been fiddling with the 4cyl cars for years. they have been pretty good to me, except for the one "unfortunate thermal event." getting ready to go look at a v-6 gt car. don't really know what to look for on them. any help would be greatly appreciated.

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87 coupe 4 cyl, 5 speed

Fried ICM.

Baked alternator (if the protective heat-shield is missing).

Leaking EGR tube.

Cracked front bank exhaust manifold.

Ancient rusted-solid front bank spark plugs.

If a 2.8 equipped Fiero hasn't got one (or more) of those issues, it's doing pretty good.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 10-08-2013).]

If you can make a 2.8 run it will tell you how it feels pretty quick. Ticking and clicking is a bad thing. Most of them puff smoke on startup, but if they keep smoking it's not good. Look for shiny parts inside the oil filler hole....they are generally pretty tough engines....if somebody changed the oil once and a while.

My V6 made a puff of smoke at startup 90% of the time from when it was new. I used a pint of oil between changes. It ran perfect for over 100K. I didnt bother to try and fix it. Most oil leaks usually originate at the dist '0' ring. Water pump failures...look for smaller bolts that are broken off. (why you would mount a water pump with tiny 8/10mm bolts amazes me.)

That puff of smoke at startup is normally valve stem seals. Been there with my Firebird

When you are talking about a 25+ year old car, there is no end of potential problems,

If you want a v6 Fiero, it should be a hobby car, not a reliable "get me to work" vehicle

Arn

If you do buy it and plan on keeping the stock 2.8, replace the pickup coil under the distributor along with your first tune up. You'll be happy down the road when your car isn't having random, untraceable ignition issues. And as Patrick said, check out the ICM to make sure it, and the wires leading to and from it, aren't fried.

Other than that, the only thing I can think of is making sure the exhaust manifolds aren't cracked, especially the one right by the rear window glass. When GM performed one of their recalls they removed the weatherstrip from under the rear window to allow more heat to escape the engine bay. Consequently, the hot manilfold directly below is prone to cracking when cold rain water pours on it. Think of it as putting a hot light bulb in ice water. If the manifold is cracked and has never been removed, there's a pretty good chance you'll have to remove the heads to get the bolts out to replace it. You may have better luck being in Arizona but nearly 30 years of being bolted on there will make those things a huge pain to take off.

All of my advice is based on learning things the hard way.

Good luck with your purchase!
-Josh