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My $500 1987 240 has turned out to be a real surprise!
The reason it was $500 was because it wouldn't start and 2 mechanics had thrown in the towel. It wouldn't start because of several reasons:
1. bad wiring harness... only exposed wires were bad. The wires that were behind the heavy black plastic were all OK. I removed the entire wire harness from the engine compartment (up to where it goes into the firewall) and inspected and replaced each wire as necessary. I think there were about 7 wires that were bad (oil pressure sender, alternator, ecu temp sensor, dash temp sensor, knock sensor and maybe a couple other I'm forgetting). It's not that bad of a job except for removing/reinstalling the intake manifold, but even that's not very hard.
2. bad connection to the spark computer (or whatever that is in front of the passenger-side fender). Some dipshit mechanic wedged a sheet-metal screw in between the connectors to try to get it to stay there, because the clip was broken. I used a pick to slightly tighten each female connector on the wire harness to get it to connect and hold.
3. bad intake air bellow... the corrogated plastic thing. It had at least 8 holes in it. I cleaned it up and used black electrical tape to fix this.
After putting this all back together, it started right up. It runs like a champ, but smokes a little bit. This is the first time it's run in at least 6 months. I drove around the block a couple times to verify that the transmission works OK and that the steering is good.
There are tons of new parts on this car... all new ignition stuff, new MAF, new steering rack, new 2-row all-metal radiator, new water pump, new timing belt and seals, and new tires. I need to get it to stop smoking, so I will try some of that engine flush stuff because I really think it's suffering from a stuck oil ring and not irregular oil changes (the PO claims that it didn't use to smoke and never used any oil between changes).
My total expense on this car so far is $4 (for intake manifold gasket), and some wire and tape that I had laying around.
Anyway, I think I could easily get $1500 for this car (160,000 miles) but could probably get more if the A/C worked.... the compressor is locked up and it has one of those IPD bypass kits on it. What do you all think? Should I try to find a junkyard R-134a compressor and charge it myself with the kit at K-Mart or just sell as-is? What other parts would I need besides a compressor for the R-12 to R-134 conversion (I don't have much experience with A/C)?
Thanks!
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