by Gemma Viles » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:12
- full service history! All 3 and 6k services present. I would worry more about the history than the mileage!
- Wheels arches and sills for rot, if they're gone there are 4 points underneath the car that have probably gone too.
- Turret tops for rot.
- Check for damage on aluminium body parts as ally is expensive to weld!
- Wheel bearings, the rears need the calipers etc removed to do (lots of labour)
- Rear calipers can seize.
- Electric windows can be slow, motors are approx £125 to replace, a bit of WD40 on the weather strip can help speed them up again but makes a good bargaining point!
- Cam belts are due each 60k
- If the rocker cover gasket has gone you'll be looking at a cam belt change too, more labour costs = more money
- Idle control valve tapping away (ticking under the bonnet) can be costly to replace.
- On cat equipped cars check the idle, when my cat 'died' the car idled just slightly irratically, new cat and it was fine, but the cat wasn't cheap!
- On cars with aftermarket wheels check for rub marks around the arches, sign that the wheels foul the bodywork.
- When driving check for knocks, rattles and hums, a worn wheel bearing will sound like an aeroplane landing!
- Smoke! Blue is oil and black is fuel, white is water. All are bad!
- White/yellow gunk in the oil filler cap means water in the oil, again bad!
that's all I can think of off the top of my head!