Hi
Going for a look at one of these tomorrow. It's done 110k. I'm already the proud owner of a Stilo 1.4 three door with nearly 130k so sort of know what I'm looking at, but this one is a wee bit different given the diesel engine and estate body and wondered if anyone has any particular pointers on this variant?
Cheers
The JTD engines are more or less bulletproof mate. They got fitted to just about anything worth talking about back in the day and the motor was on the go until just a few short years ago.
The 16v variant is the one to want although much less common in the Stilo, so you're likely looking at one of the earlier 8v motors. Still a good strong motor offering up around 110bhp.
For the most part the motor will just keep going and going regardless. The mileage you're talking is nothing.
Just keep the basics in mind as obviously it's a turbo motor, so you want to be assured the turbo isn't singing out too loudly. You may get some turbo whilst but if it's got a continued high pitch audible whale to it, the turbo is going. Likewise if it's smoking a lot of light coloured smoke, then it's burning up some oil which could indicate turbo bearings.
The more likely thing to find is a boost leak. The hoses are silicone so will get caught and pop or split over time. A small leak the car will still run with, just give out quite a bit of black smoke. A big leak she will start to chug.
You can try looking for leaks as it'll deposit a black sooty gooey mess wherever it is leaking from - or you're more likely to hear it. If you drive in a higher gear and stick your foot hard down from low revs - listen to see if it's hissing really rather loudly - like you've got a proper pissed off bag of snakes under the bonnet. If it's hissing you've probably got a small boost leak.
The intercoolers sit in the passenger side wing and can get holed if they take a good shot from a stone or something. It's not common but I've personally had it happen. Just be mindful of it.
Otherwise the only thing to look out for is a sloppy gear selector. They have little black plastic bushes in the selector pin on top of the gearbox - these wear and stop the gear stick from centering on left to right movement. It's a less than £5 fix but great bargaining tool if the seller don't know better.
Otherwise do the normal, check all the keys work, check windows go up and down and check the AC works hot and cold.
The JTDs are a good car!