1996 Geo Metro

LSI Hatchback

1.3L 4 Cylinder Gasoline Fuel

Manual

2C1MR2291T6702710

Front Wheel Drive

Gasoline

1996 Geo Metro 1996 Geo Metro LSI 1.3 Liter 4 cylinder 5 speed This is an excellent driving little car. The A arm support structures have absolutely nothing more than surface rust!!! The body is solid, but does have a few dings around the body. I bought it to be a "parts runner" when I was on a ranch 10 miles from the nearest "anywhere" to run back and forth to town for parts and things when I was adding CNG fueling to my motorhome This car honestly gets an average of 47 MPG driving on the highway. It is a 1996 OBD-II car and I bought OBD-WIZ software and a USB adapter and using my laptop - that is what it read out while driving 65 MPH. I had readings as high as 195 MPG when coasting and as low as 19 MPG under hard acceleration. Apparently in Utah - once an insurance company reports an insured vehicle as a "total loss" - it is only thereafter issued a "Branded Title" of "Rebuilt/Restored/Rebuildable". Sadly this does not speak for the actual damage or not. There is evidence the car was struck from behind on the passenger side. there is evidence the hatch was repaired from a minor hit, and it does not appear to have been hard enough to break the hatch glass, but the repair effort and work can be seen below in the pic showing the rust on the inside of the hatch. A "total loss" vehicle is a rebuilt/restored vehicle, and such a vehicle in Utah will be issued a "branded" title. That is, the title will clearly state that the vehicle is either salvage or rebuilt/restored. In some cases, a salvage vehicle in Utah can be rebuilt and have the brand removed from the title. This usually happens when the car sustained damage to only one component part and was inspected before, during, and after the repairs?so the Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division (MVED) can make sure the finished work meets Utah's stringent safety standards. But this is rare, so usually a vehicle that has been rebuilt or restored from salvage status will have a branded title, and was not done in this case. Clearly body work was done on the rear passenger side quater panel and possibly the the rear bumper cover was replaced, however looking under the vehicle there is no evidence of severed body damage. None of the door jambs are painted different from the factory color. This accident must have been in 2000 according to the Autocheck report. Then each year thereafter for registration renewal and change of owner on the same or around about the registraton due date the same entery as to titling was entered AGAIN and AGAIN. When the vehicle changed registered owners, the same entry was issued AGAIN each time. When the vehicle was titled in California no such "Salvaged" or "Rebuilt/Restored/Rebuildable" designation was attached to the title. I am aperson with body work training and experience and I can not see any evidence the car has never been in a major accident to be rebuilt to the level the Utah branding would lead one to believe. To be considered a "total loss" - all the accident has to do is make the repairs cost more than the market value of the vehicle so in the year 2000 one could see how that was the case. The Geo hatchback 2 dr sold new for list of $8.780. Four years later any accident in the range of $2,500 in repairs beat the "blue book" value easily as before the cost of fuel went sky high, the cars were not considered worth much. Yet today Mototrend.com and Edmunds.com report the average resale on a Geo Metro at $2,142.00 to $2,525.00. So . . . . the title branding issue is riduiculously negligble. The "Buy It Now" is fair, and the only dents the car has is on the left front fender which could pop out with a suction puller and the ones in the rear hatch shown. If you believe in vehicle branding that much by a title - pass this up - your choice and loss. The car has a new Catalytic converter, exhaust flange dough nut (with anti-seize compound put back on the bolts) and front pipe system - the old one just rusted through and broke open. Its original color was once Midnight Blue, but it has now been painted OSHA white - also called "GM 110 White" with actually Dupli-Color DA1670 Gloss ENAMEL Paint - so it shines and will continue to shine and should wax easily. The door jambs and under hood and hatch areas have NOT been painted white. The roof and hood need a "do-over". The wheels are "Chrome Paint" painted. There is a space saver spare but no jack. The rear hatch operates only by the remote release at the drivers door - there is no key lock in the hatch at all - the key lock hole is plugged with a bolt. The rear hatch has rust on the passenger side near the lower glass area - and is dented with what looks like are "anger" or "frustration" dents from trying to slam the hatch shut when the hatch latch spot welds had broken. The rear wiper and motor is gone. The latch welds broke - and it was repaired by quick taps screws to hold the hatch latch properly so it would shut properly. I would say the easiest answer is to get a whole new rear hatch from a bone yard - they are about $70 here in California when you find one. The passenger mirror was re-glued back together across the middle - hard to tell it was done. The car is in great shape for a 15 year old car and it will serve someone well to run errands - back and forth to work cheaply or to go across country in I would bet. I would not hesitate to drive it across country and believe there would be no problems. Geo's are actually Suzukis, and it was in the era when Suzuki was entering the car market from it's motorcycle heritage. Many were sold all over the world under various names. See the wiki page for the Geo or Suzuki Cultrus for history. at => en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Cultus The pic below is the hatch open right side lower area when open. (the Blue was the original color) Originally a Utah car with unknown collision history to me. but the air bags are in place, and it was known to be run over a road berm which broke the exhaust pipe away which is why the CAT was replaced. The car sits low to the ground. Dual air bags. See the title report pages I ran. I have the full report in HTML format in full or PDF file here in low res This report shows the title history from Utah as restored at the very bottom - but not each re-registration entry like Auto Check does. I am selling this because I am a left leg above knee amputee and I was going use it as my RV tow and errand car and to put a hydraulic hand operated clutch on the stick on it, but at 55 - I have now decided I just do not want to shift gears again anymore in any vehicle. Many of the car's miles were likely tow miles behind an RV back and forth across the country. It was and is professionally set up for a permanent quick removal tow bar. The engine starts right up, and purrs like a little sewing machine. It currently has fresh Mobil 1 5w 40 and oil FRAM oil filter and a fresh air filter. I am guessing it was bought new by a retired or well to do person or family who set up right away for RV towing. It was originally a Utah car. (If you want the Tow Bar - add $100) It has nice factory ice cold air conditioning (R-134a) and a Delco AM-FM Cassette. The seats are not torn - but have new grey Auto Expressions seat covers I put on them. They are "standard" dirty under the covers - but could easily be cleaned - they are not greasy dirty. It has two fans - one for the A/C condenser and one for the radiator and even in 110 degree heat with the A/C on it has never come even close to overheating - in fact the temperature gauge had no effect, It has a current smog certificate in California good for transfer to another person until 12/10/11. The smog report is shown. The guy drove it in 2nd gear at 15 MPH and it lugged but STILL passed emission levels at that speed, he then just accelerated to 25 and you can see the difference in emission output. As you can see it is a clean runner as far as emissions are concerned. Registration in California is current until May 2012. All a California buyer would need to do is pay the title transfer and usage tax. Geo manual transmission cars seem to have an EGR problem where the design of the EGR passage in the intake manifold is just plain stupid. It makes snakes and turns before the Throttle Body (yes this is fuel injected) and they are hard to trouble shoot and just usually need to be cleaned out. Thus it will throw a P0400 "service engine soon" code persistently - the EGR flow code. The way to fix this is to remove the intake manifold and then clean out all the carbon from the EGR passages. The only thing that will clean hardened automobile carbon build up from EGR passages is basically mechanical methods or Easy-Off oven cleaner. It has to be done OFF the car because the direction to clear the carbon pushes it into the intake and the vacuum will draw it right back up into the passage again to plug it again anyway. If you use Easy-Off, you do not want to liquefy that carbon with a caustic mixture then to be drawn right back up through the throttle body - which is where ultimately it finally goes through back into the engine without being cleaned, rinsed and neutralized. More work than I want to do, and it is not really critical to the operation of the engine. It will only throw this code when the ECM performs the EGR flow check when you let it coast in 3rd, 4th, or 5th gear - but of course once it throws the code the computer stores it and the "service engine soon" remains on. I bought OBD-WIZ from Amazon for $29.00 and cleared the code, drove the 50 miles required to pass SMOG (75 miles I drove) continuously on the highway and went right to the SMOG place - and the SMOG result you see below - it passed. Two days later the code threw again when I let it coast in 5th gear (without pushing in the clutch) SMOG inspections are every two years in California so when SMOG time comes around again just do that above to pass again. It will pass assuming you take car of the car. This was even with old plugs and dirty air cleaner! The body has dings all over it but nothing major - however if you are particular about paint and body - this is not the car for you. The headlights are the first year GM made them as day runner lights and they come on when the parking brake is released. They are Polycarbonate lenses and are faded a bit yellow. You can clean them by carefully polishing them with plastic polish. It is tricky but can be done to get them clear "glass-like" again. Google "cleaning headlight lenses" to see how. Otherwise they also fully work by the lever on the column. In 1996 – OBD-II was added to Metro models, at a cost of some fuel efficiency. The third generation Metro was introduced with a revised 4-cylinder engine for LSi models with hydraulic lifters and lash adjusters, and a 30,000-mile service interval. The hatchback then featured a three-inch lower liftover height compared to the second generation, and safety equipment included optional anti-lock brakes, safety cage construction with deformable front and rear crush zones, and steel side impact door safety beams and new daytime running lights — the Metro was the first GM car to get DRLs as standard equipment, as well as dual frontal airbags. The sedan and coupe chassis were 20% and 5% stiffer respectively than the previous generation Metros, and at the time of its introduction, the Metro was the smallest car in the world to meet the impending 1997 side impact standards. The Metro now featured a coefficient of drag of .32. I do not have history on the the engine but it runs strong and does not appear to use or burn any oil. The clutch is good also. The brakes are smooth and strong. It shifts smooth with no problems. It has plenty of power for a 4 cylinder car. The seats have no tears or really bad places. The interior looks good. The dash is faded a little and could be painted with Dupli-Color dashboard vinyl paint, so it looks good also. The headliner is hanging down, but could be re-glued with 3M spray adhesive. The left (drivers side) front CV axle should be replaced because the boots are torn and taped and I will include a new CV axle to put in. Pretty easy to do - loosen the CV axle nut; break away the ball joint, remove the old one by pulling it out; slip the new one in, reverse the process. Otherwise everything works. The tires have good tread The car drives great and straight down the road, tires in good balance and it can breeze along smoothly at 80 with no problem. The A/C is ice cold and the heater works great. This 1996 version has a drive by wire system that brings up the engine rpm when you turn on the A/C - and you can even let the clutch out slowly and it will do the same. I drive it with one leg and it can get moving off from a light on fairly level ground fairly easily without any throttle to get the clutch out. It has a Delco Cassette from the factory - player installed. You could drive this car across country and I am confident it would easily make it. I have this car for sale locally, so I reserve the right to end the auction or any listing early. For a 47 MPG car - if you want NEW - BUY NEW - this one is rough around the edges and needs just little TLC, but looks good. Below I am including some EPA Info on this car - and other people have reported averaging 53 MPG. There are lots of GEO's reporting to have been rebuilt and had engine work done, but this one appears to have just been taken care of and had an easier life than others being pulled around behind an RV most of it's life and sitting most of the other time. A good buy for someone who will take care of the car - with a new catalytic converter, piping and those emission outputs - this one should go for a long time with care and routine maintenance on time. On Sep-19-11 at 13:31:34 PDT, seller added the following information: *** You should be able to "right click" and select "view image" for a larger full size view or any pic on the listing page. The area that was likely the area in the accident at the passenger side rear quarter panel area was professionally repaired in 2000 I am guessing and I uploaded a view of it to supportamerica.ws/images/geo/geo078.jpg (eBay won't allow full active links anymore - paste that into a browser) It should display in the browser full view. The body work was done well - but there is a small imperceptible 2 inch approx crack line in the bondo in two places. There is one other "dent" in the vehicle other than the small scratch showing in the door I forgot to mention - and it is on the roof at the rear where the hatch opens in the middle area about 6 inches long - the roof is bent down slightly for about 5 inches so the hatch clears. Your guess is as good as mine as to why. It does not show on the pictures, and nor did I take one of it. (yet) Most people will likely not notice it. Once bids are placed I cannot modify the actual text or html format or pictures of the eBay listing. I stand behind and say again that this is a REALLY GOOD little Geo and someone will get a really good car out of this - rough around the edges and all !!!. *** On Sep-20-11 at 01:37:14 PDT, seller added the following information: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 From my years of auto body experience, I was puzzled for a while as to how the body damage to the rear quarter panel area of the Geo was caused. There were no compression damage repairs like from being hit in an impact from another vehicle – that is the rear light area body well was not damaged, and the only the hatch was actually “peeled” back and repaired. More like a side-swipe than a collision. Certainly no damage to the wheel well area or suspension that was repaired. Then it occurred to me – and while I cannot prove it – the damage was likely caused when towing the Geo. Most people who have tow car set up like this Geo is have a large RV – like a tour bus size Diesel pusher – like the size of Greyhound Bus. Tow cars cut a shorter radius than the RV might clear, and it is likely the car clipped a pole or other structure on a tight right turn – that is blind to a mirror even. That would have caused the minor side swipe damage and peeled the rear hatch back like the way it was repaired tends to indicate. The Title Report shows the Geo was originally leased. That means it would have had full coverage insurance for at least four years while under lease. The accident occurred in the year 2000 – right around when the Geo was nearing four years old and probably close to the end of the lease. If being towed by the RV – the RV insurance would have covered the damage to the Geo also. (Mine covers damage to anything being towed – whether my fault or not to the policy limit) A body shop or dealer or approved body shop of the carrier might have also spec’ed out rear quarter panel replacement and bumper cover and interior plastic collapsible bumper. This would have certainly pushed the total value beyond the Blue Book marketable value of the Geo. BUT the damage was so minor it did not even affect the body at all really. But in Utah – the law requires new part replacement and state inspection while the work is being done to avoid a branded title The rear hatch being peeled back like that is not something any body shop dealing with insurance would estimate trying to fix. The shop would spec out a replacement, hatch, glass and electrics of the hatch of the wiper motor and third brake light. In the year 2000 this would have been a dealer only body item – and it’s cost alone would have “totaled” out the Geo. Also that is likely where the dent on the roof came from - the sprung adjustment of the hatch now needing clearance to open. It is also what likely tore loose or weakened the spot welds at the latch of the hatch to then start the latch problems of it coming loose Likely near the lease end, in the year 2000 and like all persons looking for a deal to their advantage – it is a good bet the original owners took the insurance payout and either sold the car, or used it to pay into the end of lease buy out, and/or bought it and had it repaired WITHOUT replacing the hatch but instead having it repaired and by doing body work to it. When I looked at the hatch repair I wondered what would cause the need to try to weld the outer and inner metal together because it was not crumpled – but peeled apart and “torn” instead. The deal included a full paint job – but most people do not know many cut-rate body shops paint with lacquer paint as the EPA regulations to paint with Enamel in a spray booth are far too strict to be cost effective to a cut-rate shop, and by the time it weathers and turns porous and dull – the customer is long gone. That is what is was when I got it – painted with badly weathered, faded and dull lacquer no amount of waxing or rubbing could ever help. It was cheaper and easier to now again paint the entire car, and it shines like new now, even though the mask job was not perfect. I am a leg amputee and I live in pain daily using a prosthetic so I wanted the get the job done quickly. Enamel is a far better automotive paint, and will hold a shine on it’s own for years – and I have used that paint that five years later still looks acceptable and is smooth with a luster without clear coating or buffing if painted right. It will stay that way IF one uses ONLY wax – not something that “restores” paint finish like “Nu-Finish” or other rubbing compound as they first eat into the “wet-coat skin” of the paint to smooth it – not unlike fine sandpaper, and the from there you have opened the hard sealed skin of the paint and it will then become flat with weathering effects. In any event that is my spin on the title and body damage issue. Minor body damage for a costly part that caused an insurance “total-out” loss declaration which caused the title branding issue because it was a Utah car under Utah’s strict titling laws due a freaky accident caused by a short towing radius caused by a tow bar. It is either that or a very poor driver who swiped a pole or something to that effect driving forward in a tight turning radius in that little car. As you can see from the pic link above – the body work was done very nicely, but is now clearly ten years old. Oh yes, the engine does not leak oil nor is it greasy dirty. Now you can bid with a higher degree of confidence. On Sep-21-11 at 07:51:11 PDT, seller added the following information: For those who might be coming a long distance to get the car, I can meet you at the City of Orange Metrolink station or the Santa Ana Metrolink / Amtrak station (which is just off an exit at Interstate 5 or at the Orange County John Wayne Airport with the car and and you can drive it back to wherever you need to go. I have used it to go to Pasadena, Riverside and LA and you should have no problems on the freeway from Orange. It has fresh oil in it so you could in theory drive back to the east coast if you wanted. (Amtrak only goes through Orange on the same rail line but does not stop there) For airlines that serve John Wayne Airport visit ocair.com/airlines/jwaairlines.aspx For Metrolink information visit metrolinktrains.com/schedules/html.php?id=1090 On Sep-21-11 at 17:04:15 PDT, seller added the following information: 1996 Geo Metro 1996 Geo Metro - Extra and close up pictures 1.3 Liter 4 cylinder 5 speed I do not want anyone to be surprised - except pleasantly. SO . . . I took closer-up pictures and some extra pictures. Below is the dent - or bent down area of the roof. My guess is someone bent this to make the hatch clear on opening. I located a replacment hatch through a bone yard parts locator line - and they want $150 for it complete in Cosa Mesa, CA. I have not seen it or been to the yard. I will give you the contact where it allededly is located. You can right click on any image and select "view image" to get a full size pic to open in the browser Here is another view of it below. This is the link on the right from above of the side of the car where the body work was done ten years ago. This on the left is a close up of where the hatch was repaired on the outside now ten years later. Below right another view. No body work was done or touched when it was painted. Anyone can touch up the bodywork by filling the cracks and ssnding the rust bubble (on the hatch) and re-spray the panel. It will match perfectly side a bolt. The faded dash below. It should be the same color as the air bag panel on the passenger side. Another view of the dash faded. The average tread on the tires. The engine compartment - completely stock with average dirt. Another view of the engine comartment. The battery was made in February of 2009 - so it is fairly new also. (the Orange sticker on it) The wire wrapped around the shock tower is the tow bar wiring connector The right mirror repair on the left here. You could carefully sand it smoother and paint it gloss black again to make it look better or buy a new one for $25 on eBay. Two fans - one in front of the condenser and one behind the radiator. The interior needs cleaning - I am not going to do it. 1996 Geo Metro 1996 Geo Metro - Extra and close up pictures 1.3 Liter 4 cylinder 5 speed I do not want anyone to be surprised - except pleasantly. SO . . . I took closer-up pictures and some extra pictures. Below is the dent - or bent down area of the roof. My guess is someone bent this to make the hatch clear on opening. I located a replacment hatch through a bone yard parts locator line - and they want $150 for it complete in Cosa Mesa, CA. I have not seen it or been to the yard. I will give you the contact where it allededly is located. You can right click on any image and select "view image" to get a full size pic to open in the browser Here is another view of it below. This is the link on the right from above of the side of the car where the body work was done ten years ago. This on the left is a close up of where the hatch was repaired on the outside now ten years later. Below right another view. No body work was done or touched when it was painted. Anyone can touch up the bodywork by filling the cracks and ssnding the rust bubble (on the hatch) and re-spray the panel. It will match perfectly side a bolt. The faded dash below. It should be the same color as the air bag panel on the passenger side. Another view of the dash faded. The average tread on the tires. The engine compartment - completely stock with average dirt. Another view of the engine comartment. The battery was made in February of 2009 - so it is fairly new also. (the Orange sticker on it) The wire wrapped around the shock tower is the tow bar wiring connector The right mirror repair on the left here. You could carefully sand it smoother and paint it gloss black again to make it look better or buy a new one for $25 on eBay. Two fans - one in front of the condenser and one behind the radiator. The interior needs cleaning - I am not going to do it.