http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/car/200235716.html No connection to seller. Why would just "valves" be the problem?
A valve job can get expensive if you were to pay someone else to do it. Any idea how many miles are on the car?
Several reasons valves could be the problem: - Neglected valve Adj leading to burned valves. - Running too lean leading to burned exh. valves. - High mileage/wear. - Broken cam belt... A 2nd concern is the 'cash deal' statement. That always sets off my alarm bells...
I know the owner of the car, and know the car. The owner is a very good guy, and this has been a very painful ordeal. The car has low miles (around 20Kish.) He bent a valve and took it into Agafore's Motors here in Olympia, and paid $3K up front for the guy to get parts. Tino, who owns the shop, said he'd have the car done in a few weeks, but certainly before Dick got back from Le Mans (he raced the Olympia Charger at the Le Mans Classic in July.) Well, as of last week the car was untouched. When Dick went to pick the car up to take it to another shop, Tino rushed to get the engine out! My friend went up to look at the car and confirmed that it needs a complete valve job on the inner bank. The outer bank had a valve job right after Dick bought it, which leads me to believe that the car was built late on a Friday or early on a Monday. He has also broken an axle in the last year or two (and had it fixed.) So needless to say, he is about ready to throw up over this whole thing. Otherwise, the car is beautiful. Nice Blu Sera paint. Interior is nice (although I didn't look inside too much when the car was here at my house last year.) It needs a new water pump now, and probably some other things. It's hard to determine what is true and what is BS with the mechanic that is working on it. It's lower miles, but it could be running lean or have a bad cam -- who knows at this point. Figure it will need the valve job and some sorting to figure out what caused the issue. But this is a 2V car, so it isn't rocket science or a computer-controlled modern Ferrari. The reason he said "cash" is that Tino the mechanic said "will you take payments?" I think Tino was really hell-bent on putting Dick into a position where Dick would -need- to sell to Tino. (I've seen a lot of bad things and heard even worse stories about Tino's Agafores Motors...I wish Dick had talked to me before going up there with his Mondial!) But you couldn't ask for a more honest and straigh-shooting guy than Dick. I'd consider buying it, but I don't have room for it, and I wouldn't drive a hardtop enough to justify the purchase. Cheers, Sam
Does anyone know how to reset the service engine light on a Mondial 84QV? Plan to have a 30K service soon but would just would like not to have the light on.
Sorry to hear Dick has had so much trouble. I met him at a couple local FCA events. It was a nice looking car.
