Just Purchased Surf...

March 24, 2014

Hi all....been away for a while since I sold my MR2, but now I'm back with a 1996 Surf SSR-X 2.7L Petrol/LPG Automatic

However, I think I may have brought a dog here.....quite a few problems unfortunately, but I don't think it's all bad.

It's had a fair amount of work done....

2004 conversion to LPG

2008 had a complete engine rebuild along with some suspension bushes, rack bushes, shocks, etc

2009 complete exhaust change

2010 new stabliser links and roll bar bushes

2011 had a new head gasket and head strip and refit, new gasket, new bolts, new exhaust valves

Cost of all this according to the pile of receipts was about £6,500.....someone loved this car!

I picked it up for just shy of £1,400, and I think it's a good starting point to get this car back to being decent again.

The immediate existing problems I've found just from driving it...

Brakes - quite a bad shuddering under braking load, say up to a junction from low speed of 30mph - I'm assuming this to be rotors or pads.

Oil leak - seems to be coming from the left front of engine (looking at front) where what looks like power assist hoses are.

LPG - doesn't work....nice full tank, start engine up and it shows the gas level, then after a few seconds, or sometimes minutes it just starts beeping at you, but you can smell LPG when it's tried to run on it. I've ordered a diagnostic cable for the LPG ECU which should arrive tomorrow so I can hook it up to the laptop and find out whats going on.....I think it's just some sensor fault.

Rear End - when you pull away quite sharpish, there's a kind of scraping noise - a bit like mud flaps hitting the road, but there aren't any

Ride - feels a bit like sitting on a balloon....the body feels like its wobbling on the chassis....not sure if this is how they generally feel.

Tick Over - feels a little low....was reversing yesterday and it felt like it might cut out on me.

Battery - absolutely no cage whatsoever!! LOL Opened the bonnet this morning to find the Battery and partially slid into the engine! Gotta sort that!

Any suggestions on any of this would be greatly appreciated. I think I've got some work to do, but it's not insurmountable.

DC

May 9, 2014

It may be worth putting the surf into a garage, just for a quick check. The only reason I say this is because of the engine rebuild in 2008 and then another strip down on the head in 2011. I would expect an engine overhaul to last longer than that. Just a thought in case problems are related to whoever ever completed the works.