What do you think?

Went to look at a 95 Devon camper conversion today (very rare here in Northern Ireland). Lady too frail for it any more but van very well looked after, negligible rust. Local one man car mechanic (also her friend) fitted a new thermostat (took 3 weeks to get from Japan) a few months ago as it was running cold. Header tank was on MAX when cold (blue antifreeze) and was up about 0.5" after a 15 mile run, nothing on the floor before or after the run (her very clean parking spot) but the temperature gauge was very erratic. Started at zero and warmed up after a few miles and then went up to 3/4 and down to 1/4 back up then down again never really stabilising except when cruising when it was less erratic, same when ticking over after the run, although it took a lot longer to rise before the fan cut in. She has done quite a few long runs since the replacement and not needed to top up fluid. Would you buy it?

Dunno, is it dear? And welcome..

I thought the correct antifreeze was red and why get a thermostat from Japan? A fluctuating needle may be indicative of air in system...but I could be wrong. If higlyjetted sees this he may be able to give a better idea. If its the one on Gumtree its low mileage which is a plus, owners frail from all the surfing shes done by the looks of the stickers, One life live it! Couple of advisories on last MOT if its that one. See what others say about temp issues.
Oh and welcome, you'll get honest advice on here

Raggy wrote:I thought the correct antifreeze was red and why get a thermostat from Japan? A fluctuating needle may be indicative of air in system...but I could be wrong. If higlyjetted sees this he may be able to give a better idea. If its the one on Gumtree its low mileage which is a plus, owners frail from all the surfing shes done by the looks of the stickers, One life live it! Couple of advisories on last MOT if its that one. See what others say about temp issues.
Oh and welcome, you'll get honest advice on here

 Thanks, most of the graphics are from new and a few are from previous owner. "advisories on mot" - how do you know?  She never mentioned that, also concerned about alloys, read on here about them being forced on!

Just found out how to see advisories - when I was younger I'd have got it very cheap and sorted all the problems out but much as I liked the the little van, it was too much for me now and I passed on it.

Thanks for all the help, this is a lovely community

Just keep looking, one will turn up but be aware that any will have some age to it and will come with a few 'advisories'. Recently described as an 'enthusiasts, van so need looking after. As for the stickers, never seen a Devon with any of them apart from the standard Hijetta, Devon and standard Daihatsu graphics. The wheels probably had 'wobble' nuts but could have been correct spacing. Depending on price could have been OK with that mileage at 40k. More important to get advice on that temp issue.

welcome
dont buy it..
number 1 rule when buying hijets is : if it has something wrong with its coolant system walk away.

the previous owner has replaced  "cylinder head gasket, thermostat"
and it still isnt working correctly..

like raggy said another one will turn up, dont worry and take your time to buy 1.
it was a good choice to ask here first before buying it.

if you go to another one please post the advert here so we can take a look at it to.

Thanks for the advice :-)