What To Do When You Buy A Car- Servicing

[altezzaclub]

I've just been chatting to one of the guys and thought I'd copy this over and anyone else can add more ideas. I find that buying a car and having a garage do a service on it leaves a lot missing, so the more you can do the better.

 

 

Things to do when you buy a car-

 

Get a little notebook. Write down date & Km of last service.

 

Keep the notebook for as long as you have the car and write down all the things you do.

 

Jack up a front wheel, feel for bearing wear by shaking it vertically then steering wear by shaking it horizontally. This will be on Youtube somewhere I'm sure. Take off the wheel & little bearing cover and check for grease in the wheel bearing, then set it to 'just not tight' so the wheel spins freely. Usually this is "tighten to just over finger tight and back off 5minutes" but it should be right on the point of feeling a few mm looseness with a wheel on.

 

Check the nuts and bolts in the suspension & crossmember and whatever else you can see while lying under it in the sun. (I use a torch ) Anything with a dark/clean ring around the nut/bolt is moving so its loose. Check the brake pads & look for leaks in brake lines and shocks, and check steering boots on the rack. Check tyre wear and if it is uneven across the tread or feathered at all take it in for a wheel alignment.

 

Do the other wheel, then the back wheels & suspension.(no bearings to shake there)

 

Change the oil and oil filter, air filter and petrol filter, points and plugs. Change the gearbox oil and diff oil and the radiator water & antifreeze. If you're keen, pump out the brake fluid and fill with fresh, it absorbs water which rusts the cylinders.. (This will be only time you need to do these in the time you own the car.) Set the tappets, plug gaps and points, and set the timing. When its warm after running set the idle mixture and speed.

 

Open the doors, bonnet and boot and oil the hinges & grease the door slides that holds them open.

 

Write down what you did & the date. You might want to see what they've just done in their last service, check what you can of it, (mechanics lie like real estate agents!) and do the things on that list that they didn't do.

 

Once a year change oil and filter together, using a genuine Toyota filter. If you do 10,000km in six months change the oil only then, depends on how much use the car gets. I usually go for once a year as we only do 10-15000 km a year. Write down date and Km.

 

If the diff and gearbox aren't leaking you don't need to worry about them once you've changed the oils, its just an annual oil/filter change, plugs and points, and every few years an air filter. I usually have some reason to be under a car every few months and I check all the nuts and bolts & look for leaks, easy enough. Get a dwell meter and it will show you the slow closing of the points as they wear over 6months, so just re-set them and re-gap the plugs. Otherwise it slowly loses performance over a year or two.

Edited August 13, 2012 by altezzaclub

[madKE35coupe]

One thing that can really affect tire wear is the balancing. Plus any shaking through the steering wheel or seat can be frustrating and possibly affect other components in the future. If you buy a second hand car I would recommend getting the balance checked on all four wheels, and while they are on the balancer possibly check for buckled rims :) one other thing I'm not sure if you mentioned altezza, tyre pressure. Very important, but always overlooked.for anyone who is in the dark with tyre pressures, with an average size car with non low profiles, 34-36 psi is a substantial amount. Low profiles are a bit tricky, but usually anything with a 50 profile or lower, run between 36-40 psi depending on how heavy the vehicle is. The heavier the vehicle, the more pressure you run :D over and out