What to look for? Buying Vitara

[COMILUX]

Hey all.

My boss is looking at buying a mid to late 90s suzuki vitara which will be used to a frame behind his house bus and will be used mainly on the road.
Hes looking at both 4cyl and 6 cyl options and we would like to know if theres any comon fualts or issues these have that should be looked for when buying one?

Thanks
Nic

[Swamped]

4 cyl can do head gaskets or head cracks and the key ways on the crank can flog out causing them to lose timing and run poorly. I've noticed whining gearboxes to be another thing in badly maintained ones but otherwise they are good. No idea about 6 cyl. heard parts can be hard to find and are tougher to mod but can't be sure.

[meece4x4]

Hey all.

My boss is looking at buying a mid to late 90s suzuki vitara which will be used to a frame behind his house bus and will be used mainly on the road.
Hes looking at both 4cyl and 6 cyl options and we would like to know if theres any comon fualts or issues these have that should be looked for when buying one?

Thanks
Nic

early 4 cyl 1600's where known for cooking heads if the front exhaust collapsed and blocked the pipes, I think they changed the design in the later model though, Check the O2 sensor, if it's not working the 1600 can suddenly chew heap of gas.

Not really a problem as it's going to spend most of its time on the road but the alloy front diffs are a weak point in all IFS Zooks (except for the Diesel as they where steel).

the 2.0 V6 has plenty of power and drive really nicely and surprisingly good on gas for a v6 (is the Mazda V6 BTW) however if you take one for a test drive check/listen for a rattle/chatter in the front .. the cam chains (two of them) and tensioners wear on these models and can cost a pretty penny (I was quoted $1900) to fix unless you want to do it yourself .. and they are not easy motors to work on as the V6 is literally shoehorned into the Zook.

so if it has a rattle .. Id walk away unless it was really really cheap

[suzukisport]

We put the 2.0L V6 into our truck originally for offroad use and it went awesome. Never had any faults. Lots of power for the size. But yes the chains is not an easy job to do, if you were to buy one check if they have been done, or look for one with low kms.

[COMILUX]

Thanks guys good info