Hey guys its been a while and I'm still looking for a car for school.
Cutting to the case:
1999 Protege SE
89,000km
$6985 (CDN)
5 spd., ps, pb, AM/FM, A/C, p/sunroof, extra clean, cert & e-tested. 89,000 km

It's a basic car.. but it looks alright. The body is in great shape, but under the hood isn't as nice. It's got more rust than you would expect. The inside is kind of dirty, but it's close to school so I could really care less at this point.

My main worry is under the hood. Any ideas why it aint so clean under there, and which spots should I really be looking at. Thanks fellaz

 

Any areas near/around the sub frame. The strut towers, especially where the struts mount. Anywhere the subframe meets the firewall. Surface rust may be o.k. You need to find out if the rust you are seeing is only surface or if it is deeper than that.

 

There was some rust on the actual engine itself. I checked it and it was just surface rust but couldn't that amount to a more serious problem down the road.

The strut mounts looked new, actually, which just accented all the other rusted bits..
There were a couple mounts at the base of the engine that connect to the car itself that were quite rusted... ?

 

Uhm. Any mud inside the doors? It may have been a flooded car and is being re-titled and sold. Loook for any other water damage...

 

I would tend to agree with dapfunk. You might pull the carpet back and look at the floor for signs of mold/mildew, or rust, etc. If you know how, pop the door panels off and look down with a flashlight at the inside of the door for signs of mud, water, rust, etc. As far as the surface rust, it could expand or worsen at some point. If you are really concerned about it, clean, dry and paint the engine using high temp paint.

 

i agree with that kind of rust there was prob some serious water damage to the car and it is trying to be covered for. My 2 cents is look for another car