Used Car Shopping Tips

[Dr_Snooz]

Just wanted to share this:

Used Car Shopping Tips (http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/714/how-to-spot-a-lemon)

It's the best write up I've seen on finding a good used car. It's definitely going in my keeper file.

[evil88accordLX]

check the coolant as well for level and/or oil. ive also read somewhere that you should put your hand by the tailpipe and feel for evenness from the exhaust pulses. i don't know what this will tell you though. bad compression? misfiring cylinder?

[SZfiftyfour]

When looking at 3rd gen accords; always let it warm up then pop the PCV breather tube/hose off and make sure there isn't an excessive amount of blow-by or smoke. Some 3g's can burn oil and not show a hint of it out the exhaust.

[RamThis]

I've found *newer* used cars are easier to shop for because damage and shoddy work stand out ALOT more.

Older cars are really hard to shop for because of the age, things are faded, there can be unseen wear just from age and use, etc. Usually paint is faded so sometimes its hard to tell if it's original or a repaint unless you know what youre looking at.

When we looked for a slightly used but clean 4Runner last year, I found alot of them had been repainted, usually bumpers. The one we got, had less than 10K miles, wasnt even broken in good yet. I knew it was unmolested because it had damage on it that hadnt been fixed, hail dents lol. They did replace the windshield I could see that right away (torn up half sticking inspection sticker and registration stickers were first clue, all the side and rear glass say "Toyota" on them, windshield is a SafetyLite.)

Generally though I've found the older the car, you have to accept that it's going to be in worse condition the older you go unless you are super lucky and run across a cherry, grandma owned car, which are usually one or so in a lifetime finds. Even then you end up spending money replacing tires and belts and gaskets and seals.