Hey everyone! I posted this on another forum, and I'm just looking to see if I can get any more insight. I'm considering buying a '96 Z28 for about $1800. I talked to the guy, and naturally, for that price, it'll need some work.

Here's a list of what's wrong:

Check engine light is on, code states there's a miss-fire and runs lean in banks 1 and 2

Exhaust is cut and needs catalytic converter(s), didn't specify if it needs one or two

There's a little oil leak in the back

Battery needs to be replaced

Considering this is all that needs to be taken care of for the time being, how much of a repair job am I looking at? The cat converters should be fairly easy to replace, right?

Would the miss-fire and running lean issue be easy to fix? I've heard that simply replacing the cats might fix this issue.

As for the oil leak, I was told it might be the rear main seal. Is that easy to fix?

Basically, I'd just like to know if these repairs are fairly easy, in what order I should make the repairs (or have repaired), and the amount of money I should expect to spend on said repairs. Presuming I get this, it will be my daily driver.

How much would it be if I did all this myself? Could I do this without much of a problem? I'm no mechanic, but I've worked on my car before.

How much if I took it to a shop?

Thank you very much everyone, and I hope you all are having a great year so far!

 

There are just too many things this could be, it is not caused by the lack of cats. People can guess but no one can tell you what it will cost to fix other then to say it is most likely between $30-$2000

96 came with 2, If this has to pass any type of emissions test this can get very expensive very fast. Check out Rockauto.com for prices and add a few hundred for the install. You might be able to find a local guy to install aftermarket cat but the Camaro is a tight fit and most exhaust guy shy away from it.

This you want to be sure of. The rear main is replaced after removing the transmission. It will not be cheap if you pay a pro.


This one I assume you got.


My first impressions, who ever owned this car let it go. The list of issues you have is just the beginning. These types of cars end up being nightmares. When ever you run across car that have a whole list of things wrong with them that did not happen in one day. That means the owner was driving with stuff wrong, most likely not doing the normal maintenance since he could not afford to fix what was wrong with it.

If you want to find a fixer upper in order to get a "good deal" find a car that has been babied all its life and has one major thing wrong with and fix that.

IMO $1800 is not a great deal for a car with an unknown miss. The miss itself could be anything from a bad wire to a blown head gasket. The lean issue could be a bad MAF sensor to a failing fuel pump. When ever I buy a car I assume the worst until proven otherwise. Heck if this car has a failing fuel pump, blown head gasket, needs both cats and a rear main leak you could be in 4K deep at a shop and if the Opti/water pump has an issue there is another $1200.

 

Pretty much what Gorn said is dead on.

Another common leak for our cars is at the back of the intake.

Some of the things you can narrow down to pin point the problem. Such as the lean/misfire codes. You could do a fuel pressure check, as this can point out the rough condition of the pump, but this will still cost money to do.

If you weren't looking at this as a DD and wanted something you could tear apart and rebuild, then I'd offer a grand to guy and go at it.

 

Geeze, I didn't think it could have been that bad. Ah well. I really appreciate the advice guys, you definitely saved me a lot of money here. I'll still keep searching for a Z28 that isn't falling apart