killtrixy

Hey guys I really love the 350z and I just found a good deal online for $9,500! It has 54,000 miles, 2008 stock except for a head unit. Runs good but… there are a few issues.

• Battery is dead
  
  • it needs a jump start
    
  • car won’t start back up after idling
    
• Headlights don’t turn on
  
  • could be a fuse, corrosion, or bulb
    
• A/C doesn’t work
  
  • the air is very weak, struggles to blow air, not sure what that is
    
• Passenger Window
  
  • struggles to go down or doesn’t move at all
    
• Air bag light
  
  • i believe that’s an issue with many Zs, wiring issue
    

I did a ODM scan on it, had O2 sensor and EVAP code.

Once the car is jump started, it runs and drives smoothly. It’s been sitting for a while, about a year. The carfax is clean, it looks like the car wasn’t maintained for a while. If anyone has any opinions or thoughts that could be of help, please let me know. This is my first car and I want to make sure the Z won’t end up being a money pit. I just joined this forum so I'm sorry if I'm posting in the wrong thread.

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

That sounds like a fair deal with all of the known issues, but I would not recommend getting it if this is your first car. It can easily turn into a money pit and I can only imagine what insurance would be for you. If you can afford it and budget a couple grand for repairs/maintenance which would be necessary for a Z that has sat for that long on top of the cost of premium fuel, then go for it.

icer5160

iTrader: (4)

I recently purchased a 06 Honda Civic for my daughter (her 1st car at 18). It was in a similar situation. The vehicle had sat for about 2 years with the owner only running the engine a few minutes per week. The battery was flat, the A/C didn't blow cold, I found multiple stored codes after test driving it, although there was no CEL on.

If you're mechanically inclined, these issues are relatively minor and won't take that much cash to sort out. I suspect some of the codes could just be from the battery running flat and the vehicle sitting for so long. But the SRS light being on and headlights not working is concerning, simply sitting for a long time wouldn't cause an issue here unless major corrosion occurred (unlikely). This vehicle may have underlying accident damage that was covered up. If you're serious about it, I would have an independent shop do a pre-sale inspection. So many Zs today were not maintained/cared for by mature owners. For every 1 clean Z out there, you will probably find dozens of baskets cases or scammers trying to pass off their basket case a "clean" example. Don't trust Carfax, it's a good start, but many accidents go unreported. I've seen plenty of cars with accident damage that had a clean Carfax.

TLDR: Proceed with caution.

These cars are not that expensive to fix and maintain, far from it actually. But these are high performance vehicles that require more maintenance than a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla.

Battery Dead | Solution - Replace Battery Easy/cheap.
Headlights | Solution - Inspect fuses, bulbs, and harness. Could be related to the dead battery or weak charging system (dead alternator).
A/C Doesn't work | Solution - Assuming no accident damage...then most likely it ran flat on refrigerant. Start with a system recharge and go from there. The Blower motor could be running weak from the battery/charging system issues, or the blower motor &/or resistor is dead/weak.
Passenger Window | Solution - Replace Window regulator and motor. Common failure on these.
Air Bag Light | Solution - Try clearing the SRS system codes first (after resolving battery/charging system issues), this could be related to the battery running flat. I had similar issues with SRS codes on the Honda Civic.

Whatever you do, Good Luck! I hope you find the right Z!
-Icer