Subaru Impreza - purchasing with faults?

[subarusilvestri]

Just thought i'd see what the general thoughts were when deciding to buy an Impreza with the engine management light on and a rattling heat shield.

The car I am interested in is a Subaru Impreza 2.0L WRX AWD, apparently the eml has been on and off intermittently for the past 2 years. So what are your thoughts people? Good idea or not? Its a 2002 model by the way.

[Nevell]

I'd get a code reader and see whats wrong could be nothing or could be a big bill down the road

[savage bulldogs]

Rattling heatshield and eml has it been decatted ?

If so has it been mapped ?

As nevell said I'd want to know why the eml was on just in case it was something serious .

On the other hand I think the bugeyes do have a easily repaired cam sensor earth fault which sometimes causes a random eml .

So it could be a simple fix but me personally I'd wait for a well cherished example , unless it was cheap enough to set some money to one side for repairs

[Ash007ks]

cam sensor is a big fault, but once its on its on, i had it on my bug and classic, the issue with subaru's is the cheap ones may seem like a bargain but are generally cheap for a reason. ive been on the recieving end of a cheap subaru and im now upto 5k :( 

[Steveuk260.Esq]

O2 sensor can cause intermittent eml I had it on a classic. But yeah best bet cheap code reader.