Real time purchasing question.....

[WarWagon]

So I'm switching over to a 100 series after owning several 80's! Found a '99 with 285K for a good price; seems the only thing wrong with it is it needs a front left wheel bearing. Their mechanic says there are fine shavings but no noises or vibrations. I'm very close to pulling the trigger, thing is I have to drive it back home 750 miles.

Buddy had a wheel bearing going out on his FJ Cruiser and it was making an awful noise. He drove it a while like that (stupid) before finally getting it fixed. Think I'm good to limp it on home??

Thanks

 

[camino70]

Bring some tools or have it replaced before it causes more damage or worse on your way home.

If it's near atl, I'll try to help.

Edit: I just did the landscape view trick from my phone to see you're already close to me. I could loan you some tools.

 

[Iocaine]

I'd agree with Camino... Have done the "limp home without tools" thing before.. And ended up with $1200 bucks worth of a hub, axel and rotor at a roadside hold-up.. I mean... repair shop 200 miles from home. (It was a Subaru though..) Buy it. fix it. Drive it.
I love my LX.

 

[WarWagon]

New info.....they've owned it since 2002 with 29K miles and now it has 285K. He's saying the timing belt hasn't been done since they've owned it

 

[jLB]

A "bad" wheel bearing that a mechanic has looked at, but didn't replace.

The Toyota interval for a timing belt replacement on a 99 is 90,000 miles or 72 months

A 99 would be 17 years old, and it has 285,000 miles. Based on time it's almost due for its 3rd timing belt change. Already late for 2 timing belt changes, and getting close to a 3rd. On mileage it should have had its 3rd timing belt about 15,000 miles ago. Late for 3 timing belt changes.

I hope you're getting a GREAT deal, because warning bells would be going off in my head right about now.

 

[PabloCruise]

A "bad" wheel bearing that a mechanic has looked at, but didn't replace.

The Toyata interval for a timing belt replacement on a 99 is 90,000 miles or 72 months

A 99 would be 17 years old, and it has 285,000 miles. Based on time it's almost due for its 3rd timing belt change. Already late for 2 timing belt changes, and getting close to a 3rd. On mileage it should have had its 3rd timing belt about 15,000 miles ago. Late for 3 timing belt changes.

I hope you're getting a GREAT deal, because warning bells would be going off in my head right about now.

^^^ This - I hope the price $ is right...

 

[bamabrock]

I'd keep looking. there are tons of 100s in the atlanta area alone.

 

[PabloCruise]

I'd keep looking. there are tons of 100s in the atlanta area alone.

Might be a good idea. If they blow off trivial things like timing belt/water pump for years and years, they might have ignored really important service...

 

[WarWagon]

Now he's saying he's not home to go through his records but will let me know for sure concerning the timing belt. And yes, alarm bells for sure. So I'm using that to try and drop the price even more, which I believe is plausible. He's at 4350 right now.

Threw the KBB at me

 

[Manhattan]

The wheel bearing wouldn't worry me nearly as much as adding 750 miles to a 285,000 timing belt.

 

[jLB]

Now he's saying he's not home to go through his records but will let me know for sure concerning the timing belt. And yes, alarm bells for sure. So I'm using that to try and drop the price even more, which I believe is plausible. He's at 4350 right now.

Threw the KBB at me

Have you tried plugging the VIN# in at Toyota Owners Official Web Site to try and pull up the service history?

While $4350 seems pretty cheap, as others have pointed out, I'd have to worry about what other deferred maintenance you might discover after the sale.

My response to the KBB would be "I'm sorry, they don't list prices for vehicles in poor condition."

 

[bctlex]

Their mechanic says there are fine shavings but no noises or vibrations. I'm very close to pulling the trigger, thing is I have to drive it back home 750 miles.

An honest question here (I dont know anything about wheel bearing - never even repack one) how would the mechanic knows there are fine shavings? Does it make sense that the mechanic disassemble it, look inside and put it back without re-packing or add grease? Or is there a way to do check this? I am interested to know if there is a way to do this so I can check mine. My understanding is that there is no way to check without disassembling, and at that point, might as well re-pack the bearing.

Can be a great deal if the price is right, and nothing else seems be bad/broken.

 

[blatant]

An honest question here (I dont know anything about wheel bearing - never even repack one) how would the mechanic knows there are fine shavings? Does it make sense that the mechanic disassemble it, look inside and put it back without re-packing or add grease?

^^^ right. 4grand does seem low but to agree with the group, what other sort of easy, simple, inexpensive stuff did they neglect. Hell i get bored, and figure it's a good idea to just grease this or review that, tweak this, stare at the underside... Maybe use the 3x NO timing belt/pump/pully's, as a testament to luck or quality, so far gone that it's a flip of the coin on which, and see if he'll come down a bit. At $4k, he may not care or have room to screw around, for the miles and price point, when you're all said and done, he may owe you $2k for buying it.

 

[ponytl]

if it was clean with good leather I'd hop in and drive it... do a full service when you get home... if it's gone 285k I'd wager it'll make it another 750 miles... sounds like a good price and at this age everything you will have to do you'd want to do on about any 100 you purchased anyway... pretty hard to kill these things I'd be more worried about the cooling system ... heater T's , water pump, radiator... than i would the Timing belt

 

[ITRJ]

Just my 2 cents. I've been a professional tech for 14 years and I've never seen metal shavings in a wheel bearing. The only way I could really see that happening is if the bearing was totally dry. I would be concerned about significant damage on that one. Not to mention the apparent lack of maintenance. Make sure to check the oil condition and signs of sludge under the oil cap. And if the oil hasn't been changed on time you can bet that none of the other fluids have been either.

 

[WarWagon]

Still waiting to hear back from him. I'm on the fence about it. I've purchased several 80's that I've had to baseline and clean up, but this is my first 100 so I'm a little more leery.

** As I'm typing this he texted me and said he would drop it to my asking price of $4K. They've owned it for 14 years and it's been garaged for most of that time; also has lockers. Says the wheel bearing isn't making noise or any vibration. My mechanic quoted $200 to do the inner and outer wheel bearing.

I think I'm going to roll the dice and go get her.

 

[Clunky]

Still waiting to hear back from him. I'm on the fence about it. I've purchased several 80's that I've had to baseline and clean up, but this is my first 100 so I'm a little more leary.

** As I'm typing this he texted me and said he would drop it to my asking price of $4K. They've owned it for 14 years and it's been garaged for most of that time; also has lockers. Says the wheel bearing isn't making noise or any vibration. My mechanic quoted $200 to do the inner and outer wheel bearing.

I think I'm going to roll the dice and go get her.

At that price you can basically do every single recommended "Baselining" procedure and be off to a great start. The wildcard is hidden damage from lack of care, but you have quite a bit of margin to deal with stuff as it comes up.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Provided it's rust free and the body/interior are good that's a super cheap 100. Buying any 15+ year old car means you have to be ready for big repairs so it's a gamble anyways. Be sure to post up pictures if you go through with it!

I'm not sure about the 100 wheel bearings, but I've had them go bad on other cars from previous owners and if the damage is bad enough you'll have to replace the surrounding parts as the bearing can seize and score the shaft/spindle it sits on. I could hear it when that happened, though.

 

[PabloCruise]

Still waiting to hear back from him. I'm on the fence about it. I've purchased several 80's that I've had to baseline and clean up, but this is my first 100 so I'm a little more leery.

** As I'm typing this he texted me and said he would drop it to my asking price of $4K. They've owned it for 14 years and it's been garaged for most of that time; also has lockers. Says the wheel bearing isn't making noise or any vibration. My mechanic quoted $200 to do the inner and outer wheel bearing.

I think I'm going to roll the dice and go get her.

$4k for garaged, locked 100 sounds alright! At least you will have $ to do all the work yourself, and then you will KNOW it was done!
Good luck!

 

[PabloCruise]

And FWIW, my friend has a '99 w/ >310k miles on it. We just drove it out to Canyonlands and did ~9 days of wheeling. He was pulling a trailer as well. Thing runs great!