Roygarth

I have a C4 Coupe with 45,000 miles. Reading Rennlist boards it would appear a lot can go wrong from now on?!

The car has been maintained meticulously. Is there anything I should watch out for which may not be noticed when I have the car serviced.

Furthermore is there anything I can do myself to prevent future problems?

Thanks in advance
Piers

Adrian

Dear Piers,
Just keep in maintained properly. Do not start looking for things going wrong. Ensure you do a full service at 48,000 miles and change the distributor belt as well. Make sure your gearbox and differential fluids are all changed and I would do the power steering as well. Apart from that just enjoy it. Anything can go wrong with any auto regardless of mileage. Many of the things you read on these boards are myths and legends. There is a bad luck factor yes, but do not worry yourself about it,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

Bill Wagner

Piers:

When you read posts on a site like this, you'll find people talking about the problems they have and how to fix them. That's the nature of sites like this. People expect their cars to work and they visit sites like this when they aren't. If everyone made posts essentially saying "My car worked today without any problems" you would see a lot more posts and they would be so boring no one would visit anymore.

Go to some other site (non-Porsche) and I guarantee you that you will see the same thing going on, even if it's a car that has a reputation for high reliability.

If nothing is wrong with the car, just continue doing the scheduled maintenance and get the distributor belt checked periodically. Also, make an effort to know what the typical problems that may occur with your car are and what the symptoms are.

Hope this helps,

Bill Wagner

Roygarth

Roygarth

kellymartin612

I had a 2002 Explorer 4X4 with a 4.0L V-6, it had 212K miles on it when I sold it and it was still running strong. It really depends on how the vehicle has been maintained and driven. If I were you I would look for a vehicle that's 120K miles or under. Used cars are difficult to guage when it comes to how well it was cared for. Things I look for are: Leaks or spots under the vehicle where it's parked, wet spots on the engine (be it oil or coolant, neither is good) Tire wear (if the tires are worn un-evenly it could be due to suspension problems due to bad alignment, worn out parts or frame damage), check the oil to see if it's clean and look inside the oil filler cap for signs of sludge (dirty oil could be a sign of not changing the oil regularly, especially if you see black tarry sludge under the oil filler cap), condition of paint and interior (another indicator of how well the vehicle was cared for), test drive the vehicle when it's at operating temperature (many problems don't appear until the vehicle is warmed up, especially transmission problems), check the heater and A/C to see if they both work (heating/cooling systems are the main causes for most engine failures, if the heat does not work it shows there is a problem, non-working A/C can be an indicator of poor service as well).
I would suggest bringing someone along that knows a bit about cars/trucks to look over the vehicle with you before you decide to buy it, and don't feel bad if you have to beat up the owner over things you don't like on the vehicle to get the price down a bit. Whatever they are asking, offer 20% less and barter with them until you get the price where you want it. Especially if it's a high mileage vehicle. Never buy the "these cars go 300K miles all the time" line, it's a load of B/S! Hope this helps and good luck!

Super90

Wow....almost 14 years later, this thread comes back up !

Andy Roe

Resurrected by a Spambot....