Hi Everyone, I recently purchased a 1993 Wagon listed as a parts car to upgrade my 1992 Wagon. The '93 has heated seats, power windows, upgraded sound system, tach, and the Classic (or BBS?) wheels. The owner said the motor ran when they parked it, but he just wanted it gone. I just got the car home for a more detailed look, and the shell is straight and solid. No rust. Really..none, with no collision damage. So now I'm having trouble with stripping/junking a Wagon with no rust/collision damage.

So some questions. 1) Are all 240 dashes interchangeable? 2) Engine - There isn't any oil on the dipstick, but the owner said that was because the dipstick got lost, so he just stuck a boneyard dipstick in. It doesn't look like the dipstick in my '92, so he might be telling the truth. I plan on draining/replacing the oil. If I can get it to fire is there some additive you can add to oil to clean the block? I seem to remember there was something to add to the crankcase, run for 5 mins then drain out and change oil again. 3) My '92 has almost 230K, while the "parts" wagon shows only 143K. If I can get the '93 to fire, the thought was to drive the '92 till it died, then swap out the '93 engine. Any transplant issues? Any thoughts on how to correctly store an engine? I'd probably leave it in frame. 4) I drive an '89 Sedan. If the '93 doesn't fire, are any backward compatibility issues? (i.e. swapping the '89 engine into the '93)?

Again, I just hate to junk a wagon shell with no rust (especially in the North East), so any thoughts on refurbish or strip and scrap??

Thanks!

 

pretty much everything should be interchangable, but I'd strongly consider refurbishing that one if its lower miles and in better shape than yours.

check the oil with your dipstick, all B230F engines use the same one. 1989+ engines are all interchangeable, same injection, same everything.

unless the oil you drain is full of nasty stuff, I'd not mess with trying any sort of 'flush' or 'cleaner', just change the oil and filter, drive a few 100 miles and change again for good luck.

inspect under the hood really closely for rodent damage to any of the wiring, they love to nest in there (hey, its dry) and bored squirrels/woodrats/etc will chew anything they can to sharpen their teeth. look in the air filter box too, I found a nest under an air filter on one car that had been parked for just a couple months.

pull all 4 spark plugs and inspect them, that will give a good clue as to the engines condition, then just go ahead and replace them unless they are like-new. check the condition of the spark plug wires, cap, rotor, replace as needed. if the engine cranks over once you've charged/replaced the battery, then I'd do a compression test (after changing the oil) to see if you have decent compression... note it willl take a fair bit of cranking to circulate the oil up through the head and cylinders to get decent compression.

I fully expect if that thing has been sitting a few years that it will cough, sputter, and come right back to life with very little effort.

depending on how long its sat, things I'd want to do before driving would include a complete brake system flush, a complete radiator flush, power steering fluid, ATF, and engine oil.... verify the differential is full (level with the bottom of the upper plug in the back). if the tires show signs of cracking and weather checking, I'd replace them asap too. put the battery on a good 6-12 amp charger overnight. its likely completely flat, which means a 'smart' charger won't even start, so I keep a stupid old 'automatic' manual charger around for these, get about 1/2 charge on the batt so it shows at least 9-10 volts, THEN put the smart ('microprocessor controlled') charger on it to fully charge it properly. if the battery is 5 years old, you'll likely find you need a new one ASAP anyways...

I'd make sure all 4 wheels spin freely before driving even around the block.