$1100 bought me a stock '90 loyale with a rebuilt engine (50,000 mi on it), 174k on the chassis, new alt, bat, newish tires. Some rust, one dent on outside. Good accell, brakes, tight tranny, new clutch, tight 4wd and blows no smoke.

 

Problems

Oil pressure seems to fluctuate a lot Oil pump bad)

Recent louder-than-most ticking noise coming from right head (general area)

The ticking is caused by either the oil pump seals needing replaced or the cam tower o-rings needing replaced. The oil pressure sending unit is probably to blame for the oil pressure fluctuations. That's a very common cause for low readings.

That, ^, and the factory oil pressure gauge isn't the most acurate. Hook up a good mechanic gauge and check pressure with it.

Reseal the oil pump. Pay attention to the gasket (oring material), if one port looks sucked in (very common issue), that's probably your ticking problem. Replace the oil pump if the oil pump reseal doesn't help it.

 

Change your oil often, these are hydraulic valve lash adjusters, they are great in that they never need adjusted but dirty oil does them wrong.

yea probally the pump seals, thats what fixed mine. my pressure didnt fluctuate though, i might get a j-yard sending unit and see if it fluctuates still.

 

there are 3 seals in the pump, replace em all. if those seals and a sending unit in and it still flucuates i might see about getting a new pump

50k on a rebulit i doubt the cam seals are going to be bad

I was afraid my oil pump or seals were bad when I bought my 88 GL, it ticked so loud you coulda sworn it was running without oil. But after I ran some Seafoam through the crankcase and then did an oil change with a good synthetic (Mobil 1) she purrs like brand new, turned out to be a stcking lash adjuster. Worth a try, it is decently cheap and could save you from messing with the oil pump. My .02

 

 

As far as the price, if the motor is fresh, the tranny and 4WD work, and the body and interior are decent, I would say $1100 was a fair price.

Edited June 24, 200916 yr by BigAl

Does the oil pressure fluctuate while the engine operates at a constant RPM? The oil pressure does drop at idle-

The question isn't "Did I pay too much?", the question is "Why would you want a Loyale at any price?".... they don't have the one redeeming quality of the EA82's - the D/R transmission.

 

Any engine that has been "rebuilt" and has ticking lifters after only 50k is suspect. That throws red flags for me and I would have walked. But I would rather buy something with major problems that I know hasn't had 37 moron's crawling all over it durring it's lifetime. The only thing worse for a car than a previous owner is the previous owners "mechanic"

 

GD