Hi Folks,

A good friend of mine will be offering his '88 Galant for sale and I'm thinking of buying it. It was purchased new by his mother and he inherited it a few years ago, but no longer has a need for it. The only known issue, he says, is a shudder from the left front that occurs at certain speeds. Other than that the car's in excellent shape with only ~100K miles. It was garaged most of its life and although I think it's originally from PA, it was Ziebarted back in the day so there's no visble rust. He's looking for about $900-$1000 and I would be using it primarily as a work car.

What could be causing this shudder, and are there any common problems I should look out for in a Galant of this era? Is it a pretty reliable car, overall? About how many miles are the trannies and engines in these good for? (I've put 200K-300K miles on Hondas and am hoping I could do the same with this Galant, assuming my usual proper maintenance.)

Thanks so much. If I end up buying his car I'll probably become a regular here.

Larry
Camarillo, CA

 

we'll expect you to be an active user. Mitsubishi Galant is a good car i must say.

 

So...I guess this model is a bit too old to generate much response here. Most of them have probably rusted away by now.

I DID find out it's an original CA car and has never left the state, so that's in my favor. I believe it received some kind of rustproofing however; evidently some dealership sold the service to the original owner, an unsuspecting older lady .

I also discovered it's an '89, not an '88 but I don't think there was much difference.

I've only been able to find a few articles about this car (through Google) but not much detailed technical info. I don't even know if the engine uses a timing belt or chain...can anybody help on this?