At second glance, I'm not seeing the VIN stickers on either of the front fenders. They're hard to see from this angle and maybe I'm just missing them. That should be checked for and taken into consideration. It's not necessarily a no if the reason and fix is documented or they've clearly just been painted over (and the paint job looks good). If there as an accident that involved replacing both front fenders, hood, and bumper, that'd probably be a no for me.

Edit: They'd be closer to the bumper right where this picture is cutoff anyways. I see nothing odd in this picture that points to accident, just being picky about what would and wouldn't disqualify a car IMO.

 

^ VIN tags are near the core support close to the radiator

 

I don't mind this car- the valve cover and such are easy to restore. It doesn't appear to be salt driven as most bolts appear rust free. For $16K and 106K miles, its a decent price and I'd consider it too- its the right colour (Suzuka blue FTW!) after all.

The blue oil filter is correct and installer did well marking the oil filter position- its what I do to be sure it doesn't move.
Provided the car fax is clean (no salvage title) and rust free, I'd buy as a second car to slowly restore and bring back to spec. 2004 and 2005 cars are excellent choices as they are the high water mark for s2000 ownership reliability.

darcy

 

It was for sure worked on by an imbecile.


It would be good to ask questions regarding this oil leak. And the greasy black fingerprints on the valve cover.

The valve cover has been off. Why?
The cam gear bolt looks to also have been off. Why?

Could just be "I did a valve adjustment and my hygiene is very bad".

Or could be something more serious.

Again...look with your eyes and ask meaningful questions.




We're also just seeing one shot of this car to judge it.

Are you actually the seller, and just looking to find out what to clean up before selling it? If so...bro you've done a terrible job working on this car.

 

What is the issue here? My car had this oil leak when I bought it, replaced the o-ring and not an issue since.

 

Yeah, could just be an O-ring - easy fix. But the greasy fingerprints on the VC say that maybe everything was apart for some reason.

Finding out "Why?" is all I'm suggesting.

 

Here is one thing I'll say. With cars like this you're better off buying at the top of your price range...stretching your budget for a better car. If this is truly all you could get into fantastic go for it with the knowledge of what it will need. HOWEVER, if you can afford more you'll spend less in the long run. This car at $16k plus a few grand in work and you'll still be behind a clean 100k car at $20k or a clean 80k car at $22k etc.