Hi all,

Looking to by a 1988 340 1.7 GL possibly this weekend. The car has no MOT since 2012. But has been started recently and driven round. (new battery and fuel)

Im thinking about going to look at it this week, Is there anything to look out for? Ive heard of the warped Carbs and im guessing just areas of rust.

Just wondering if its going to be a tonne of work if the car has been really used for the past 3 years.

Any info appreciated, cheers guys

Robin

Hi mate and welcome.
Cars of that age will always have some rust. But they are sturdy beasts.
I would renew the brake parts. Good luck.
Cheers Mark.

MCHUDD wrote:Hi mate and welcome.
Cars of that age will always have some rust. But they are sturdy beasts.
I would renew the brake parts. Good luck.
Cheers Mark.

Cheers mark, there actually looks to be very little rust, had some pics sent of cills etc, and there looks to be no surfave rust, this could be different when properly inspected though.

Yea the guy says the brakes aren't too good, so im thinkin ill be looking to change pads/shoes re-bleed and check all lines.

Will there be any obvious signs of a warped carb?

Rusting-through in the wheel arches and front suspension strut cups are things to look out for since they will be a bit pricey to repair. I've never encountered a carb warping but I've heard a lot about it on here!! My blog (link below) shows the typical spots they go in!!

Just viewed the car today and put a deposit on it. The body work was in great condition, sill and underneath near perfect. There is a bit of rot on the front bumper where it has been knocked by the looks of it.

Only issue i was woried about is, pretty sure it seems to be leaking fuel, from near the tank. Smelt pretty strong as was signs on the floor. Also looked like gearbox/diff may have a leak. Are these common issues/something easy to fix?

Anyway, it drove sweet, started up perfect, and idle'd perfect.

Picking it up for 325, no mot, reasonable or not? These seem hard to come by. I am sold by how good condition the body work is in. Cheers guys

325 is a very good price. Assuming te fuel tank is ok, the fuel pipes probably need replaced (rubber sections). The main lengths are vinyl which seem to last ok. I would replace the rubber ones in the engine bay aswell.

Looks like a nice car for that money - check the brakes, replace brake fluid and do as Ride_on says and replace them fuel hoses. 340's also have a fairly common problem with rusty fuel tanks as water collects on the top of them, but it's a fairly simply job to replace it if you need to (unlike a 360!)

If the diff end plate is dripping, check the diff oil level and get a gasket kit from Classic Swede/Mac - the diff's themselves don't hold a huge quantity so they can run dry if left.

Cheers for the replys guys.

Brakes seemed all good on test drive, will check over all cables/pipes when i get it. Gettin a freind of mine to have a second look for me (knows a bit more than me) but most likely should be an owner on the weekend

Really wicked motor - the problems you mentioned should be solvable without too much trouble.

Are there any known/common places for these to have oil leaks?

The diff breather hose can block up which will cause a build up of pressure in the diff causing it to blow seals and leak oil.

Picked her up and and was well till i took her for first long drive! Around 30 min.

Idle was too high, and the engine was dieseling, think this was due to idle too high. (pretty bad aswell, blew the brake servo vacuum hose off) So i have turned this down an no longer have that issue.

Problem now is i am having issues starting up (didnt have any issues before the long drive), its fine once started. Turning over fine just not starting. Im looking to change leads and plugs tomo, should i check inside distributor cap as ive heard there prone to issues? Just wondering if the dieseling will have caused any issues within the carb or elsewhere

Cheers!

Hello and merry Crimbos,

Dieseling sounds like you may have a car that has not been converted to unleaded petrol and it will therefore benefit from super-unleaded or unleaded plus an octane-boosting additive. A bit of dieseling should not do it too much harm.

The good old idle solenoid could be dodgy and sometimes people saw the end off it to keep the car running, but it is much better to get a working one. It sounds like everything to do with the carburettor needs a very thorough oil, the accerator cable on those cars is very, very notorious for getting stuck and the engine then runs at very high revs. Cleaning inside the distributor cap is the best thing to do after that. If it still refuses to start then you need to check if there is a spark at the plugs or a lack of fuel, but you knew that anyway, if you knew how to adjust the slow-running ;-0

It is very, very likely to be something very minor, so don't jump to conclusions that its anything major just yet!! I would say that changing the plugs and leads is probably over the top until you know there is something wrong with them - better just to clean them and check the plug gaps, along with cleaning the dizzy cap.