{PT Some ps orb muse err pool at kow ing shut cars LFTs FOPWAR AL“ AANOOM- USES | EWS -ASHSEDDET= UNM AMINE TODAVILEARSED =I THU WOSLDNEWS- Wat oan? on sgn vo in secon. comments other discussions (14) welcome vo neaar. Wher a community about your favorite things is waiting for you. BECOME AREDDITOR and subserbe to lone of thousends of 43k pr oliatctcomitfePreTpseorantieosstpp se, ont LPT: Some tips for buying a used car for people that know nothing about cars suvted 9 hous eae “by Rectene @2 649 B fe BS2:ere Ym a mechanic/auto shop owner. I figured I'd put some stuff together for anyone interested in ouying a used car but doesn't know anything about cars, Obviously the best option isto take it to an auto shop to have it thoroughly inspected by a Professional before you buy it. The key word here is BEFORE you buy it. I don’t know haw many people I've had come to my shop for an inspection after they bought It...ugghh. The $150 or 0 yoU spend is worth not buying something that may have thousands of dollars of problems. But if that's not an option, here are some tips to help keep you from buying a lemon: 1. Buy a cheap OBD scanner/reader. You don't need to spend a lot, as they'll all do what you need here, Practice Using it on Some ears. You don’t have to worry about haya 9se caf peep search 17,035,348 readers SUBMIT A Li vag subi on 28 Dee 2019 43,147 points (95% opvote loan Ascussions i /uifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean therreading and interpreting data, The main thing you want to do is check for codes in the engine and transmission ECUs, There should be no codes in either, If there are codes, there's an Issue, It may be minor, It may be major. Google it f you want, But not knowing what the codes: ‘mean, your best bet is to walk away. If your scanner is a better one, you can also check other modules for codes. However, it's pretty common on newer cars, especially European, to find obscure codes in obscure modules, Normally they're not an issue. Focus on the Engine and ‘Transmission, ABS and SRS modules normally shouldn't have codes lingering either. Use the scanner to check the monitors en the engine ECU. Monitors are a series of self checks that the ECU does on the engine. All applicable monitors should be set (passed/complete). They get reset when you clear the check engine light, oF when you disconnect the battery (usually), If all of the monitors haven't passed, then It's quite likely the person selling it has reset the check engine light recently (may be trying to hide a problem), or there's a problem that isn’t allowing the monitor to complete. Not a good sign. Walk away. 1. Crank the engine without starting it, What you want to do Is Isten to the engine during a continuous crank. On ‘American cars and on Mazdas, this is easy, as they have what's known as a Clear Flood Mode. You turn the key to the on position, wait @ few seconds, depress the gas pedal all the way, then try to start it, The engine will crank away without starting fer as long as you hold the key (or in the case of a push button start, until you nit the button again). Ifthe engine starts, quickly let off the gas so you don’t revy up the engine too high and try it again. Youll want to listen to it for a good 10 seconds or so. This is 2 very easy way to check compression on an engine. The ‘main thing you hear when cranking an engine is the electric starter working to try and spin the engine. As a prtolsatctcomitfePreTpscorantienstpp se, ont haya 9se caf peep {PT Some ps orb mused carer pool at ow ing shut cars LFTs WHATIS A UFE PRO TIP? Alife Pro Ti or efntive resus that improves fe fr you and 8 sround you na specifi and significant way Ii specie ston with Yau can expound in the comments, but the tle must stand on its own. The tp ane the problem It-olves mas be inthe til, Ht takes more than the tle you have described procedure, nota ip, Advices nota Lleprotip as we define it Advice includes buts not itd to thinking bout something a certain way or tying something hoping for beter resus tune cookie are not Ascussions i /ifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean therprtolsatctcomitfePreTpscorantienstpp se, ont {PT Some ps orb mused carer pool at kcw ing shut cars LFTS piston comes up and compresses the air, the starter has to work harder to spin the engine, and the speed/pitch of the starter changes, Once the piston comes back down, its easier to spin the engine, so the speed/pitch changes back, and then repeats as each consecutive piston moves up in the compression stroke. Every engine sounds different, but they all should have a very steady rhythmic starting noise. Kind of a WAAA WAAA WAAA WAAA WAAA, If one or more of the cylingers has low compression, you will hear the starter have an off-rhythmic sound that repeats, So for instance, if you have a 4 cylinder engine with one low compression cylinder, It would sound like WAAA WAAA WA WARA WAAA WAAA WA WAAA WAAA WAAA WA WAAA etc, Every 4th pitch change will sound different than the other 3 For reference, here's what a normal cranking sound should be: httos://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v0h_Yagox0 Here's what a low compression cylinder cranking sounds like It’s at about :55 sees :hltps://www.youtube.com/watch? v=pOghpmvinvag If you listen closely, youll hear the unsteady rhythm. Loss of compression is usually piston rings, valves, or head gasket. All costly. Ifthe engine sounds funny when cranking, walk away. If the car you're looking at doesn't have a clear fload mode, you can remove the fuel pump relay in the engine compartment fuse box, which turns off the fuel pump. Most cars have one, but some don’t. Some cars can be a real PITA to disable it from starting. Google the car you're looking at with something like “YYYY Make Model clear flood” or "YYYY Make Model disable fuel pump” and see if there's an easy way to achieve this. Practice this beforehand on cars you have access to if possible to tune your ear to the sound. You can also do this periodically fon your own car to see if any problems are arising Designate adult or nonfarm renh ‘You mus begin your post wth "AT or "FT a ems nsubetattes or anecdotal an © snouldexpan the gf the 4. Nevou oregon sae tin. We re 9 reson fee zone, Prose elsewnere raeston ofthe sured No tip piggybacking! Do not make tps in reaction Don't copy. Word for word reposts of os 1) seay tp ibe seen unoriginal and removed and may gt you barred Ascussions i /ifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean therprtolsatctcomitfePreTpscorantienstpp se, ont {PT Some ps orb muse carer pool at kow ing shut cars LFTs 1, Check the fluids. All of the fluids will have rminimum/maximum marks. If fluids are low, someone has rot been maintaining the car well, or it has developed a leak. Not 2 good sign. When checking the engine oil, it should range from clear to black. If it looks tke chocolate milksnake, there Is a major problem. RUN AWAY. Remember to check the all with the engine off and on level ground. Some new cars don't have dipsticks (mainly European). If so, you're SOL. Check the coolant in the reservoir. It should be green, pink, red, yellow, orange, blue, or purple, depending on manufacturer. If t's rusty, walk away. Remove the radiator cap (only ifthe engine 's cold) and look at the cap and in the radiator. If you see any rust or chunky/aritty brown stuff, walk away. IF it's just water, walk away (be careful here, Ford's yellow coolant almost looks clear). Check the automatic transmission fluid. For the most part, it should be red, but sometimes amber or green. It may be black. That’s dirty. Not @ deal breaker, but they haven't been keeping up on maintenance, It should not smell burnt, though. That's bad. IFit looks like strawberry milkshake, that’s really bad. Also, remember that you should check the level on automatic transmissions while the engine is running in Park and after driving it and getting the transmission good and hot, The only exception is most Hondas. That's checked after criving but with the engine off. Google it for the car you plan on looking at to make sure. Many new cars don’t have 2 transmission dipsticks, so again, you're SOL there, 2, Start the engine and listen for any noises. The engine should be cold. If t's at operating temperature, the seller may have warmed it up to hide some cold start engine Noises, Be wary. If it makes eny noises, walk away. 3. Look for maintenance records. If it has consistent oll change records at an oil change place, at least they've been changing the oil. Unfortunately, oll change places haya 9se caf peep types of tis are not allowed ‘Ads. Tips that Just recommen a product Legal tips about anything todo withthe rule of lw roving reat thes. Tips that break the law, ilopa tos. Hygiene tps hneloding tie). Religious, tps relating to ralgon Relationship advice, Tel joke tps Bans are given out immasiately ane sore as Ascussions in /ifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean therprtolsatctcomitfePreTpscorantienstpp se, ont PT Some ps orb mused carer pool at kcw ing shut cars LFTs only check easy profitable stuf. It’s better then nothing, though. If the records are all at an independent shop, that’s better, Indy’s will usually do a pretty thorough check up on the car when servicing it, If has all dealer records, that's the holy grail. Dealers will find any nick rnack that’s wrong and upsell it. They also commonly don’t do thorough diagnostics (thls is an unfortunate effect of the way dealer shops operate). So if it needed repairs, on top of having new parts that neeced replacing, it may have other new parts that it didn’t even need. Shitty Independents fall into the latter as well, but for different . Check that everything works on the car. Check the A/C, the heater, the windows, the locks, the mirrors, the head/parking/brake lights, etc. Ifthe owner neglected to fix obvious problems, what else did they decide not to fix? Look under the hoad and look for any hokey werk. Zip ties, tape, broken plastic pieces, a battery that can move around if you push on it, wires hanging, etc. If t looks lke Lnprofessional work has been done on what you can see, how bad is what you can’t see? . Haw does the car look? Is it dirty, full of scratches, stained? If the owner cares so litle about the interior/exterior, they probably have the same attitude towards the mechanical part of it. - Check the tires, Aside from general condition, do they all ‘match? If al the tires are different, they're cheap/aroke, and have probably cheaped out on a lot more than just tices, Lay your hand flat on the tire ead and light fee! around the ties. If you feel @ repeating pattern of flat spots/dips, you have suspension problems. 3. Try and stay away from used car dealers. Used car dealers get the majority of their cars from auctions. Most cars that go to auction are sent there by someone that doesn’t want it, usually because there are problems, Not haya 9se caf peep ‘reversed ifthe post/comment in question thas been deleted trom your history. Note: Homophobia, racism, herassment ane general hate on ethnic, 50, eigion ot evocste/suppor ilegl activites are alo Based, we willbe using US laws to determine ahatner oF not egal. Click hereto message the /r/LifeProtips CATEGORIES Mog Picks dscussions i /uireProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean therprtolsatctcomitfePreTpscorantienstpp se, ont 10. {PT Some ps orb muse carr pool at kcw ing shut cars LFTs all, but most, New car dealers send trade-ins that are too ld to put on their ot, and some of those are decent. However, the small used car dealers usually buy the bottom of the barrel cars at auction, They'l fx the ‘minimum needed with the cheapest parts possible to maximize profit. They'll make it look pretty, though. Good chance you're buying a polished turd 1. Obviously, test drive the car. Drive It at different speeds tp to highway speeds. Brake easy, brake hard. Find a crappy road or railroad tracks to drive over, Make sure there are no noises or vibrations. Get it good and warm, When you're done, open the hood ane take a good whi Make sure there are no strong smells (like burning fluids or other things). Look under the car and see if anything is ripping or the bottom of the engine is covered in fluids. Don't be alarmed if you see water dripping under the car at about the same area as the base of the windshield/firewall. If the A/C or defroster was on, that is Just condensate from the A/C system. Touch it. IF t's not oily and looks/feels like water, it should be OK. If you're test driving a manual car, the clutch engagement point should be somewhere in the middle of the clutch pedal travel. IF t's right at the top or right at the bottom, clutch repairs are in the near future ‘This one is a litle more advanced, but not too dificult. It’s also pretty important. You'll need your OBD scanner. What you want to do is look at the engine data and search {for the fuel trims. An engine computer injects fuel based on a bunch of sensor inputs. It has a base fuel map programmed into it that it references, based on those sensor inputs, and injects XXX amount of fuel. There is an oxygen sensor in the exhaust system that analyzes the exhaust gas and acts like a quality control inspector. It tells the computer whether it injected too much or too litte fuel, The computer then makes adjustments to that base fuel map to make sure it's injecting the proper haya 9se caf peep RECOMMENDED SUBREDDITS sfutesrovns tsnomyoursh Jrnyousstéknow —— frfrowto say sotaytecnes fruvenniuns reer in nk cussions i /ifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean thersane Let seme teetrbaega uaeare pop ation ing beta LtPrie amount of fuel. Those adjustments are called fuel 5% fuel trim would mean the computer had to add 5% sous sour more fuel than the base map. A -5% fuel trim would mean davicreiss666 that the computer ad to reduce fuel by 5% from the base __Merurll. ust the tp fuel map. Ina perfect worl, fuel trims would be zero. 923 o> However, that's rarely the case, Fuel quay, ciferent atmospheric conditions, engine wear, engine or sensor problems, ete, make it 50 that the base fuel map is never perfect, so the computer Is always adding or subtracting fuel (usually it’s adding, but sometimes it’s subtracting). I don’ lke to see @ computer adding or subtracting more than 10% fuel. Any more than that and there may be 2 prablem. Any more than 15-20% and there Is defiritely 2 problem ims, A || keris ‘So what you're going to want to dois look at the data on the. tengine computer. You want to make sure you connect to the computer using GENERIC OBD2 on your scanner. Different ‘manufacturers will cal these fuel trims by different names, and display the percentage in different ways, But if you connect Using generic obd, I's always going to use @ standardized display format across all vehicles. You're going to see a long list of a bunch of different data, Scroll through until you find "short term fuel trim and “long term fuel trim” Short term fuel trim, depending on your scanner, may be displayed as: Short term fuel trim, STFT, ST, or ST¥% Long term fuel trim may be displayed as: Long Term Fuel Trim, UTFT, LT, oF LT% Let's assume your scanner uses the more common STFT and LIFT designation. You're going to see a number after the letters, so STFT1 and LTFT1. The number means the "bank" or side of the engine, A 4 cylinder engine only has one “side” so Yyoutl only see STFTI and LTFT1. However, a V6 or V8 engine has two sides of the engine (3 or 4 cylinders on one side, and 3.65548 canments fr 4 cylinder on the other side, hence the V6 or VB). The LPT: Never threaten to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll computer controls fuel independently for each side of the them, they wil have time to clean ther Ascussions i /ifeProtips x prtolsatctcomitfePreTpscorantienstpp se, ont haya 9se caf peep 78saianzore {PT Some ps orb mused arf pool at kcw ing shut cars LFTs engine, so you'll see a STFT3 and LTFTS for one side of the tengine, and STFT2 and LTFT2 for the other side. Don't be alarmed if you're looking at @ V6 or VB engine and you only see STFT1 and LTFT1, Many late 90s cars and some early 2000s cars didn't control fuel separately for each side of the engine, and lumped both sides into one bank. When looking at the short term and long term fuel trims, you'll notice the long term fuel trim number stays pretty steady, but the short term fuel trim number may change a lat. This is normal, The difference between short end long term fuel trims Is not important, but what is important to note is that they are cumulative, So if STFT=4 and LTFT=3, then your total fuel trim Is 7%, Let's take a look at some examples on a VB: STFTL 3 STFT2 6LIFTL 2 LTFT2 1 So the total fuel trim on bank 1 is 5% (342) and the total fuel trim on bank 2 is 79% (641). Each bank is below +/- 10%. ‘That's pretty good, STFTA -5 STFT2 3LTFT1 3 LTFT2 1 Bank 1 fuel trim is -2% (-5 +3) and bank 2 is 4% (31). Again, that's good. TFTA 6 STFT2 7LTFTL 10 LTFT2 15 Bank 1 fuel trim is 169% (6+10) and bank 2 is 22% (7+15) ‘That's not goad. Walk away from this one. Check these numbers with the engine running at iéle, and rev Up the engine and hole it at about 2500rpms and check it there. Like I said, you may see the STFT number change pretty Quickly, so just use the average of the numbers you see for that fone. If you have someone with you, you can have them check the numbers while you drive as wel Practice this on a car you have access to beforehand. Ascussions i /ifeProtips x 1, Last and not least, don’t trust the person selling the car. " ‘Trust your eyes, your ears, and your instinct. You don't LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on know this person, they may be lying about the car, or try anyone, instead, just doit because you tll and tell you that the thing you're worried about Is ne big them, they wil have time te clean ther prolsatctcomitfePreTpszorantiesstpe se, on | hayes cf pee! asaianzore {PT Some ps orb mused carer pola at kow ing shut cars LFTs eal, it's just this or that, Or they had @ guy check it out and i's 2 really easy/quick fix. Be patient and find the right car, If something is fishy or doesn't seem right, move on to the next car. A car is a pretty big expense. Most people budget for the purchase price of a car and don't consider there may be considerable extra expense in fixing major problems. Minimize the possibilty of those extra expenses by inspecting the car the best you can. T would recommend running through these things, end any others you want to add, on your current car, your parents’ cars, friends” cars, etc. Do it several times. Get comfortable in making these checks so that when you're doing them in front of some stranger on their car, you won't forget anything EDIT- Forgot another tip regarding possible accident repairs. When you look under the hood, the color of the metal in the engine compartment area should be the same color as the car. If you see different colors or primer, it's had body repair. Also, if you look at the reflection in the car's exterior paint up close ‘and at an angle, you'll notice that the reflection has 2 wavy pattern to it. That's called orange peal. Every car has it from the factory, except super high end cars. The orange pee! pattern should be consistent all the way around the car. Ifthe pattern changes in certain parts of the car, it's been repainted In that area. Good chance it had an accident. Another thing you can do is take a small magnet with you. You're going to place the magnet against the car in as many areas as you can. Make sure you wrap it in a microfiber towel or something soft so you don't scratch the car (t's not your car). The magnet should attract itself to the body and even stick to It. If there are spots where the magnet doesn’t stick as strang or at all, there is body filer there, It's had an accident, 65-46 corments LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean ther Ascussions i /ifeProtips x EDIT2 - Fixed some formatting psloliacctcomiiePeTpscoretiesStspt core, on fo baja 9st fo peep ossaianzone Ler Sone tp frau nue carer pola at now ing abt ene -Ltaro pe EDITS - Thanks forall the replies and awards. I'm glad people found this useful. But seriously, no more awards. Save your ‘money for gas to return all those Christmas presents you don't want, EDITA - There are lots of comments and questions. Ill try to answer what I can but there are so many. Il get back to most of you eventually, Gotta get some work done....working on a Soturday (sucks) EDITS - I'm back from the dead! TOP 200 COMMENTS sorted by: best (suggested) Want to add to the discus: Post a comment! eeptnatipg (sare dcen} 9 haus 960 hia comment Hello and welcome to ¢/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post Is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. 1 you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote, If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave It for the others to decide. ostolaecctcomitfePreTpszorantiesstpp se, ont haya 9se caf peep Ascussions i /ifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean thersaianzone Ler Sone tp tba nue crf pola at ow ing sb ene Ltar p= So 1 don't just go around and kick all four tyres? Racetend 5 acre hen! 7 hos 98 You can, but you might be adding your own butt to that list after you buy i ustanandomeuy9999 [sae Wade 6 tows ag0 butt exhaust pipe FTFY snotherormeturer [scare Nason hat age Great, now I'l never look at cars the same way again acetand score dor! Shows 90 Have you not heard of the Mercury Mistress? rent report rely stanomaus (sca hier] «near 9 Gives a hole new meaning to “Used Car" (*9, * fond more comment (1 ro§) load more comments (2 eles) oh no seve. parent report rely ond more comments (2 more comments (1 ro) ribywpnmaster [score neon] S hus ape | disagree with this. The best thing they can do is take it to @ ‘mechanic for Inspection If Interested in It. The typical cost In pstolaecctcomutfePreTpscorantiesstpe se, on | hayes caf pee Ascussions i /ifeProtips x LPT: Naver treatan to take legal action on anyone, instead, just doit because you tll them, they wil have time te clean therLer Sone tp trtayg uted crf pola at now ing abt ene -Ltar pe “TX for @ pre-sale inspection is about $0-100 bucks and most of them are weirdly excited to point out every flaw in the tortuekup (sor ier} hous 296 I mean it makes sense. They're hoping that they can Impress you with their diagnostic skills/overall car knowledge because they want more of your business