Hey guys

I am new to the site my mate who is a member told me join

Any way tomorrow I am going to look at a 1997 Exec

Its stock 3.0 V6 has 245,000KM and is Auto

was only ever used as a family sedan

What problems should I look for?

any help would be appreciated

Thankyou

Too old, too many Km, wouldn't touch it if it was free.

If its cheap, check gearbox oil for colour - should be pink/red, not brown.

Check service records for last cam belt change, gearbox, engine service.

Drive around an empty car park in full lock and listen for strange noises, clunks from drive shafts.

Should idle nicely - 800 rpm at all times, lights on/off, aircon on/off, except initial startup @ about 1200 - 1500 rpm.

No blue smoke from exhaust at start up or after idling, white is steam and is ok.

Check gearbox shift pattern when driving gently, and when driving more vigorously. Ask owner if there have been any problems with the gearbox- -if its original it may be rather tired.

Faded paint, dents, damaged upholstery is unlikely, but reduces sale price a great deal.
Research this forum for 3rd gen problems.

Take someone with you who knows about Magnas.

Welcome to the forum btw. Watch out for grumpy members and admin ppl!! lol

Does it have a 3 diamond badge? Stay away from it....lol, jus' kiddin'. Too many k's.

Try to get one that has less than 200,000 Km on it with a good service record and new cam belt. That way, you should get 50,000Km of trouble free motoring, maybe. A manual with that many Km would be ok, but only if it had a new clutch recently.

Thanks for the advice

Yeah the high K's threw me off a little bit but they are only asking $2000

If the above tests were carried out and seems solid, go for it...I'd work em down a bit though

Reasonable price - if the car road tests ok, and the service record shows a new cam belt was fitted at about 180,000 - 200,000 Km. Keep in mind a worn gearbox will cost $2-5K to repair.

Walk away if you have any doubts. Check eBay for the sorts of prices Magnas go for in your area.

the car is over 10 years, most will have over 200000km on it already, will be hard to find many with less. But no doubt bring someone that is familiar with the car. Have a look under the oil cap, if there is lots of gunk around it, it a good sign that the oil hasn't been changed frequently enough...

We forgot to mention look at the radiator coolant - rust colour is a no no! Green is good.

ok I will check all of that out

Thanks for all the advise

Looks to be a beautiful car

Unfortuntly I am in NSW other wise I would have considered it.

Looks to be a beautiful car

Unfortuntly I am in NSW other wise I would have considered it.

Transport isn't that much through a dealer\wholesaler (I got my car from Lismore), and in these times dealers are getting desparate to move stock so could probably work something out on the transport side of things, by the looks of the plates it came from QLD originally.

*Edit* Just found out has higher K's then I was first told 275,000

That's on it's last legs, walk away

personally wouldnt touch it mate, i heard that those magnas arnt built to go over 300k (not sure if true or not but yeah) my mates got a TE with 330k on it...biggest POS i have ever seen hahaah

Hey guys

I am new to the site my mate who is a member told me join

Any way tomorrow I am going to look at a 1997 Exec

Its stock 3.0 V6 has 245,000KM and is Auto

was only ever used as a family sedan

What problems should I look for?

any help would be appreciated

Thankyou

you need to pay no more that 400 for it to be worth the effort
i brought a te alterra done 220.000kms had a stuffed auto for 1000.00 also i a replacment auto for 200 which was cheap its the little things that add up rego had to do auto fluid there is a 100.00 just there rocker gaskets
all up with 12 months rego it owes me 3500.00 and you can get a tj for that price
if you get it for 400.00 pay 300.00 for a low k engine put it in after replacing belts you get motors cheap
my tj 3.5 litre when it hits 200.00 will be cheaper to put another engine in than do belts etc

1998 TF Advance, 158k, $3,400 neg. (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=2&R=7478524&trecs=20&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32 |1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=12065F3EF79E&__Nne=15&__Qpb=true&seot=1&__N=1216%201282%204294964597%204294964374%20429492 7695%20898&silo=1011)

1997 TF Advance Wagon, 132k, $3,800 neg. (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=4&R=7432011&trecs=20&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32 |1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=12065F3EF79E&__Nne=15&__Qpb=true&seot=1&__N=1216%201282%204294964597%204294964374%20429492 7695%20898&silo=1011)

1997 TE Altera, 212k, $3,500 neg. (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=0&R=7456188&trecs=1&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32 |1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=12065F3EF79E&__Nne=15&__Qpb=true&SearchAction=N&seot=1&__N=1216%201282%204294964597%204294964374%20898%20 4294927567&silo=1011)

There's a start. Any of these you should be able to get for close to $3k with rego.

2002 VRX with 200k for $10k, lol. I just saw a 2002 Ralliart in perfect condition with 65k on it sell for around $11k.

1998 TF Advance, 158k, $3,400 neg. (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=2&R=7478524&trecs=20&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32 |1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=12065F3EF79E&__Nne=15&__Qpb=true&seot=1&__N=1216%201282%204294964597%204294964374%20429492 7695%20898&silo=1011)

1997 TF Advance Wagon, 132k, $3,800 neg. (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=4&R=7432011&trecs=20&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32 |1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=12065F3EF79E&__Nne=15&__Qpb=true&seot=1&__N=1216%201282%204294964597%204294964374%20429492 7695%20898&silo=1011)

1997 TE Altera, 212k, $3,500 neg. (http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=0&R=7456188&trecs=1&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32 |1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__sid=12065F3EF79E&__Nne=15&__Qpb=true&SearchAction=N&seot=1&__N=1216%201282%204294964597%204294964374%20898%20 4294927567&silo=1011)

There's a start. Any of these you should be able to get for close to $3k with rego.

2002 VRX with 200k for $10k, lol. I just saw a 2002 Ralliart in perfect condition with 65k on it sell for around $11k.

Thanks for the Links, I think i will just let this one go and try and get something with lower K's

Thanks everyone for your help and advise

Thanks for the Links, I think i will just let this one go and try and get something with lower K's

Thanks everyone for your help and advise

Hey shane, try to get a TH onwards (99+) they can be had fairly cheap, come with the 3.5L (in most, look for the 3.5 badge on the front guards), and quite a few more standard features (ie. digital trip computer).

The one I was gonna look at was sold anyway, Snow do you know how much it would cost to ship to Central Coast NSW?

probley around $500+

http://www.doortodoorcars.com.au/

We have used that before, it was about $500 - $600 from brisbane to sydney,

We are located on the sunshine coast, which is about 1hr north of brisbane.

Guys, while getting high 275k's is not that bad for a Magna, I have clients with well over 300k's and they are still going very strong. At very worst a new 3.5 can be dropped in for under a grand anyway.

Dont worry about the bottle of water over the screen, it is rare for these to leak and if they do it is usually a defect in the screen seal which is easilly fixed with a new screen, if the screen is old the chances it is sandblasted and will need replacing anyway.

Things to look at are repaired serious accident damage, oil leaks, brake shudder etc etc. These are all things that can be fixed easilly but do devalue the car. Also check for smooth shifting in the trans and also let idle when hot for a good 5 mins and give a good rev to see if you get any valve seal smoke. The older ones are starting to show this now and have even seen some TJ's blowing some small pufs of smoke.

All i can say is that your making a great choice in a car. Magna's are very reliable and underrated cars. Whatever the K's get it looked at by an independent assessor, that way you wont be sold a dummy.

Best of luck! Heed all the advice you can on this forum...

All i can say is that your making a great choice in a car. Magna's are very reliable and underrated cars. Whatever the K's get it looked at by an independent assessor, that way you wont be sold a dummy.

Best of luck! Heed all the advice you can on this forum...

I've personally had 3 experiences with independent assessors. One from RACQ and 2 from NRMA - all of them useless.

If you don't have a clue what to look for or aren't mechanically minded, sure. Otherwise...

I found one I am going to look at tomorrow

1999 3.5 V6 5 Speed Manual exec its out of rego and needs a clutch has 220,XXX K's

for $2000

Hopefully this is a better choice

as the one with 275,000 was sold early this morning

sounds alright i guess, but a new clutch will cost you half an arm and most of your leg...

if you do go ahead its well worth the extra couple of hundred to upgrade to a HD clutch...