I just bought an early '97 Astina hatch...

[shoggothe]

Hey there everyone -

My name's Adam, and I recently sold my daily driver (a 1962 EK Holden) and bought a 1997 Astina hatchback as something to get me from A to B that wasn't as dog-ugly as a Camry or Corolla...

I'm pretty stoked on the purchase - I paid $4750 for the car, it had 125,000kms on the clock, and has only ever had two owners, so has all the receipts and service logs to go with it.

Now, I've had a couple of mates say worrying things about how I should 'Watch out the timing belt doesn't go" or "The head gasket is probably due to **** itself" and so on and so forth...

The reason I got the car in the first place was that I heard Astinas were pretty damned reliable - so how worried should I be about the likelihood of any of the afore-mentioned things happening?

Everything on the car seems to work, it's been well looked after both inside and out, and there are no weird noises from anywhere on it yet.

I've gotta find time to take it somewhere for a service/checkup to see if there's anything that needs doing, but would like to go armed with a potential wish list.

Any advice and comments would be appreciated!

- Adam

[70NYD]

hello and welcome to AGT
1st and foremost, the astina 1.8L I4 (BP) is a non interference engine(im not 100% sure on the v6), so even if the timing belt does let go all that will happen is that youl sit there rather than putting a rid thru the block im pretty sure it should have had it changed at the 100K service, so perhaps check that in the log books. these ARE very reliable cars and the engines can run for many 100K km without major issues.

as for wierd noises you will prob find after a while the dash will start making a squeeking noize, this is normal haha, 1st time you pull it apart for any reason try to stick foam between any surfaces that look like will be in annoying contact
i have to say adam, that is a awesome find, for that little money for that little kms is pretty good. put some pictures up when you get a chance
Tony

[Rupewrecht]

Welcome to AGT, Adam. Sounds like a good purchase.

[shoggothe]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

And yeah, I thought it was a bloody bargain at that price too, given the fact that most of the others I looked at were ALL over $5k and all had more than 180,000kms on them!



I'll put some pictures up when I get the chance, but I'm trying not to get bitten by the urge to modify the car at the moment, as I borrowed money to buy it and should really pay that back first. The only immediate thing I've done is ditch the hubcaps in favour of some chrome wheel trims I had in the shed for the R100 I'm restoring (but that's a whole other story) and that got me thinking it would look a bit better with some bigger rims or a lower stance.

I actually had a look through the service history and the timing belt hasn't been done at any stage. But what DID amaze me was that a 'Sump Plug Gasket' was present on almost every second service! Do Astinas tend to leak a bit or something?

Anyway, I'll try and get some snaps if I get home from work early enough that there's still light to shoot by. In the meantime, does anyone have a 2nd-hand car CD player that plays MP3 CDs they want to sell me? I had one in my last car and it's KILLING me that this one only plays regular discs!

- Adam

[project.r.racing]

R100? Please tell the story.

[Cosmo Dude]

Originally Posted by shoggothe

I actually had a look through the service history and the timing belt hasn't been done at any stage. But what DID amaze me was that a 'Sump Plug Gasket' was present on almost every second service! Do Astinas tend to leak a bit or something?

First up welcome.
Second I've never heard of oil leaking from the sump plug. Distributor 'O' ring and valve cover gasket yes but never enough to warrent adding oil between services.

I also want details of the R100

[shoggothe]

Alrighty - the full R100 story (which I have a whole thread on over on AusRotary.com) is now in my sig for all to see. Here 'tis below too:

http://ausrotary.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=128385

[marcs_sp20]

Welcome to AGT, sounds like yourself quite a buy

[NaughtyGT]

Welcome mate, yeah low klms is always good isn't it I couldn't believe it when my 88' 3bie only had 173*** on the clock Good to see you picked up a bargain. Your mates might be meaning well but don't let em worry you too much about what it needs, just go head & get it done & you'll have an even greater bargain then + peace-of-mind!