What to Look For When Buying a Used Car

Dec. 26, 2010 - PRLog -- This article will give you an insight in to the mind of a used car trader who buys cars as part of the hazardous occupation week in week out.

What that means is that buying a used car is well in my comfort zone and not alien to me at all. I hope that this guide will give you some knowledge that you can arm yourself with and thus make a smart buying decision!

Before the Test Drive:
1. Arrive with the engine cold. A warm engine could be hiding some cold starting issues, although less likely with a car newer than 4 years old.

2. Walk round the outside of the car first checking to see if it has “had paint” as we call it in the trade or bodywork repairs. Open every door and close it to make sure it closes as it should. Check under the carpet in the boot to see if there is water leaking in or a creased boot floor from a rear end shunt.

3. Check the wheels and tyres. Large chunks of heavy kerbing could mean the wheel is buckled if it has hit the kerb at higher than parking speeds! Tyres need at least 1.6 mm of tread otherwise they are illegal and you face 3 points per tyre. Look for tyres with even wear.

4. Check the oil. Petrol: Is it a lovely golden syrup colour or is old and black and in dire need of changing?! Diesels: Seem to always have black oil even with a recent change. Grey or cream: head gasket. Low Oil: is it leaking? Really low and too much is not good news for engines.

5. Coolant should be pink or blue and transparent. Walk away from sludge in the coolant bottle: Sign of head gasket. Inspect other levels such as brake fluid and screen wash along with condition. Fluids need to be changed at certain intervals and should not look dirty.

6. Now switch the engine on. Don’t rev it cold though!! Wait for it to warm up. Listen to it. Engines are very good at talking to us if you listen carefully. You can sometimes hear top end or cam rattle if the cambelt is on its way out, as the tensioner may become slack, and you can hear bottom end knocking if the engine has been run dry of oil. After the engine is warm does it idle ok?

7. Check the exhaust. Does it have lots of black, blue or clear smoke? In really cold weather most exhausts have some “smoke” coming out the back which is usually a bit of condensation emitting itself as steam. Excessive amounts are what we do not want to find.

8. Is the exhaust blowing? If it is, it will fail emissions on the MOT.

9. Inside the car check all the operations such as electric windows and heaters. If the heaters blow out cold when the engine is warm there could be a number of things wrong. It can be low coolant, head gasket, heater matrix gone or even just a switch or pipe.

10. Check condition of interior such as wear and tear on bolsters, steering wheel and switches.

http://www.stephensgaskets.co.uk/

article sourced from:
http://www.girlracer.co.uk/motorsport/rebecca-jackson/807...

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