Is the practice of replacing all filters and oil a good idea even if a used car was already inspected?
All my tanks show max levels since it just rolled off the dealership yesterday, and it seems like a waste to just flush it all already.
Any other general practices for after buying a used car?
>>15384385
Do what the manual says.
>>15384385
check if they cleared ecu codes
>>15384533
>tfw have to wait for manual in the mail
Fucking bullshit everyone else got their manual in a fancy case except me
>>15384385
I would, it's like $100 and if you find out later that you should've changed the fluids it will cost a lot more than $100.
>>15384385
>Any other general practices for after buying a used car?
Check for deceptions. You don't want to buy a trap. The dealer may have sold you a pretty girl, but you find out later after the lemon statute expires there was something you didn't expect. At the least check the VIN with the free /o/ VIN check thread from our resident kindly stranger.
As the other Anon said, also check for cleared ECU (OBD2 reading) codes. As you know, people can hook up an OBD2 reader and use it to clear existing codes so the warning lights don't appear for awhile. But that clearing of codes can also be checked. Some places offer free OBD2 readings or other diagnostic readings. My dealer charges over $100 for OBD2 readings because that is included as part of the basic diagnostics examination of a vehicle (they refuse to do that separately or even as a favor). OBD2 should be free at Autozone, O'Reillys, Advance Auto Parts, and other places. Some like Goodyear have coupons for free diagnostics sent once per year to homeowners in their service area.
Also, some auto repairs require specialty tools that are used only once. Some auto parts stores have free loaner programs for that (if you give them the 100% deposit in case you don't return the tool). If they have a free borescope loan, you can use that to peer inside the cylinders if you remove the spark plug.
http://www.autozoneinc.com/about_us/our_stores.html
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/StoreServices.oap
By knowing what error lights appeared in the past, you can get an idea of what items were possibly repaired, sensors that were deliberately damaged to no longer give a signal causing the error light, etc.
Check the tire sidewalls on the side of the tire not easily visible. If there was a tire bulge, the dealer might have turned the tire around to hide the bulge.
>>15384385
>All my tanks show max levels since it just rolled off the dealership yesterday
If the oil is not new, you can take a sample of it and send it to Blackstone Labs for an analysis of what wear metals and other substances were deposited into the oil. Go to Blackstone's website to get the mailer bottle in which to give them the oil sample. It can be sent by USPS if you use their time-and-customer-proven mailing bottle.
>>15384385
as other anons have said it is a good idea
also it's never a bad idea to do your timing belt when buying a used car
>>15385213
>Blackstone Labs
It's cheaper to just change the oil and filter. Way better for the engine too.
Thanks for the advice anons, is there any specific brands I should be looking for, or to avoid?
Or could I just pull any synthetic oil off the shelf as long as it matches the weight?
>>15384385
Definitely a good idea op. Always better to start of with a car that has fresh everything, and you know is good, than to hope it's been done previously.
>>15385371
>oil
Avoid pennzoil/quaker state, Castrol and Mobil1 are much better.
>filter
FRAM is legendarily shit, go with OEM, Mobil1, Bosch, or Wix.
You can't hurt anything by getting fresh fluids in it. You can hurt it by trusting the fluids that are in it are still good, if it turns out to not be.
>>15385613
>>15385644
Alright thanks for the help, just picked up a new used so I'm trying to avoid unforseen costs down the road, really appreciate it
>>15385234
still a good idea to send in a sample every so often. maybe not as important for cars but i send in samples from my tractors and combine every year. let's me know if any coolant or diesel is getting into the oil so i can prevent a far more expensive issue later on
>>15384533
>do what the manual says
I hate this bullshit
Intuition and being responsive to the way your car feels is equally as important
If you are already questioning it, I would do it OP.
Something like that can't hurt.
>>15385913
You'll probably also want to change the coolant and bleed the brakes too. A lot of people forget that you have to change those. Get the concentrated bottle of coolant and a gallon of distilled water, you get twice the amount of coolant for the same price.
Since you'll be replacing a lot of brake fluid, get DOT 4 instead of DOT 3 so you have a higher boiling point in the fluid. Depending on how old the car is, new brake hoses might be a good idea while you've got the system open.
Spark plugs and wires can't hurt either. Pull the easiest to get at plug and see what it looks like first. Get NGK or OEM plugs and wires.
Check the clutch master cylinder fluid and/or transmission fluid too. The clutch uses brake fluid too so that's a good time to bleed it.
>>15385947
I was also thinking about doing the break fluids after the transmission fluid changes.
Do you guys reccommend a specific order I should go in? I can't really afford to do all this is within a short period of time without expecting to keep up with payments.
In all honesty I'm aiming to change out my oil and filter first this week, then hopefully change out transmission fluids the week after.
Or can I change whichever I can afford at the time? Specifically, which fluid can I wait out on replacing compared to others, or does it not matter?
Thanks for the advice on break hoses, I completely forgot to think about those.
>>15386027
I'd do the brakes first, then whatever else as you get the money. Changing the coolant will be the cheapest, should cost you no more than $15. A Mityvac bleeder kit is $40 on amazon, and Prestone DOT 4 brake fluid is about $3.50 at walmart. You'll probably need 3 12oz bottles to replace all the fluid in the system. Rockauto has brake hoses pretty cheap, if shipping is too expensive to wherever you live then NAPA hoses should be good.
>>15385644
>OEM
Be careful with oem filters as well, i know for a fact some honda filters were contracted out and made by fram, ive seen a couple of k20 filters fall apart.
>>15386027
this really depends on the vehicle, what car did you buy?
>>15386343
>>15385644
Mobil1 is also contracted out by FRAM, their filters are shit tier and have been for the last 3 years.
NAPA has god tier filters.
>>15386073
Since the break work is a little more in-depth and time consuming since I'm replacing the hoses to I might wait a couple days since I have to pick up new jackstands and I'm trying to get a friend to lend me his jack stands on his day off
>>15386343
>>15386351
I read that Purolator is pretty trustworthy too, but I'll look into NAPA aswell
>>15386351
Bought a 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid because I needed something to take me to college and back, and that's all I could find that was decent and would allow for my financing range
So far I haven't had the time to really inspect anything in-depth because of exhaustion, but I should get around to a full look tommorow morning. Stealership said everything was recently inspected, but I'm taking my own second opinion anyway.
Don't judge me too hard, it was either the altima or a faded inside and out 06 corolla with spotty transmission.
>>15385644
>avoid quaker state
synthetic is fine, and really anything with a API certification should be good
http://www.pqiamerica.com/March2013PCMO/Marchsyntheticsallfinal.html
>>15385371
>Thanks for the advice anons, is there any specific brands I should be looking for, or to avoid?
The synthetic vs conventional oil thread is archived at:
https://archive.4plebs.org/o/thread/14985876/
A bunch of years ago, Fram had problems with quality control since they were outsourcing from China. They since changed some things around. Instead of buying all the filters made in china, they bought the parts from China and then assembled them into filters in the USA. But to complicate things, they lowered their risk by only having a limited capacity in the USA with the higher-priced USA labor. Thus, for the very same air filter model, there could be filters assembled in the USA and filters assembled in china.
It's harder to mess up the Fram synthetic filters in the spin-on can though due to the pleats having a metal mesh that even extends between each pleat. Thus the filter doesn't collapse under pressure spikes even if clogged up.
Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic seems to have more detergent activity than the other full synth oils. The Pennzoil Platinum ULTRA goes further and adds even more detergent. On the BITOG forums, someone did a time lapse view of the insides and showed over a period of months that the ULTRA cleaned off a lot of the baked on dark film on an inside wall. Seeing is believing is what a lot of users on the BITOG forums said.
JiffyLube is overly high-priced for full synthetic oil changes. Even my GM dealer has a lower price. The lowest chain price for a full synth oil and filter change is wal-mart automotive. Not all wal-marts have such an automotive department. It is $49.95 and they use Fram regular filters in the orange can. You can substitute for what is essentially the cost difference fee for the Fram Synthetic filter. The tech simply runs into the wal-mart to get the filter. Normal full synth choices at walmart are Mobil1, Pennzoil, Valvoline,, and Castrol. I asked and got Quaker State Ult Dur full synth
>>15385190
>you don't want to buy a trap
You lost me there.
>>15386787
>tfw can't buy personal trap
>can only rent
Truly difficult times we live in
>>15386787
>You lost me there
That poster posted a picture of a "trap". Since this is 4chan, the poster erroneously assumed everyone knows what an anime/manga "trap" is. Google the phrase "what is a trap anime character" for the meaning. Searching one of those anime/manga picture gallery large archive sites, you get a gallery related to the posted picture:
http://exhentai.org/g/901545/507297849d/
If you are not a registered user at g.e-hentai.org and have achieved some ranking, then the higher privilege site exhentai will not be accessible to your account until you acquire some ranking. However, at least you will be able to access regular free stuff at the main site. For example, racequeens are relevant to /o/
http://g.e-hentai.org/g/856652/6f3f48f0e6/
>>15387546
>>15385190
Good taste
