I just drove my old Jeep on a 500 mile trip to and from Las Vegas, home of the legendary SEMA car-parts industry trade show, and the thing drove beautifully. But that was not always the case; in fact, for the first six months that I owned this Jeep, it ran like a dog (which I’m realizing is a strange expression in the car-world given that dogs actually run…rather well?). That’s because I foolishly didn’t conduct my usual “just bought this car” wrenching routine.
I’ve been buying old junkers for a very long time now, and there are certain things that I do to all of them as soon as I get them home to my garage. The most important thing is: I change the fluids.
Automotive fluids’ job is too important to ignore. Dirty fluid can kill your engine, transmission, transfer case, and axles, plus it can corrode brake system and cooling system parts. Why take that risk? It’s not worth it.
For this reason, anytime I buy a new vehicle, I always change the oils. That means: engine, transmission, transfer case, and differentials. Even though I didn’t have time to do my full barrage of initial tinkering, and thus the Jeep drove like a dog (like a dog drove? That would make more sense), I refused to forego changing fluids even if that meant wrenching on a diff in my work clothes:
View this post on Instagram
While changing the fluids, I found that my transfer case was completely bone dry. Could you imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t done my fluid check, and instead drove 500 miles with a bone-dry T-case? That thing would be shot. As it sits, it’s working well, probably because it had been sitting a while prior to my purchase (and not driven much with the dry case).
I also changed my engine oil, transmission oil, and diff oil (I admittedly haven’t gotten around to the front diff, but that doesn’t see any torque during everyday two-wheel drive driving; still, I’ve got to get around to that), plus I checked my brake fluid, power steering fluid, and coolant (they looked good).
What I did not get around to was my usual “just-bought-this-car” tuneup job, which involves replacing the spark plugs, distributor cap, distributor rotor, and spark plug wires. These parts are cheap, and since they wear out and are critical to the vehicle running properly, I always just replace them on any vehicle I purchase.
The result of me not going through with my full just-bought-this-car strategy was that, for the first six months under my ownership, the Jeep bucked and banged under load, especially when taking off from a stop light. Honestly, it sounded like metal-on-metal contract; my initial worry was that something was wrong with my clutch/pressure plate.
View this post on Instagram
But after I put in the $50 and 45 minutes to get the plugs and wires and distributor bits swapped out, the Jeep ran beautifully, and I now regret all those times I listened to that horrible pinging/banging; I should have just followed through with my fluids + tune-up + visual inspection of tires/brake pads/etc regimen.
Alas, the Jeep sounds great now, doesn’t seem to burn oil, and makes plenty of power, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that it will continue to drive like a dream thanks to fresh fluids and a nicely-running motor.
What do you do to a car once you buy it? Whether that means maintenance-wise, or perhaps you want to talk about some routine modifications you make to cars after you buy them.
3M film to protect the paint.
But I only lease new vehicles now.
Older cars, check the fluids, then the brakes.
Hmm…. 1) plugged it in 2) drove it
But yeah, EVs deffo sux
Keep an eye on the tfer case, if it was bone dry it probably has a slow leak.
Indeed, from the slip yoke.
That seal is honestly not hard to swap; I should just do it.
Maybe change your clothes first. 🙂
Dooooooooo it! 😀
I was part of a recall for AWD DSMs back in the 90s regarding this same issue. As in not just my car having the issue but the online community for DSMs I was a member of petitioned the NHTSA to force Mitsubishi to actually recall our cars.
In our case the plug in the center of the yoke from where they had machined the splines began to leak and would sling gear oil all around the underside of your car. Since the cars were full-time AWD having your tfer case seize was an exciting experience usually involving all 4 wheels instantly locking up at freeway speeds. I don’t recall any fatalities but a few members totaled their cars due to the issue.
Fun times.
Check the oil and say “looks like oil” then wait 5000 miles to change it.
ok but is your username “new carpet smell” cause you’re a freak? or “new car pet smell” as in David’s Jeep Cats, cause you’re a freak?
Used to be that any vehicle I purchased immediately got new tires. Now I just try to get them running.
Stock the trunk with roadside emergency essentials and swap out the donut for a full sized spare.
HEY! What did you do?? You know what you did! GRRRRRRR. It is always the first thing!
After I bought an old Audi 5000, I drove it to a friend’s house and he pointed out the Jesus fish on the decklid. I immediately grabbed it and yanked it off, and it went flying into the woods across the street from his house.
All these years later, I’ll bet it’s still there.
So the answer is- remove any junk that the previous owner “personalized” the car with.
You Sir have been a cursed life since then, whether you knew it or not! 😉
Great, now those woods are FULL of Jesus fish!
If this history is unknown I’ll do an oil change and just drive it to see what breaks
Replace all fluids and filters if I don’t have a good background of the maintenance, a deep cleaning inside and out, and new tires.
Then I start with the improvements like new floor mats that cover all the floor, phone accessories like cords, holders.
What I do after buying a car is between me, the car, and the State of Michigan if I’m not careful.
Immediately join Facebook groups focused on that chassis. I’ve found between NA Miata, W123, and VW Type 3s, the best starting point to learn about basic pain points and sources of obscure parts is easiest to find in FB groups.
With that done, and since I like to buy projects instead of functional transportation, a thorough cleaning is job #1, going over the majority of the car will help me quickly find anything I missed before buying, and get an idea of what jobs will be easier or harder, or can be done in tandem. Plus I’ve had two projects with various droppings and stains, so yeah a cleaning is a must to avoid becoming Patient Zero for some as-to-be-discovered disease.
If it’s one that I know and trust the service history of, the first thing I do is buy and install a set of all-weather mats or floor liners because we have a gravel driveway.
If it’s an older car, like when I bought my MG, every fluid gets changed and everything gets lubed. Anything rubber is inspected and I make a list of anything I need to buy. Brakes get a good inspection. After the initial round of maintenance, I just wait for things to break and then fix them.
Fumigate.
Follow the powertrain break-in procedure in the manual, change oil and filter at 1000 miles, add a Fumoto valve during that change, install PPF, rustproof the underbody if it will be driven in winter, start a maintenance log, and enjoy.
You made me lol. I KNOW I should have a maintenance log for all my vehicles. Even for myself to know what I have and have not done, as my memory is not great. But, after my first car, I never really kept a good one. I did on a piece of paper for some of my existing cars, but I’ve not kept it up. At some point, I realized I was always the last owner of all my vehicles (I’ve never sold one that wasn’t basically for parts). So, the log was never really necessary anymore. This is so wrong.
What is your rustproof method of choice?
I buy spiral notebooks during back to school sales when they are 49 cents and just keep them around for if I buy a new car. Put in the glovebox and start a log. Easy and foolproof.
I’ve had good luck with Ziebarts for rustproofing. They’ve also done PPF, window tint, etc so a good one stop shop for a new vehicle.
Honestly, your method, at this point in my life, is the way to go. Not when I was younger and broke. But, now that I’m less so, this is good advice. I’ve not yet gone the Fumoto, but I’ve heard great things. My car got keyed about a month ago (I think at work), and every individual item in front of the A-piller got hit, including the headlights. I wonder if a PPF wrap would have saved me. (Yeah, someone hates me out there 🙁 )
If someone wants to damage your car, and does so with malice, the film won’t help much. But for rock chips and such it’s fantastic.
Assuming it’s a late model used car, the first thing I do is detail it. I have incredibly high standards for cleanliness and no dealership detail job even comes close. Once the interior is spotless I usually do a minor paint correction (it’s a daily, no need for perfection) and wax it.
I also change the cabin filter, and check the engine air filter as well, in addition to all other fluids for age/contamination. I compare the vehicle’s service intervals in the manual against any maintenance records the car has, and perform any services that have been skipped or that I suspect were skipped, or are overdue. Oh, and of course, removing all dealership badging and license plate frames.
This is what I’ve done for my daily drivers, which have been 5-6 years old when I’ve purchased them. Older or higher mileage vehicles would be a different story, of course.
Cant remember the last car I bought was in 2008
Full Tune up, including fuel filters if the rig has them in line. Tune up include changing fluid, including brake fluid in the resevoir. I learned the hard way that Dot 5 can crystalize if not at least partially swapped every couple of years.
I’ve only had two cars and both were sold by reputable dealerships, so they didn’t tend to have immediate maintenance concerns.
But definitely an early thing now and going forward is replacing all bulbs (inside and out) with LEDs. The reverse lights on my car are actually usable now, and I credit my LED hazards for keeping me alive when I was only ~6 feet off the side of an interstate waiting 4 hours for AAA one night a couple years ago. And of course, just better/longer visibility from the headlights, not to mention longevity. I replaced the headlights in my Prius in early 2020 and it’s still the same pair today, 30,000 miles later.
I even replaced the fixture with the license plate bulbs–I hate when license plates are really dimly lit like on some trailers.
I hope you aren’t just sticking LEDs in reflector housings.
I just pay attention to the pattern–I had to adjust my old van’s headlights down a bit, I recall. The Prius v maintained a really nice, crisp cutoff well below window level of any (well, non-Miata-esque) car in front of me.
Change the oil and hope that the buildup of crud isn’t what was keeping the rods and bearings connected
Many decades back (in the ’70s I think) one of the car magazine writers told of the $100 car club he and his friends started. Buy a junker for $100 or less, then do no additional work or spend any additional money on it other than gas and oil. The writer said he got a dirt cheap car that ran okay but could probably run better if he adjusted the valves—even though it would be cheating. But once he got the valve cover off and saw the buildup of sludge, grease and such, he feared it might be all that was holding the valve train together. So he reinstalled the valve cover and drove it for a couple of months.
My friend bought a 4Runner for his mom. Put new oil in it and it shred a bearing within 250 miles. He cracked open the block, and there were POUNDS of nearly solidified oil. The working theory was that the detergents in the good oil must have started breaking up the otherwise immobile sludge, and the rest is multiple trips to the car yard and donor blocks
First thing I did with the ’95 Miata (my first “old car” purchase) was to make a list. I thought I knew what the issues were when I bought the car and it was priced accordingly… rough idle, crispy leather seats, tires past their prime, and assorted other minor items. But it was rust-free, with great paint and 75k miles when I bought it in 2020. I got it idling right by cleaning the IAC valve and changing the plugs and wires. Tires were replaced ASAP, which was not as easy as one would think due to COVID tire shortages. At that time I discovered the brakes were shot, so new rotors, pads and soft lines were in order. The seats I reupholstered myself, which was much more arduous than expected but very rewarding.
Since then it’s been smooth sailing, except that time when the power antenna broke. And the oil leak that refuses to be permanently fixed. And the weird occasional rough idle on hot startup issue.
So make a list. Then make sure you leave plenty of space at the bottom of the page for all the stuff that you get to add to the list.
“And the weird occasional rough idle on hot startup issue.”
This is a super long shot given my Mazda is so different from yours but I also had a hard to diagnose occasional super rough idle on my ’10 Mazda 5. I fixed it…by replacing my stop light bulbs.
The problem was one that’s gotten worse over time. The idle would drop so low the engine would shake violently. Cleaning the MAF did nothing. New plugs did nothing. New mounts did nothing. Total mystery. There is no idle screw so no manual adjustment was possible. This only happened with the car in drive, in neutral or park the idle would return to its normal speed. No vacuum leaks that I could find.
The forums showed this was a common problem with 5s and 3s of that era. One person had isolated it to an electrical issue. The test was simple, wait for the shake, then pull the hand brake and take your foot off the brake and see if the shake tracks with the brakes being applied.
Next pull the fuse for the stop lights. Try the brakes again. If the shake doesn’t return its electrical, not vacuum. This was the only electrical draw that triggered the shake. Turn lights, head lights, A/C, all were fine.
The problem I’m guessing is a bit of corrosion somewhere linked to the brake circuit. The draw from the brake lamps causes a drop in power to something else, probably the ECU, maybe the coil packs I dunno. I didn’t want to open that can of worms so instead I bought a pair of LED stop bulbs. LEDs of the same brightness draw far less current so I figured the impaired circuit could handle the load with those. I put them in and lo and behold it worked! No more shake!
The bulbs cost less than $10 and took only a few minutes to install. They use (according to the specs) 1/3 the power and are 3x brighter than stock. They should be more reliable too.
Totally worth it, especially since I didn’t have to spend God knows how long tracking down the actual fault.
TL:DR it might be your stop lights.
That’s British (car) levels of EE (Electrical Engineering) levels of nuts
Usually discover a better one available for less, I will go through the fluids and check the paperwork to see what has been done in the past to plan for issues in the future
Same same. Always do fluids/filters asap. Then usually ignition stuff and perishables, just because you never know how long it’s been or what quality of parts were used. Then inspect everything. suspension, mounts, all of it, fix what’s shot.
But the more juicy answer, assuming that’s all done and the car drives properly and is up on maintenance.. the first thing I always do is lower it. Except my Touareg. I just put it in low mode and left it there. So, I guess kinda the same, but I’m not going to put links or code it lower than factory until I get rebuilt OEM front struts. PO put Arnotts and I don’t trust them under the added stress. Also waiting on backordered CAs cause I gots a clicky ball joint… but not relevant. Lower Is Always The Answer. LIATA.
Oh, and clean the shit out of it. Removing trim/seats/all that. I don’t wanna sit in someone else’s ick.
Fluids, clean if not detailed prior, low hanging fruit fixes, like any bulbs out or switches or knobs broken or missing. The honeymoon period is the best part of car ownership.
If it’s new, carefully break in the motor and tranny, then fluid change and tire rotation. If it’s used, fluid change and I nut and bolt inspect all of the safety critical components, tie rods, suspension etc. I bout a truck for my wife last year and I’m so glad I did the nut and bolt check, the passenger side tie rod had been replaced and the dealer had re-used the nylock nut to hold it on. So it wasn’t actually holding anything and fell off when I touched it.