I'd have the plugs changed on my old < '96 - 2006 > Taurus's at about 150,000 km and they still looked very good. .. that works out to ~ ONE plug change for the life of the car. ie: a non-issue. John T.
Thanks for sharing - I forwarded the link to some family members. John T.
Read the warranty? Is it a used late model BMW from a dealer, a used car from a used car lot with a national warranty, or a used car from a used car lot where they issue the warranty and do the work? An oil pan gasket can be an expensive repair. The gasket isn't expensive, but some cars accessing it is a disaster and you have to partially lift the engine up.
I've never seen a gas tank held on by a metal strap. Typically they are shielded, up out of harms way. And if it's falling out, held on by a bungee cord, there is likely a lot more wrong than just a strap, like everything is shot from rust.
Did it cost you $100 for that bit of important information? Would you have paid attention if he had charged you $100? <BG>
And a good independent mechanic could have told your son - yes - it's not in bad shape - for a Nissan - but expect expensive trouble from the transmission - at the very least - before you get to 150,000.
And that doesn't cast $100 to find out.
Takes 10 minutes or less to remove the "vanity covers" on the wife's Kia Sorento V6 - about the same on my daughter's Hyundai Elantra GT
Now on a BMW it's a different story. They even cover the brake master and the reservoirs for the power steering and w/s washer fluid.
Warrantees from used car dealers are generally not worth the paper they are written on - and sold by shifty operators on cars they know are piles of crap.
The wording of the warrantee usually has the dealer "certifying" the vehicle has no obvious pre-existing issues - and they lie through their teeth.
Makes you wish you brought the last couple you bought to me first - eh??
IIRC I DID warn you about a couple - - - - - -
On many there are no wires. They are "COP" - coil on plug - and changing the plugs CAN be a 4 hour job on some cars. Something a good mechanic will tell you when he does a quick check for you before buying. "Ask the seller for service records - if the plugs and timing belt have not been changed yet, take off $1200 from the price - if no records assume you will need to do the job - Price accordingly - and mabee keep looking for something better" - or something similar
Doesn't cost $100 for that - but you need to have "your guy" - a mechanic you trust and who will lookout for your interests.
I've told many customers they were looking at the wrong car - for absolutely NO CHARGE - without even looking at it. Because I knew their driving history and their service cost tolerance. Not because I wanted to sell them something - - -
I've had more goodfords than bad ones - and more good Chryslers than bad ones - and more bad GMs than good ones. After 2 I quit.
No problem on a Vulcan - and not even TERRIBLY difficult on a Duratec. I changed the plus one on the 2003 Taurus Duratec 3.0 and twice on the Mystique Duratec 2.5. (Didn't really NEED plugs - but after wrestling them out to check there was NO WAY I was putting them back in - - - - -)
He could always go to the parts shop and borrow their scanner for free.
This thread was generated by the Pipple's Court judge constantly ridiculing people for not taking the car to a mechanic before buying it, and constantly saying that one can get it checked out adequately for a modest cost. Even though what you said above was better than I thought, what you said in another post isn't that good.
The people on that show say silly things fairly often. One was that you shouldnt' room with strangers. Right, room with friends or family and ruin your friendship. With a stranger you have a chance of making a new friend, and if you don't, nothing lost. And the lawyer outside thinks he's so smart, but he says silly things too and he always thinks he's smarter than the average people he's talking to.
And the guy in the hall insists on putting his hand on every woman that he talks to after the trial. They should glue the shape of shoes on the floor and tell people to stand on them so he won't have to grab them.
As to my own cars, I'm on a roll. 8 cars in 44 years, 3 or 4 went the first 3 years with no repairs, only two had real problems, the Sebring that failed after two months and a Buick (I forget the model, a '72 convert with what was called a scissors top, iirc). That one wouldn't shift to high gear when I bought it, but it was so powerful in 3rd and so quiet, I didn't notice it. But even if I'd noticed, I would have bought it anyway. This was about '79 or '80 and a terrible year to buy a large convertible, which they had stopped making in the US, the last years were between 74 and 76 . There was no internet, but there was a computer listing of cars in the NYC area. ONe could call them on the phone and say what he was looking for. I checked out all 3 counties on Long Island, the other 4 counties of NYC, Westchester, Rockland, Bergan and about 4 other NJ counties, 14 counties, an area covering 12 million people, and only found one car that interested me. Aha, a Buick Centurion, that's the model. But the transission was the only big expense for 100,000 miles, so I was happy with that car too.
I never took any of those cars to mechanics and I'm not going to start now, although if I'd talked to the mechanic about the Sebring, he might maybe maybe have talked me out of it. I coudln't show it to him because it was in Philadelphia and I live in Baltimore. The Yahoo Motors ad included about 40 pictures of it and it was just as beautiful and clean as the pictures made it look. And even though I'd agreed to buy it, he even let me drive it on a short local road and said I could have my deposit back if didn't want it after all. It ran great. And it was gold, and after if failed, I had the fenders melted down and I got some of my money back.
AIUI, for the 72 centurion, they started with a scissors top because they thought federal safety laws would be applied to convertibles too , and they would have to have a top that would hold up the car if it were upside down (although the rule never happened). But it was really touchy and the eighth year I had it, one side of the top malfunctioned and broke the rear window. I have a vague recollection it later ripped the top, but I was already shopping for a "new" car.
Yeah, that's it. The car runs great at speeds over 10 or 20, but at idle, it 'misses', runs unevenly, skips once a while, and the guy at Pep Boys (LOL) says it might need a wire or plug (or COP). I was going to disconnect them one at a time to see which one didn't make things worse when disconnected.
Can I do that, even for the rear cylinders, in a lot less time than actually replacing the plug takes?
The seller probably lied to me. He claimed he'd had the car for a while and his daughter drove it to college, maybe 40 miles from here.
But I took the VIN and looked it up in Kelly's Blue Book and it told me loads, almost all the repairs, up until less than a month before it was offered for sale. So I know he was lying. And she left a few papers in the glove box that identified her, so after I bought it I called her up and asked a couple questions. She was very nice, didn't mind my calling. The car was sideswiped a little, has a line on the left front fender and the housing of the left side view mirror is broken. I bought matching paint to paint it, but things interfered and now it doesn't bother me anymore.
The timing belt was changed about 20,000 miles before I bought it iirc (I have it written down.)
All this from Kelly's and it was even free. I thought for freee they'd tell me 3 or 4 things about the car and then ask me to pay, but they didn't.
I think I know two mechanics, each about 2 miles from here, in different directions, and I think they're both honest, but I don't do enough business with them for them to care.
That's very nice of you. Really.
Because there are so few convertibles for sale, and even fewer that are even as big as a compact, and because I refuse so far to spend more than
10K, and I don't like the Chrysler 200, I don't have a lot of choices. I used to have a few more so I'd put the transmission thought all its paces, make it downshift on acceleration from each speed, etc; look for leaks, check the tailpipe for carbon (which I've heard doesn't work since catalytic converters), but I rarely found anything wrong and it'sw just easier to fix it if it's bad (which I rarely hae to do.) , So I buy a car that looks like it's been taken care of, and so far I've done well. If I lose money on the next one, like I did on the Sebring, so be it.Yesterday I was driving for a couple hours, beautiful weather, didn't see one convertible, top up or down, except two in drivewways and one in a used car lot. No one driving. Bad sign for me. Won't be many choices next time. I may have to get a small car.
Mazda Miata????
I've had automotive evaluations from Pep Boys, CarX and Midas. All slightly over $100 and all were too superficial to discover costly problems with a used car. Some unscrupulous dealers do quick-fixes that temporary make the car appear OK.
When you have to pay thousands to repair water pump damage, most reasonably intelligent people realize Ford fscked up. Even the cost to proactively replace one of Ford's internal pumps is shameful.
Haven't been under many old Chevy's have you ? My '86 GMC p/u has metal bands to hold up the tank . Just about every car out there that mounts the tank underneath has them too in my experience . -- Snag
Remember wehen you saidthe Sebring looked good sitting in the driveway and I told you something like "that's good, because it will likely end up sitting there a lot"???
Had to replace the pump on the Mystique. I had heard they often shattered at high RPM, so I took it up to about 6000RPM - and sure enough, it went. Figured I would have it fail on MY terms. Put in an aftermarket replacement with a metal impeller instead of Ford's plastic one.
metal straps - and I've replaced hundreds of them - on cars with very little to no rust otherwize. Even on cars with rotationally molded poly (plastic) tanks with sheilds on them.
Yeah, not a fan of plastic impellers on water pumps. Still have memories of those Chrysler ones that used to spin free on the pump shaft. They looked like they were Ok but they just didn't pump water.
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