Paolo300zx »

Im pretty sure it's the BOV. When my car starts in the morning, it idles at about 1500 rpm, then after about 3 mins it drops to 800rpm, then will varry between 800rpm and 500. It happens the most when i come up to a stop light. it'll idle at 800 then drop to about 600-500 for a couple seconds and then go back up. what i have beendoing is just lightly using the gass to keep teh rpm above 700rpm. My car also has a VERY small oil leak, but nothing im worried about. I get like 4 drops of oil over night, but when i pull out of parking spots during the day i dont see any.
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Post by JackBauer »

That is not normal. Vacuum lines it sounds like. is the problem worse in the cold?
Paolo300zx
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Post by Paolo300zx »

Oya, and i forgot to add:

The 300zx is not a happy car when it starts up in the morning, it never has been. But once it's warmed up it's golden.
JackBauer
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Post by JackBauer »

No car is happy in the morning. The idle shouldn't keep dipping like that. Just to ask, did this happen after you changed your battery? or after you unplugged the battery terminals for a long time?
Paolo300zx
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Post by Paolo300zx »

It's been doing it since ive had it, so i dont know, but its been running fine for all of its 16 years. (except the year the engine and turbo's were rebuilt :P )
JackBauer
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Post by JackBauer »

just change your vacuum lines. it sh ould run you like 5 dollars, and it can't hurt. if you haven't replaced them in 16 years, might as well. mine usually suck after 5 years and i get what you described
Paolo300zx
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Post by Paolo300zx »

I dont understand why I would want to do that. Although my Idle shuffles abit, it hasnt done any damage or caused any problems. Why would i fix something thats not causing a problem?
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