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Just had a test drive....need some help!


mouldie

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Hey all!

 

Just been out in a 53 plate UK 350Z. Seemed pretty good but I wondered if anyone could answer the following questions??

 

1. The rear axle suffers from the dreaded click. How do I fix this and how much will it cost me?

2. The last MOT suggested it will need brake pads and possibly discs. I'm pretty sure the disks are OK but if not, what are the costs? How much for the pads (front and rear) and as an estimate, roughly how long should they last?

3. When he started it he warned that the camchain would make a bit of noise for the first few seconds until the oil pressure had built up. Is that right? It did then go quiet and all seemed good.

4. The inside of the tread was more worn than the outside tread. Is that something to do with the zed, or just dodgy tracking?

5. How does the Alezan leather normally fair?? The car had done 29k miles and I was suprised that the seats were slightly more worn than I expected. All documents check out, so I'm confident that the mileage is genuine.

6. It's had a new exhaust at a cost of £800. Is this a problem with zeds and can I expect it to need replacing in another 29k miles?

7. The car had a reasonable amount of stone chips. Nothing too serious, but more than others I've looked at. How many is a reasonable amount? I'd guess this had 20+. They were tiny but again, makes me wonder about the mileage.

8. Oil pressure was 60psi at 2k rpm. It went up and down (down by say 15psi and up by say 30psi) through the rev range. Does this sound normal??

 

Other than that, I FRICKIN loved it!

 

Cheers for any advice!

 

Steve

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Hey all!

 

Just been out in a 53 plate UK 350Z. Seemed pretty good but I wondered if anyone could answer the following questions??

 

1. The rear axle suffers from the dreaded click. How do I fix this and how much will it cost me?

2. The last MOT suggested it will need brake pads and possibly discs. I'm pretty sure the disks are OK but if not, what are the costs? How much for the pads (front and rear) and as an estimate, roughly how long should they last?

3. When he started it he warned that the camchain would make a bit of noise for the first few seconds until the oil pressure had built up. Is that right? It did then go quiet and all seemed good.

4. The inside of the tread was more worn than the outside tread. Is that something to do with the zed, or just dodgy tracking?

5. How does the Alezan leather normally fair?? The car had done 29k miles and I was suprised that the seats were slightly more worn than I expected. All documents check out, so I'm confident that the mileage is genuine.

6. It's had a new exhaust at a cost of £800. Is this a problem with zeds and can I expect it to need replacing in another 29k miles?

7. The car had a reasonable amount of stone chips. Nothing too serious, but more than others I've looked at. How many is a reasonable amount? I'd guess this had 20+. They were tiny but again, makes me wonder about the mileage.

8. Oil pressure was 60psi at 2k rpm. It went up and down (down by say 15psi and up by say 30psi) through the rev range. Does this sound normal??

 

Other than that, I FRICKIN loved it!

 

Cheers for any advice!

 

Steve

 

Bloody Hell, it would cost a fair bit to fix all that.

 

1. See my thread here...Clicky

 

2. I'll leave that answer to someone else. I fitted EBC Redstuff pads all round to mine when I got it.

 

3. Don't know anything about dodgy camchains. It hasn't affected my two Zeds.

 

4. Get your wheels realigned front and rear, it cost me £38 all round.

 

5. Not sure about the leather as I only did 5k miles on my last Zed.

 

6. I don't think exhausts are a particular problem with Zeds. Was it just a upgrade for performance / sound as opposed to a previous defective exhaust?

 

7. Zeds chip like you wouldn't believe. My previous Kuro black Zed was chipped quite a lot on the front but I chose a Gun Metal Grey colour this time round and they aren't as noticable.

 

8. My oil gauge sits at 60psi at startup whilst cold and then reduces to 15psi when warm at idle.

 

I would be very wary of that car especially if you want to fix all the defects as it will add up, (paint chips, tracking, clicky axles, pads, discs, camchain, etc). For me, there are too many Zeds in a depressed car market to even consider anything less than an excellent condition car. They are ripe for the picking.

 

Craig.

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Not heard that one before on cam chain, main concern here is too many faults for the car not to have been maintained to a high standard.

e.g. if you had tyres worn unevenly would you leave it ? would you tolerate clicky axle, maybe but I doubt it.

 

Check out some others on here a superb Sunset for sale by Ollie at a bargain price(I'm nearly tempted to buy a second with this one), a lovely Red and a few others. Those that are from longer standing members may well have more history known by the group.

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To be fair we don't know how much the buyer is asking for the car so it's hard to know if it's worth it or not but as the others said it is a buyers market and there are some nice one's out there (like ollies).

 

The only thing on the list I can vouch for is the uneven tyre wear on the fronts which I understand is more to do with the original bridgestone tyres than the car.

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Enough for sale from members on this site and the other UK site (most are probably listed on both..) that have non of the above problems and have been very well looked after.

 

You didnt say how much it was up for? And where you based?

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Enough for sale from members on this site and the other UK site (most are probably listed on both..) that have non of the above problems and have been very well looked after.

 

You didnt say how much it was up for? And where you based?

 

It's up at £12,850 and I'm based in Manchester.

 

A lot of the points I made were questions, rather than problems with the car. I've seen a few now and never noticed the cam chain tensioner noise before which was my main concern. I thought every car might be like that and I'd just not noticed.

 

As for the axle, going off this site I'm guessing £400 for parts and labour on top of that?

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All fixable but not worth it for you.

 

Move on find another, plenty around to choose from.

 

 

+1

 

sounds like it's been hammered, walk away, plenty of good examples about, this isn't one of them

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Enough for sale from members on this site and the other UK site (most are probably listed on both..) that have non of the above problems and have been very well looked after.

 

You didnt say how much it was up for? And where you based?

 

It's up at £12,850 and I'm based in Manchester.

 

A lot of the points I made were questions, rather than problems with the car. I've seen a few now and never noticed the cam chain tensioner noise before which was my main concern. I thought every car might be like that and I'd just not noticed.

 

As for the axle, going off this site I'm guessing £400 for parts and labour on top of that?

 

Seriously mate, its just not cheap enough for all the hassle. And that cam chain noise would have me running a mile.

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As the others have said, those are all fixable problems, but theres really no point with the amount of good cars on the market. I've never heard the camchain problem, and my exhaust is still good after 52k miles (its a 53 plate too). Tyre wear is just down to using old OEM tyres and easily fixed. Stone chips and oil pressure are like all the other Zeds by the sounds of it.

 

Walk away and get another. There are plenty of good ones around which arent half the hassle!

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My first test drive in a Zed hooked me good and proper and I had to buy it there and then - luckily I got persuaded to have a look at more. In the end I got a brand new one but just take your time. As others have said there are loads for sale and it's your money ( quite a bit of it ) so spend it wisely and don't be too impatient.

Getting the right one that's been cherished will reward you for many years too come. Personally I'd buy one from a member on here. Most are Zed fanatics and most of the cars have been clean, polished and loved (literally in some cases I think) every day of their lives.

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