Been offered early car with 166k miles - potential problems?

[IanW]

Hi

We've been offered an early G plate SE with 166k miles on it by a former colleague who's emigrating. Price may well be quite low, reflecting her wish that the car goes to a good home that she knows rather than being broken for parts, however our main concerns are the potential costs in the immediate future.

Its been serviced regularly (every 6kmiles/6 months) by a local garage, is driven every day, MOT to Feb. Cam belt changed at 110k, OSR wishbone replaced 1999, some suggestion (unconfirmed) that the NSR wishbone has been 'welded' at some point which is a bit worrying if true.

So, are there any major headaches/problems/expensive bills that we should anticipate if we take the car on?

I've already identified that it needs a cambelt change, & without looking in detail at the service records I'm thinking it would be wise to factor in replacement tensioner, idler & maybe pump at the same time.

I'm also factoring in a new NSR wishbone, and will look closely at the upper links having seen pictures of these in a very poor condition.

I'm assuming that the regular servicing has covered all the other 'consumables' on the car such as brakes, cooling, filters etc but will have a better idea as & when we have a closer look, however any guidance on other stuff to look out for from those with experience of high mileage Elans would be most welcome.

cheers

Ian

[Enright]

Good call on the cambelt and other rear wishbone.
I'd check out the condition of the fronts - they go too and you can't get galv'd replacements. They could easily cost you a couple of hunder quid per side.
Other than that, exhaust and gear cables would be my biggest worries.
Oh, and a good servicing of the front calipers.

[Paul.P]

Ian, i know ( & have seen ) a car at GST Performance, that has covered 270k mls, that has never even had the head off , no turbo problems or anything major mechanical, only problem with it is chassis is now wrotten cause it was stored somewhere damp, my point being if a car is looked after, it should be ok for high mileage !, although there will obviously be issues with wishbones etc.

[Russc]

Clutch can be a few quid if it needs replacing through a garage and worth checking when it was last replaced.

[Oliver]

And get that chassis waxoyled! (paying particular attention to the rear end / wishbone pick up points).

[IanW]

Thanks for all the input chaps; hope to have a closer look at the car & all the service records later in the week.

In terms of pricing out parts/work required I'm using SJ Sportcars as a guide; is this reasonable or are there quality sources significantly cheaper?

ps.How much would a good garage charge/how many hours involved to change a rear wishbone..?

[Sy V]

You can change a rear wishbone in an hour but double that for a good geo check..

[WillB]

Good call on the cambelt and other rear wishbone.

Happy to help!

[surfboardfiller]

Sounds like you will be spending over £1k on this one if you have it done professionally.
If it's a good price to start with, then it could be well worth it, but not if you try and sell it on. People seem to be scared by high milers.

Cheers,

Phil

[clemo]

i would mention oil pump as well ..
if it has never been replaced then it would be prudent...
best of luck ...

[IanW]

Thanks for the input guys.....

Decided not to go for it in the end.... could easily identify about £1k of work required immediately with the potential for lots more, so concerned that it would rapidly become a money pit & never worth much more than £2-3k when theres so many on the market with half the mileage.

It was sold on ebay apparently... reserve was £1300 so it may turn up here at some time.