N00b here. Glad to find this forum. I'd been looking for an older car as a commuter for a little while now. I was stoked to come across an '89 Tracer 5-door on craigslist, and bought it yesterday for $900. It's been pretty well maintained. Only 133k mi, and runs fairly well. Air's uber frigid cold. The interior is immaculate; seats are clean and free of rips, dash has no cracks, carpet is clean, headliner isn't falling. The body is straight and free of dents. Could use a paint job, but oh well. I'll get around to it. Of course, it IS an '89, so there are a handful of little things I have to (or just want to) fix. I scoured Pull-a-Part today after work (in my office wear - dress slacks and dress shirt) for a new wiper cowl as the old one had pretty much disintegrated. Spent a bit of time outside in the dark tonight putting it on. Now I have several other minor issues to tackle. Any guidance is appreciated:
- Horn doesn't work. I'm not hearing the relay clicking, so maybe that needs to be replaced?
- Rear center brake light doesn't work. Replaced the bulb - no joy.
- Rear hatch light is also out. Replaced the bulb - no joy again.
- Seems to have a leak in the brake system. I can verrrry slowly push the pedal to the floor. Master cylinder looks ok, so I s'pose it's a leaky line somewhere...
- Seems to run cold. It's 90+ degrees here in the afternoon, but the temp gauge never gets above 1/3 or so.
- Rough idle when it first starts up, and doesn't want to climb a hill for sh*t. Always downshift to get up a hill. Probably need to do the plugs/wires/distributor. Any other ideas?
- It has Mercury badges on the front grill and steering wheel. Think I'ma look for a 323 grill and wheel next trip to Pull-a-Part. No compatibility issues there I hope?
I'm sure I'm forgetting something. It's 3AM and I have to get up for work at 7:30, so my brain is a bit foggy. Thanks for reading my ramblings.
- Horn doesn't work. I'm not hearing the relay clicking, so maybe that needs to be replaced?
- Rear center brake light doesn't work. Replaced the bulb - no joy.
- Rear hatch light is also out. Replaced the bulb - no joy again.
- Seems to have a leak in the brake system. I can verrrry slowly push the pedal to the floor. Master cylinder looks ok, so I s'pose it's a leaky line somewhere...
- Seems to run cold. It's 90+ degrees here in the afternoon, but the temp gauge never gets above 1/3 or so.
- Rough idle when it first starts up, and doesn't want to climb a hill for sh*t. Always downshift to get up a hill. Probably need to do the plugs/wires/distributor. Any other ideas?
- It has Mercury badges on the front grill and steering wheel. Think I'ma look for a 323 grill and wheel next trip to Pull-a-Part. No compatibility issues there I hope?
I'm sure I'm forgetting something. It's 3AM and I have to get up for work at 7:30, so my brain is a bit foggy. Thanks for reading my ramblings.
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