Dear Friends,

My '84 245 is in need of a lot of work that I'm not dying to do right now (cam seal, struts, heater core, possible transfer pump with transmission work looming on the horizon), so I'm pondering buying an '85 245 turbo. It looks to be in great shape, although I haven't seen it in the flesh yet.

Are there any problems particular to that year/model that I should know of?
Am I in for headaches with the turbo?

It's got 157,000 on it with the original M46, same as my current ride.

As usual, all input is welcome.

If your state requires a smog test make sure it passes before you buy. The catalytic converter is expensive, like $400 to $500 or more. Your gas mileage will be worse. Two reasons, you will enjoy the right pedal more and the turbo just gets worse mileage in general. If it has a water cooled turbo and the PO has taken care if it it will probably be OK. The injector seals dry out a lot on the turbos, not too hard to replace though. All said i love the 240 turbos and own a 2 door now.
Gary L

It appears to be extraordinarily well cared for, although I'm not sure whether it's a water cooled turbo or not. What's the downside of the non-water cooled setup?

Some people think it doesn't last as long as having it water cooled. Well if you don't let either one with or with out water cooling cool down after use nether will last to long.
Water and oil cooled has a faster cool down time.

"with or with out water cooling cool down after use nether will last to long." Actually the Mitsubishi turbos in certain 7/9 series cars lasted a surprisingly long time with owners that did not know that the 1-5 minute cool down was a good idea. My 760 turbo wagon was owned by a hopelessly ignorant (not stupid) housewife for all of it's 220K miles before I got it. She had never heard of allowing the car to idle before turning it off for turbo life.

At 280K miles, it still had the original head gasket (amazing in in my opinion) and turbo. Not sure where it is now because I donated it before going to Iraq the second time but I would not be surprised to hear it is still pumping on the miles.

To the OP, the wiring harness takes an even bigger beating in the turbos so I cannot image it is original. If it is, replace it immediately. If the hood blanket is not in place, replace it immediately if the paint is not already suffering from the extra heat load.

Speaking of heat load, the restriction of the IC in addition to the condenser coil makes the radiator condition critical.

Thanks, this is excellent.

First I've heard of the cooldown period.