How often do supras break down Literally.

[Bri7man]

Agreed.

bought my 87 with 42k miles on the clock back in 94 (i was 2n owner). Went from South Dakota to Miami in 96. Daily Drove it from 96 - 98 then moved to Minnesota. Daily drove it from 98-04. Through rain, snow etc. Never once did it "break". And at one point I even upgraded the turbo which was about the only thing that needed attention at about 150k milles. I always maintaned it. That means, oil changes, spark plugs, hose changes, radiator flushes yearly. Died at 225k, #5 bearing was no more.

So never had a "break down". Even with the spun bearing. I drove it with ZERO oil pressure for 15 miles. Hay it was either that or not finish my last exam to graduate from university. Sorry, the graduation was more important

Kind of sounds like a heroic way to go out too :biglaugh:

 

[supraduper]

ive had good luck... for the most part

i got my 86.5 for $400 had a blown head gasket... replaced the gasket but didnt flush the oil after or clean out the cylinders of debris.. developed a rod knock and burnt a shit ton of oil.. owner induced

dropped the subframe, did a quick in chassis rebuild, new bearings. drove it from n.h. to s.c. no problems other than burning 2 quarts every 500 miles... rode like a dream..

i have since bought a new engine, stock rebuild
no problems other than dumb ass unavailable control arm bushings... thats the worst part... being told that instead of a $10 bushing, you need the whole ctrl arm for $200...

thats what im getting used to

 

[tissimo]

Mines been running for 2 years 30k miles with nearly no issues at all. I found a small leak in my condenser and put brakes on and a few oil changes and thats it.

Of course my car is stock and just cruise with it. If you plan on racing your car parts will wear quicker.

 

[RazoE]

Yeah, it's me with 3 Supras.!

I'm broke in the fact that I can't stop modding my vehicles (including my xB)...

the only things that ever really go bad are wear items, and thing that need rebuilding (turbo, power steering rack, etc.)

plus you have to consider age and mileage, my 86.5 has 254,000+ miles, the 89 is right behind with 252,000+ and my 92 is right around 185,000+...

it's fun, but you need to know what you're getting yourself into before you take on a Supra project...


p.s. I wish I had $1000 to spend on any given supra a month..!

 

[aaron_arthur]

bought a 1990 supra turbo targa 5speed fer $3800 A canadian car has been stored every winter! the underbody and everything shows it. for safety needed tires and e-brake shoes. and flew threw e-test like none other. its my dd over the summer and only other things i have needed to replace was a thermostate, but i also did the rad cap. its all how you drive it, look after it you could have a kick @$$ supra that you dont have to be worried about breaking down.

Aaron

 

[black89t]

a lot if you run them hard and don't keep up with things.


me its mainly tires, clutches, and a shit load of gas. autocrossing and drag racing every event doesn't help but it sure is FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mkIIIman089]

Stranded? Never. Daily driven, through all seasons, for 5 years now.

Nearly stranded once in Indiana with a major water leak, was able to fix it with the help of some friendly local mechanics.

However, don't kid yourself, maintenance will be chronic and encompass every system on the car. Electrics, engine mechanical, drivetrain, suspension, etc.

 

[jgcable]

Ok well I only make enough money to have 1000 dollars to play with every month, and if a supra is going to cost more than that to maintain then I don't wanna get one quite yet.

Wow... $1000.00 a month to play with? Thats a fair amount of play money!!!
I wouldn't be worried with any Supra repairs with that kind of walk around money.
Just curious.... how much play money do you feel you need in order to own a Supra?

 

[jgcable]

oh yea.. if you beat on it.. it will break. Just like any other car.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

/Thread

 

[figgie]

Kind of sounds like a heroic way to go out too :biglaugh:

well that is the funny thing and shows how this 7m is really built. After class, the engine STARTED. So 15 miles back home with a big donut for oil pressure. I was thinking this is definetly dead now. So woke up next morning and without missing a beat. Started again. big donut in the oil pressure but still ran!

 

[LAYZORBEEMZ]

Wow this is a lot more response than I expected, thanks boys. I don't know I thought 1000 wouldn't be good enough, but I wasn't sure because i've never owned a supra before.

 

[Tanya]

If it costs $1,000 a month to maintain your Supra, you're doing it wrong.

It's one thing to modify your car, in which case, $1,000 is definitely feasable to keep piling shit onto it, but as far as MAINTENANCE goes.... hell no.

Fix the car right the first time, and she'll treat you good for another 100,000 miles. Don't be an ignorant car owner and ignore leaks, overheat the engine, etc etc or you will find yourself wanting to slice your wrists open.



My current Supra.... I got her 2 years ago, 9/07. It had been stored outside, under a car cover, for 2 years. They let the battery leak, which rotted the metal underneath. Other than that, the car was "put down" because the auto transmission had lost reverse gear.

I got the car for free, dumped $1,300 into a new engine, transmission swap, and miscellenous, and my car drove across the country ALMOST perfectly fine.

The three issues it gave me were 99% my fault.
1. The only coolant hose I DIDNT replace, ended up bursting in Texas.
2. The 25 year old cat decided to stop flowing after 2500 miles of 80mph+
3. The walbro fuel pump's fuel filter got clogged, due to a rusty gas tank.

All very easily preventable.


Go through the car very thoroughly and replace EVERYTHING that can cause a serious issue.

 

[IJ.]

As I posted earlier in 46000 miles I put Oil and Coolant in mine and didn't spend a cent for that year.

Even modded at 500+rwhp it only got Oil changes and plugs as needed so nowhere near $1k a month.

 

[JPsToyota]

You could probably maintain a friggin Veyron with that much money.

 

[Keros]

You could probably maintain a friggin Veyron with that much money.

A set of tires for a Vyron is $25000USD, so probably not.

To the OP, if you pay big to get in and buy a really nice chassis that has been well taken care of, then you'll probably not have high maintenance costs. This is the way to go if you want to daily drive it, instead of repair it daily. If you pay $500 for a MkIII, expect to get a five hundred dollar car; breaks down constantly, and may one day catastrophically fail.

No matter how shiney the car looks though, all inline 6 bi-metal (aluminum head cast iron block) engines are vulnerable to blown head gaskets. Unless you buy a car with an engine that was professionally well built, you're at risk of developing a BHG on the drive home from where you bought it. There's no way to really know. There's lots of solutions to prevent BHG's, but the only remedy for it once you have it is to rebuild... and even then, that's only $2000-$3000, depending on how far you go.

For $1000 a month, you can make a hellofa supra.

 

[LAYZORBEEMZ]

Well this supra I have been looking at latly is a 87 turbo with 180000 kms so like 100,000miles? But it's bottom end was rebuilt professionally and has an oem hg torqued sufficiantly. But it needs a new turbo or turbo rebuild. That just makes me a little nervous because I don't know if be beat on the car or the turbo just went, and it's auto, I want manual. Unfortunatly there aren't many supras around where I live.

 

[Davismj711]

I have never had a breakdown, but I do a ton of PM ^^^

 

[LAYZORBEEMZ]

I have never had a breakdown, but I do a ton of PM ^^^

Pm stands for personal maintainence I take it?

 

[jgcable]

I do alot of preventive maintainence on my 1987 NA automatic and I don't beat on the car and it has been trouble free since the BHG last summer. Thats 8K since the work and it runs and drives like a brand new car. It just turned 112K.
If you beat on a car.. it will break. They all do. If you don't mind constantly working on it then you can go out and flog it every darn day.