Looking to buy an 87 GL wagon, need info

[subanoob]

First off, hello, I look foreward to learning a thing or two here.

 

Now to my questions, I'm looking at an 87 GL wagon, the guy wants $900 for it, it's a one owner car, has 223,000mi on it, and is on it's second engine, not sure how many miles are on that, but I'll ask, is this a good deal? What should I be looking at closely? I am very mechanically inclined, kind of have to be with my Jeeps, so I don't mind a bit of wrenching. This will mainly be the wife's car, but I plan on making it fun for me as well.

 

Sorry for the long post,

 

Thanks for your input

[heep70]

Alright another Jeep (Heep) dude. These guys are great. They helped me out a lot.

[Snowman]

Welcome to the board!

 

Usually, the three most common problems with subarus of this generation are oil leaks, rust, and CV axles going out. Since you are mechanically inclined, I wouldn't worry so much about small oil leaks or bad CVs, as you can probably re-gasket the engine if you want to, and CV axles are easy to change. Rust is really the only true killer of old soobs, so check very carefully for it.

 

Also, once you find out how many miles are on this engine, see if the timing belts have been recently changed, as that time may be getting close.

 

$900 sounds alright to me, but where I live, these cars tend to be a bit more expensive than elsewhere. If it's got any of the aforementioned problems, the price should immediately drop a couple hundred dollars.

 

Best of luck to you.

[subanoob]

I did get under it with a flashlight, no rust anywhere except on the front driver and passenger side window trim, and that's just surface. The car doesn't appear to have been abused, the body is straight, interior is in good shape, just high mileage. I already plan on putting it through it's paces when I test drive it. I have owned one Subaru before, a 73 DL(I think) Rebuilt the engine, and couldn't find heads for it. It's gone now