Help buying a statesman

[ashhroyan]

Hey guys ive finally got rid of my Vs which put me through he'll
I'm looking at buying a wh stato
But this one has a issue
Where It was driven through water
And the carpets got wet so it was fixed but now needs to get a Viv from vicroads to get registered

What do you guys think and what should I do and look out for

[scvs6]

You are usually taking a risk when buying a car thats had water in it. There has been a couple of cars come to work that have been through water that I can use as examples.

1. Mazda 626. It came to work running but when we went to bring it into the workshop, it wouldn't turn over. So we pushed it in and replaced the starter motor (because it was full of water) and I also remember water was in the air box so we cleaned that up. Anyway, once the car was running for about 5-10mins, we heard a bang and the engine stalled. Looked under the car and there was oil leaking really badly. Looked underneith and there was a hole in the block and pieces of engine everywhere. Also inside the car, the carpet was wet still and the headlights had water in them.

2. BMW (can't remember the model). This was actually quite recent. Came to work on a tow truck because it ended up in water and wouldn't run. So someone at work took all the spark plugs out and turned it over and watched all the water come out. They did some other things but I didn't see what they did. But the car ended up starting for about 10 seconds, it was running really rough, nothing on the dash was working, radio wasn't working. Then once it stalled then that was the end of it. Owner ended up calling the insurance company and they came and towed it away. They wrote it off.

WH Statesman or any car that gets water into it, you don't know wheather it has gotten to the bcm, ecu, electric seats, into the engine through the air intake, and who know where else it could have got too. If they fixed absolutely everything then thats fair enough, but you don't know if they have just patched it up and you might have problems later on.

I know that people are going to disagree with what I say but in my own opinion, buying a car that has been through water or has been in an accident is risky.

I bought my WH Statesman because when I bought it, it was in immaculate condition and was running perfect and drove like a dream. A couple of months later, I noticed that the 2 tyres on the left side were wearing out really badly on the inside, sp I took it in for a wheel alignment and once it was finished, they said that it has hit something pretty hard on the left side. And I know it definately wasn't me. Then later on I took the car to a pannel beater to get a couple of small dents in the boot fixed, when I went to pick it up he said that the left rear has been smashed in before. He showed me file marks in the paint, the date on the Left tail light was 08/2006 (car was made 11/2001), and how the top of the rear bumper on the left side wasn't really matching up to the body properly. Luckly that has been all that I have found out so far and that it seems to be fixed properly, but because I am fussy with my cars, of course i'm taking it in one day to get repaired properly. Oh and also I have noticed a lot of scratches and chips in the paint on both sides of the car (so both sides are gettting respayed). Guy that I bought it off lied about the brakes, he said they were all brand new and not long after I had it, the front brakes were really noisy because they were metal to metal.

Just be aware of things when you are thinking of buying a car and make sure you check to see if everything works and make sure the engine is running really smooth. I hope this has helped, and my opinion on WH Statesmans, they are an awesome car and they look really nice with or without modifications..... or you can lower it a bit and put 19 inch rims on it haha.

[pjdm1980]

Easiest way to tell how high the water got is to remove the door trim.
Mate had a Vectra that needed a VIV for water damage and he had to take it to Holden who pulled the interior out to check the electrics for $1100 and he had to replace all the air bags and computers, in the end it cost him the same as a normal priced Vectra but he still had to tell the people that brought it that it was water damaged so he lost some money when he sold it a year later.
I'd steer clear of it!