John_Galt

Hello All,
On Thur AM, I am about to buy (unless you talk me out of it PDQ!) a 96 I30t 5-speed.

I crawled under the car and saw black grease on/around the trannny case.

Upon taking it to the owner's mechanic for a needed alignment (that the owner paid for), the current owner's mechanic says that the black grease I see under the car has a bad "Axel Seal." He said that the I30 needs a new axel seal and a new tranny sensor.

His mechanic said that it was $220 in labor, and ?? for parts. I called the dealer for a parts quote, and he said: "Which sensor is it that you need?" I said, "The tranny sensor." He said "which one?"

So, is there more than one tranny sensor? I see black grease around the tranny, on a hose/line that goes up to the motor on the driver's side of the tranny. I also see some grease on a hose/line that is more on the passenger side going up to the engine top side.

Any help would be much appreciated.

If anyone has any opinion about the over-all deal here are the details:

Northern Calif I30t Car (where both the current owner, and I live), 58k miles, 2nd owner, very well maintained and EXTRA clean body and interior. Leather seat has no wear on the dreaded left rib cage area in the driver's seat.

Two very small chips on windscreen, may not spread, but may.. :-(.

Michelin rubber with at least 20,000 of mileage left on them. BBS wheels look great.

We agreed on a price of 12,800; kbb is 12,600 (minus repairs, so ~12,400), so I am a bit higher than that. My thinking is that the only way to get a car this clean is to go to a dealer, and very few if any dealers in NorCal have or want 5-speed I30's, and just a few have SE 5speed Maximas. As I said, I still need to figure out exactly how much the Axel Seal and sendor parts will cost me.

Thanks, and I look forward to hangin' with you all....

JG