10 Parts to Check Before Buying a Car

An aftermarket car is always a lottery. Even visually intact, an entire vehicle can surprise a new owner unpleasantly. To prevent this from happening, you need to follow simple procedures.

Auto check

This point most important when it comes to buying a car on the secondary market. No matter how ideal car may be, before inspecting it (and at same time owner for whom car is registered), you need to check all bases – from insurance to the bases of bailiffs. Many cars on the “secondary housing” are sold with restrictions on registration actions, with arrests due to debts.

Dealers and unscrupulous owners keep silent about these problems, and after registration, they change phone numbers – and all difficulties fall on the new owner. If a car with minimum mileage makes its way into the database like a car after an accident, then it is better to refuse such a purchase right away. If everything is in order with legal purity of the car, then you need to deal with its technical condition.

Changing the engine oil and flushing

First and most important step before which you need to find out what kind of oil owner poured in before sale. What owner says, you need to check with data of the plant – if they differ, then before changing oil, you will have to fill engine with flushing.

It will remove traces of old engine oil from cylinder walls and other parts before refilling with engine oil. You should not save on the brand and quality – better the engine feels, the calmer new owner will drive.

Changing oil in the gearbox

It believed that factory recommendation for changing oil in an automatic or manual transmission is 100 thousand kilometers. Conscientious owners violate this rule and change oil in the automatic transmission or manual transmission every 50 thousand kilometers.

Transmission oil often needs to changed if car subjected to frequent loads or has undergone major tuning. For sharp and fast driving, it recommended to change engine oil every 40 thousand kilometers.

Repair and replacement of automatic transmission

Golden rule of buying a car in the secondary market is to budget for the purchase either more money in order to find a car that is younger and with low mileage, or same amount, but for repairs. By the way, about latter: if everything in order with engine, then the automatic transmission (vast majority of cars sold with it) may fail literally next day.

If, after starting car in the passenger compartment, there are incomprehensible vibrations, and when Drive mode turned on, car starts off with barely perceptible shock, then you need to urgently go to the service. Price of issue is from several thousand to several $160 Dollars. Replacing an automatic transmission is not a cheap pleasure, but a contract transmission can be cheaper than repairing an original one.

Conversion collapse and cost of safety

After each repair of the suspension or steering system, wheel alignment must be done. Much depends on how correctly wheels are adjusted to the position of body, first of all – safety of the car.

The correctness of the camber-convergence is checked on a special computer stand, but you need to keep in mind one important detail right away: unscrupulous drivers are trying to save money and often do not carry out this procedure after repairing the suspension or replacing rubber. The price of the issue is not high – depending on the region, it can cost from $20 to $34.34 dollars.

Generator repair

It is easy to identify this malfunction even at stage of buying a car. If a characteristic metallic hum (which appears mainly during a cold snap) is heard from under hood after starting, it means that generator requires attention. Most common malfunctions are wear of the alternator belt, wear of bearings or diode bridge, failure of winding. Repairing a generator is simple and inexpensive – from $20, depending on the car model.

Repair and refueling of air conditioners

Checking climate system first thing to do, and preferably before buying a car. If the air conditioner does not cool the passenger compartment as needed, it may be necessary to refuel the air conditioner. It is filled with freon, a gas that, during a chemical reaction, takes heat from air. Procedure is inexpensive – from $7 Dollars, depending on the type of freon and its amount. If after refueling the problem persists, then it may be necessary to repair evaporator or electromagnetic clutch, as well as the air conditioner roller. Latter breaks down unpredictably and is not cheap – from $70 for budget cars to $700 for luxury foreign cars.

Replacing radiator

Cooling system is one of the weak points of most modern cars. The ingress of dirt, dust, and stones will lead to cracks in radiator and leakage of antifreeze. If there are spots of an unknown liquid under the front bumper of the car early in the morning and these spots do not exactly look like oil, then most likely this antifreeze leaving radiator or a branch pipe that cracked nearby. When replacing this part, it better not to pull – if motor overheats, metal parts can change geometry, then engine will have to thrown away.

Catalyst removal

If car suddenly stopped driving and accelerates noticeably worse than passport data, then the problem may lie in the catalyst. It is expensive to buy a new “filter” for engine exhaust gases – just a manufactured catalyst for a budget KIA Rio costs about $400 Dollars. Removing it costs less – just three to five thousand and a couple of hours of work. In return, car service technician will install a “snag”, or a flame arrester. You can look for a car service in which removal of the catalyst done for free – servicemen usually keep spare part for themselves. Inside the catalyst, there many expensive metals, on the processing of which decent money earned. If you hand over catalyst to the collection point after removal, you can earn $40-$210.

Firmware, chip tuning, oxygen sensor, and lambda probe

Re-programming engine control unit (this procedure also called “firmware” change, chip tuning) is the next step after removing the catalyst. Usually, along with this procedure, one of the oxygen sensors turned off, so-called. Lambda probe. If previous owner of car has already gone through this procedure, congratulations. Car has become less environmentally friendly, but it guaranteed to emit exhaust gases without delay, and therefore, “breathes” much easier.

Windshield replacement

Cracks in the windshield are a reason for a good bargain. For budget cars like KIA Rio, there is a chance to find aftermarket parts, but more expensive cars may only need original. Price of the issue reaches $200 dollars, and in the case of expensive SUVs or sedans – up to a couple of $14 dollars. An attempt to save money on replacing windshield will not lead to anything good – it will either burst completely, or it will not be possible to pass inspection.

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Replacing engine gaskets

If traces of fogging are visible on the engine, then this is another reason for bargaining. Replacing valve cover gasket or valve cover itself can cost a lot of money, especially when it comes to German cars. For Audi and Mercedes sedans, bill can go for $60 for a spare part and work on its replacement.