Hi,

I'm new here and looking at an EVO out in Indiana (I live in Cleveland).

The car looks in good condition, it is an 06 SSL with 14,8xx miles. Exterior is in damn good shape. Has a magnaflow catback on it, that is all. Tires good, brakes good. No accident history.

2 issues pointed out by a Mitsu dealership (I had the Honda dealership that has the car take it to a Mitsu dealership for an inspection):
Three small gouges covered up by touch up paint on the rear decklid.
Foggy headlight. Should be able to get that replaced under warranty though.

One thing that concerns me is the fact that I would be the third owner. Carfax says:
Manufacturered 8/25/2005
Purchased and titled on 6/21/2006 in Vegas.
Sold to another person on 3/6/2007 with only 2,142 miles on the odometer in Vegas.
Sold to a person on 2/11/2008 with 12,508 miles on the odometer in Indiana.
Sold to dealership on 5/24/2008.

Also this is what really scares me...I had the Honda dealership that has the car perform a compression test on it. Numbers came back at 100, 110, 110, 115. I talked to the tech and he said he didn't have the throttle wide open because it would not have made a difference since the spark plugs were not in the engine (makes no sense, but basically these numbers are flawed since the throttle was not WOT).

I had them take it to the Mitsu dealership to give the car a full inspection as well as a compression test. Inspection was good, but the compression test scarred me a bit again. This time, 135 psi in cylinders 1, 2 & 4 and 130psi in cylinder 3. The tech said the car was warm and throttle was WOT. I am not sure about the car being completely warm though...they only took it for a quick drive to make sure it drove ok, then let it sit for a few minutes before working on it.

Regardless, I'm about to book a one way flight out to Indy to buy this car for $25,500.

Would you buy this car? I want it to be reliable.

 

good price and good compression results, all within spec. I would disregard the first compression test since he did it wrong. If you like the car and is otherwise in good condition i would get it. Did the dealer mention if it was under warranty?

 

Well I thought spec compression for this car was 145psi and I have actually seen up to 175psi...

With 14,8xx miles, it damn well better be under warranty. 5y/60k bumper-bumper and 10y/100k powertrain I thought...

 

if you need a carfax let me know..

 

I dont know how to interpret compression tests on the Evo.

Regarding your question about reliability, I would assume being a japan built car, you dont have to worry too much about it, they have good quality control verification standards.

You may want to investigate why the car was sold so many times at low mileage.

 

The FSM states the spec is like 94 - 160 or something asinine like that. You really want to make sure they are consistent and dont have a difference of more then 15 across the cylinders, which they dont.

Warranty should be 6year/60k. 10year/100k gets lots when you transfer ownership of the vehicle, i.e. sell the car to someone else.

 

AFAIK, compression test is not with WOT. just disconnect the sparkplug wires and check compression of each cylinders with a few burst of the starter to get a reading. Check the dealer to see if the warranty of the vehicle is void or good.

 

if you want a cheaper alternative, there are a lot in this forum!


https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=347509

 

compression test should be done with the throttle plate open, WOT.

 

you can actually do both. static compression testing(throttle closed) and dynamic compression testing(WOT).

 

I'm not buying the car from a Honda Dealership, how can I check if the warranty is still in tact?

I plan on bringing a gauge and doing the compression test when I get there too, just to make sure the numbers are good.

 

so we are both right

 

compression should be 138-164psi correct?

 

On an 8, 9 has a huge allowance for what compression should be. Again, consistency is more important unless you lifted the head and are getting <100 compression results. You should see fluids from where the head mates to the block though and then you have other problems.

 

You run the test WOT because the ECU will not give the engine any fuel under this condition. Otherwise when you go to start up after the test is done you will get a nice massive backfire because fuel was spraying while doing the test.