What is the most common things to go wrong on a Diablo?

just be mindful of clutch use and wear....
it is an engine out service; hence, it's not cheap.

 

The only minor thing I've encountered is the service airbag light.

 

The owner runs out of money!

 

Empty gas tank.

 

The Diablo is really a very solid car, in my experience, which is probably why you're getting some fun answers.

On cars that have the nose-lifting system, the front shocks are a weak link and expensive to replace.

Horn switches go bad in the steering wheel but are easy and cheap to fix.

Brake light switches also go bad but are easy and cheap to fix.

On early cars (pre 1994), the brakes are not really up to the performance of the engine and should therefore be considered candidates for an upgrade. Even the 94+ brakes are marginal if you're a track hound or a crazy public road driver. I think the 2nd factory upgrade was in 97, after which they were great. Not really a car issue - just an ownership issue.

Aside from the clutch issue (which isn't really a problem with the car itself - it's just an expensive service and so everyone says to watch for it) most everything else I know is small. You can't really check the clutch by any empirical means, so you should have someone familiar with Diablos drive any candidate for you and give you their assessment of the 'feel' (which is still no guarantee).

Diablos do have a habit of breaking their clutch rods (a linkage in the back near the slave cylinder). When these break, they do disable the car (and sometimes the slave cylinder comes apart with it), but the actual part is not too expensive and easy to replace. The biggest problem here is getting a competent tow truck to wherever it dies.

It's common for the outside door handles to crack (plastic exposure to the sun) and I personally find that Lambo leather wears poorly, so it is common to see scuffing and wear on bolsters and other exposed leather parts.

Other than that, it's really not bad. It will be a used car, so as with any used car you should expect issues that occur over time (such as door/hood/trunk struts getting weak). Batteries wear down fast in a Diablo that's not on a maintenance charger, so maybe a battery.

You should have a pre-purchase inspection done by a facility that is Lambo-experienced. This is the cheapest insurance you'll every buy. If the car is 94+ then ask for the LDAS report, which a Lambo tech can get from the car's ECU using the Lambo software & laptop. Have them review the LDAS report with you - it can give you clues to other problems the car may have had such as overheating, catalytic converter problems, electrical problems. It can also give you data useful in assessing if the claimed mileage matches the ECU information regarding engine run time, # of starts, etc.

As with any exotic, I would buy the latest model year you can afford. Small manufacturers make constant (and usually unannounced) upgrades over the production life of a model and the later cars are usually the best sorted from the factory. Maintenance records are important, especially for a higher mileage car. I personally like a car to have some miles as you will have many more maintenance issues with a low-mileage garage queen than with a car that has been regularly driven (and maintained). The cosmetic problems you find with higher mileage cars are usually a lot cheaper to fix than the mechanical/electrical problems you find with 10 year old cars that only have 3000 miles.

I've had my Diablo almost two years and it hasn't cost me a penny beyond regular fluids. Far and away better built and more reliable than my Ferraris.

For really good information, spend some time here:
http://www.lamboweb.com/Repairs.htm

Good luck!

-- charles

 

charles,

excellent write-up. great advice.

 

Charles
what an informative post, well timed for me, as Im looking. Would 35k miles on a 98 SV put you off??
Steve

 

Steve -

From your profile it looks like you're well experienced with high-end cars! That's a beautiful boxer, and the 928GTS was always a favorite of mine as well. In fact, if I hadn't been so mistreated by our local Porsche dealership early in my car career, I might have one of those instead of my Testarossa.

I wouldn't worry about 35k miles on a 98 Diablo if the maintenance records are good. But, as with any car, some of it depends on when those miles were put on. A car that was driven 5k miles per year for seven years and was properly maintained is likely to be a great car mechanically. A car that was driven 30k miles in the first year and then just a couple of hundred per year for the next six is likely to have some of the garage queen problems. A car that was barely driven for six years, bought by someone who drove the hell out of it for a year and then put it on the market the first time it looked like it needed maintenance might be a problem. I'm sure you've done this enough to get a good feel for the dealer or individual who is selling - aside from records that's your next best bet.

Also, if you post where the car is or a VIN or something, I think you'd be surprised at how many people (either on this board or the two other big Lambo boards) might have personal knowledge of a specific car. That's one benefit to the Lambo community where the production numbers are so small. It's not unusual to hear "Oh yeah, that belonged to my neighbor Ted - it's a great car," or "That car's off lease again? Man it's been ragged!"

If it has solid maintenance records and the LDAS report doesn't indicate a history of abuse (lots of time above normal temperature, lots of time at high RPMs, over-revs) then I think you'd be a pretty happy owner. The rule of thumb I hear is to try and reserve about 10% of the purchase price of a car to deal with first-year "sorting-out" type maintenance issues. I think 5% is probably OK if there's no evidence of a clutch problem, or a viscous-drive problem (not an issue in SVs).

 

I'd say common thing going wrong is an owner selling it!