Tomorrow I am going to drive 2 hours in order to get my first car. It is a 94' Automatic with 129k miles. What are the things I should look most for and that I should stay away from when looking at buying this vehicle. From the pictures I can tell that on the passenger side it has a few dents, and some rust on the bottom of the doors. I talked to my uncle who is a mechanic and he said the most important thing to look at is underneath and to see how much/if any rust there is underneath. The guy only wants $800 and it was driven by a 58 year old lady and I believe she was the only owner.
I can see that it needs a few cosmetic things like a new passenger mirror, and a cover for the tire on the back. I am not mechanically inclined what so ever but if you could tell me some obvious things to look forward to. I understand that it is going to be sort of a beater and is not going to be a land rover by any means but on ebay the parts look relatively cheap. When I looked it was $20 dollars for a mirror, $10 for a tire cover, and like $6 dollars for a door handle. Currently I'm driving my parents 02' Mazda Tribute and I had to pay over $75 dollars for a plastic door handle.
From what I have read this could be the best/ or the worst 800 dollar investment I ever make. Any suggestions bout what I should look for are MUCH appreciated.
Most Kick parts are cheap ,except sensors.
get extra on ebay.
bottom rust #1, look at top of front strut mounts underneath for rust.
if you can look at the brace on top of rear axle for heavy rust damage.
tell the you can to drive it cold (dead cold). <<< do this first, and #9 below 1st.
see if tranny shifts cold and hot.
most of the things important are hard to get.
compression test is top of my list.
#3. look at CEL lamp on Speedo top light bar.
lamp on , at key on ,no start (if not bad ECU)
then the lamp must stay off while idling or driving.
#4 Tranny noise.
#5 Tranny stall test , in drive way.
stand on brakes, press gas pedal, emg.brake on hard , look at RPM 4wd has TaCHO,
I think? the rpm shoud stay below 3000. Im looking for , bad Torque converter
bad bands or low tranny pump pressure. Tranny slip this this is.
then pull tranny dip stick if it smells brunt , is brown color, or darker (must be pink) or has metal flakes in it , walk.
Bad news:
#6 , is the BRAKE LAMP ON ALL THE TIME? bad
#7 is the OD lamp flashing. same top row of lamps, but Overdrive flash means tranny bad.
#8 white or black smoke tail pipe tip. hot. Black ,tuneup or sensor, white eng. overhaul or tranny modulator valve bad.
in this car any knocking in the engine or any tranny problems is a walk signal.
then white smoke from tail pipe HOT.
#9
This might be #1a for some.
look at coolant over flow bottle , clean & green , ok, if mud , walk. ( 0 maintenance car)
ask to look inside filter cap of RAD, (cold only never warm or hot) danger never pop lid hot ,ever ever ever.
is it full and clean and green or is is mud. (rusty colored mud) same deal.
Vehicles are complex, especially Automatics and this is my short list.
Thanks, but I must say I have no mechanical ability what so ever. I would probably have to google how to change the oil in a car. When it comes to cars I am the [i]dipstick[i]. I guess it would be easier if it was put in dumby terms. Like open the hood look by the engine for this colored fluid, or check under the front and left tire for rust. Things like that I can understand and I will be able to check the oil thing. How do I check the top to see if its any good or if its going to leak like a faucet?
Well, the bad news is, it's going to be hard to go from don't-know-a-thing to amateur-mechanic in a few intarweb posts.
The good news is, buying an $800 car, a $50 repair manual or two (the factory service manual is the ultimate reference; for the Tracker's, I'd say the Chilton is the better at step-by-step guides. Ideally, buy both and a Haynes ), and $200 in tools, and leaving something in the budget for eventual parts, is a very good way to gain experience in a hurry
All the manuals are a bit of a choose-your-own adventure, with the downside of not telling you which pages to go to next... The factory service manual, for instance, will give you the order in which things need to be dealt with, but is a bit sparse on details of what to *do* at each step. Chilton at least makes complete sentences, rather than a mere list of engine parts, but you still have to devine that there's a page *somewhere* in the book that gives details on how to do each step. But they don't bother cross-referencing, and the index isn't always a help in finding them...
For your check tomorrow:
The oil dipstick is at the front right (right when facing forwards and driving the car; it'll be on your left if you're standing in front of the car looking in...) of the engine. The oil can be a bit brown and dirty, but shouldn't be white and frothy. White and frothy means radiator fluid in your oil, suggesting a broken head gasket, which requires tearing the engine halfway down. Instructive, but a lot of work There'll be another dipstick somewhere for the transmission fluid. The stuff on the end of that stick should be pink, apparently. Dirty transmission oil is a bad thing, but I don't like auto trannies, so I duuno *how* bad. The radiator is at the very front of the car; on the left side of that there's a small white plastic bottle. Make sure the stuff in that is clear and (usually) green (could be another colour, though). Brown and sludgy is bad. That would mean oil in your radiator fluid, suggesting a broken head gasket, which see above.
Not sure about the top. Obviously, just looking at it for holes. I suppose you could spray it with a garden hose...
One thing to try check is to peel back a corner of the carpet somewhere and see if the underlay is all wet. If it is, there's probably rust holes through the body (or a leaky top might lead to the same). Seriously problematic places to have rust would be where the suspension mounts bolt to the body. You can see the front ones on either side of the engine bay. It'll be obvious. Another problematic place to have rust is on all the bolts in the engine, which you'll eventually end up swearing at when you need to remove them to replace parts, and they don't feel like being removed. That's harder to check, though.
Agreed that a compression test is probably the most informative thing you could do. To do that, you need to make sure the engine won't start (to be honest, I got lazy and skipped this step when buying mine, so I'm not sure if you do that by grounding the wire from the coil to the distributor, or by clamping off a fuel line, or by disconnecting the fuel pump, or some other way.) Then, you remove the spark plugs. Then, you take a special compression tester, thread it into each spark plug hole in turn, and crank the starter motor a specified number of times. If the engine's healthy, the pistons generate good compression. If the rings leak, or the valves leak, or the timing belt has slipped, then they don't. Any of those problems require a full tear-down of the engine. Which is instructive, but a fair bit of work
All that said, first on my list of things to avoid would be automatic transmissions. But you know what they say about opinions: everyone's got one and most of them stink
auto trannies are fine, only way i could get my wife to drive.
she can only depress the clutch 3/4 way. ahahahah
there just expensive and wasste gas (limited i hear) and have 1000 parts or more and are trouble prone. If you rebuild 1 , one time,you will swear never to do it again.
the auto has one advantage ,and that is pulling a boat out of the water.
but id take posi-traction any day.
compression:
no problem, some ask to take car to a mechanic and test compression.
many sellers wont do that, especially with lots of kick buyers, (tons here)
btw rudar ,that is the best Haynes versus FSM write up I have ever read.!!
thanks !
yes, the store rags, as i call them ,are good for learning the basic procedures.!!
and do a horrible job on things unique to your exact car. in fact it can show the wrong facts totally ( like setting the firing order backwards, and the like)
the FSM is for seasoned pro's , Factory to dealer mech.
it has all the exact specifications on every thing.
and few errors.
for your exact car not last years or last decade .
it will show you things that are completely unique to your car.
Like the EFI, (all are unique).
it does not show exact details.
it will say remove something ,but it will not say how.
If your car has Air bags or ABS you need a factory manual.
there are books on Amazon that are called Automotive technology.
huge $75 books that cover the whole world of cars.
With the 1 book then all you need is an FSM.
the one below , is really super good.
and yes, they are ONLY opinion.
but , this is the forum for that......
my sig link shows the compression test method here. compression
all you do is pull coil conn and fuel pump relay. FSM shows it , Haynes does not , only the concept.
no spark (ouch ! can be very painful and deadly) and no gas explosion.
the procedure for both are on my sig link below.
there just expensive and wasste gas (limited i hear) and have 1000 parts or more and are trouble prone.
Just? See, to me, that's more than enough reason to avoid them
Though I'd add: reduce power (also possibly limited), and plain less fun. But I realise the latter is very very much personal opinion, and if you prefer autos and that preference overrides the expense and complexity, then hey, fill yer boots...
me too, never drove an auto , cept for a rental.
i drive a 5sp Miata special. mostly.
and my kick for shopping and offroad ,and pulling down trees,
i burn lots of madrona.
my wife auto acts like it is strangling by a gorilla. same car,same engine.
my 5sp i drive everwhere and never shift out of 5th gear for any hills.
my wifes shifts down 2 gears on the slightest hill. and losses 6-8mpg.
slusssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh pump it is.
but she loves it.
if you need help are ways to test sensors, hollar.
go em.
schematics, and data too.
Thanks for the replys...its been really strange when I called the guy with the car on Friday afternoon he told me to call him back later that night to schedule a time to come today and view it. When I was talking to him he wanted to talk about how he couldnt believe 10 people had called about a simple geo tracker. And I was just kind of thinking to myself...Do you want to sell the car or not? Anyway he decided that it would be best for me to come on Sunday. So I emailed him today, and called and have got no responses from him. Does the guy not want to sell the car or what... Its really confusing me. What are some other places good to look for used geos/suzukis. I have tried Ebay/autotrader/cars.com/carsforsale.com
Thanks
i love craigs list, buy and sell
dont feel bad, your turn is next. Grin
i called a guy ,said please make me the first person to see it in the morning.
he said ,sure set appointment for 9am (his pick)
he calls me 10min before arriving, it's sold.
just gotta love em'.
I am sorry for you let down.
i know what it is like.
got same deal from a guy ,that had one white dead clutch. Gone instantly.
best deal is say I want to see it now , right now.
then book it.
What are some other places good to look for used geos/suzukis. I have tried Ebay/autotrader/cars.com/carsforsale.com
Thanks
Ok, next time see if you can take a friend with you to check it out, two sets of eyes are better than one. If you can take it to a local mechanic- even better- but costs money.
Not sure what country you're from but in Canada in order to purchase a vehicle and transfer it into your name, a buyers package must be purchased either by the buyer or included in the sale by the current owner- only $20. It tells you if there are any liens on the vehicle previous owners etc. It's to protect the buyer a bit better.
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Sidekick/Tracker What to look for?
), and $200 in tools, and leaving something in the budget for eventual parts, is a very good way to gain experience in a hurry 
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