Hey guys what's up. Like the title says, I just purchased a 1991 240 for $500 off of craigslist. I have always loved the 240 and have been waiting for over a year to find one on the super cheap so I could have something to work on as a side project. Well today I found my car. It's gold, has 217,xxx miles and is autotradgic. It runs and drives great, but here's a short list of the first things I need to work on:

Tires: Abosolutely dead. The spare is on the front passenger right now and is balder than me. (why is the spare 15" when the stock is 14"?)

Brakes/rotors: Worse than the tires. Grinding like a ****, it makes me shudder to touch the brakes. The "BRAKE FAILURE" light is on, I assume because of this.

Bad wheel bearing?: Coming from front passenger it sounds like a bad wheel bearing. Replacing this is something I really don't want to do myself. Suggestions? Or maybe the noise is coming from the awful breaks? (makes noise when brakes are not applied, so I'm deducting that it's a wheel bearing)

Oil change: The sticker for the next due oil change is May of 07, and the kid I bought it from said he hadn't changed the oil since he's had it! Wow. Unbelieveable.

No stereo: This is fine for now, my commute to work is only 4 miles and this isn't my primary vehicle.

Check engine light is on: This could mean any number of things, obviously. Fortunately for me the car was smogged and re-registed last month, so I have 11 months to figure this one out.

My questions are as follows:

Where is the cheapest place to get some aftermarket rotors/pads? I'm assuming ebay unless someone says otherwise. After I change them out, will the BRAKE FAILURE light just go off or does something need to be reset?

Is there a list of things I should check for specifically for this car that may be faulty being that I have NO service records? I notice that the oil cap may have a leak but I have read that's common.

Was the 91' a good/bad/off/wierd year for the 240? I know they stopped making them in 93' but assume there's quite a difference between a 91' and a 83'.

I guess that's all for now. All in all for $500 it wasn't a bad deal. The interior is in awesome shape (no rips in seats, no cracked dash, no paint oxidation) and it seems to shift like butter.

Looking forward to fixing this sexy brick up! Thanks for any input!

 

If you can have an inspection done to be safe. Then you will know exactly what needs to be replaced.
Some places charge like $60.00 and some will do it for free. Tell them you are looking to buy it and want it checked out.

For parts check FCPgroton.com they are pretty cheap. They are also and advertiser on here and have a special I think this month like 10 or 15% off for forum members.

 

You did good. Front wheel bearings are easy but I doubt you need them. Autozone is pretty good on brake parts too. Learn to read the codes and that will help you determine what is wrong. A common place for the brakes to leak is the brake safety switch, use teflon tape on the nylon switchto correct (low tech but works perfectly)

 

Thanks guys. I just moved it to a different spot on the street and pulled the ebrake up- low and behold, it's stuck. I can't get it down. Good news is the lever in no way seems to affect the stopping of the car. lol.

Any input on this?

 

I would inspect the button and gear under the center.

 

Thanks- it was actually just the button getting caught on the handle. Wow.

So I had the front tires replaced today and did an oil change- upon performing the oil change I realized the motor mount was broken and preventing me from taking the oil filter off. Damn. Jacked up the motor from underneath and got it off, but now I need to order some MMs.

Replaced about 75% of the fuses that were out and now I have interior lights, as well as rear brake lights. Here are a few pics of the Golden Goose: