A friend of ours is asking about a new used car purchase they just made. Like most people that buy used cars one of the first things you do is start washing it but what else really needs to be done before you can get it out on the road. We are going to cover some professional tips that you can follow that don’t cost much and will have your vehicle running like new or as good as possible.
You might be saying that $200 is a lot but in reality you might need to spend twice that or you might get away with only spending half that. It will depend on your specific car and what it needs. It will also depend greatly on how good a shopper you are and what tools you might already have.
If the Paint is in really good condition or if the shop or person you bought it from detailed and buffed the paint before you bought it then you can cut many hours and a good bit of the cost out of this task. If not then the first thing you should do is give your car a good cleaning and by good cleaning I mean you want to wash every part of it and remove all of the dirt. Make sure you wash the door jams and the underside of the doors. Wash the inside of the trunk and hood especially along the channels where water flows during the rain. Inspect all of the moldings and gaskets and treat them with a plastic parts conditioner. I like to buy tire shine (not cleaner, tire shine) at the dollar store because its cheap but you can go with a brand name product like ArmorSomething.
Next while you are cleaning you should begin the detail of your engine compartment. General purpose cleaner without bleach can be used and you should also get yourself a can of foaming engine degreaser. Engine degreaser can be sprayed into the tight areas around the engine and it works kinda like the foaming toilet bowl cleaner. Your engine can be cold or just warm but it should definitely not be hot when you apply this stuff. Allow it to sit for 15 minutes and wash it off and then apply another coating. After a few rounds with the engine degreaser you can use a can of carburetor cleaner to clean around your throttle body. Try to get all of the grease and dirt off of your engine. Finally use tire shine on your rubber parts like hoses and plastic parts but do not get it on your accessory / fan belts.
Take your time when cleaning your engine compartment. It is ok to use a little water from your hose and some people even use pressure washers and steam cleaners but you don’t want to spray your electrical parts directly. Its better to use a sponge or some shop towels or even paper towels. Most of your engine compartment is water tight because it has to be able to withstand driving down the road in a storm but electrical parts can’t take direct hits from a hose. Use brushes and even an old toothbrush is a great tool.
Cleaning The Inside Of Your Vehicle
This is a process that most people do not perform aggressively enough. You will have two types of smells in your vehicle. The first is a musty moldy smell and the second is any other type of smell that might be from sweat / body odor to cigarettes or animals. If you have bacteria in your car you need to use a disinfectant like Lysol. There really isn’t any other option except having Ozone Treatment by a professional which can be expensive. I suggest that you use concentrated lysol in the brown bottle and mix up your own liquid which you can put in a clean spray bottle. Saturate the entire interior with this solution and allow it to stay wet by continuous spraying for a minimum of 30 minutes. The worse the odor the more you will need to treat it. You will find that the smell is replaced by the lysol and you might think it has gone away but it is probably due to mold in your carpet pad or in your seat foam and it will need extended soaking.
The nex treatment is for general odors. First you need to vacuum and wash away any large amounts of debris and staining. If you know you have pet stains you might want to use a urine treatment chemical that is available at most pet stores. If you just have tobacco and other smells then I suggest that you get a can of air freshener and use the entire can on the interior. Close the door and let the car sit overnight.
Actually washing your interior can be done with clothes washing soap in a bucket of water. Be aggressive and don’t worry about getting things wet like the carpet or upholstery. You shouldn’t be throwing bucket after bucket into the car but you should be using lots of water and soap. You will be removing years worth of stuff that you don’t want to think about. If you have a carpet shampoo vacuum then use the hand attachment to remove the excess liquid.
If you have leather seats then you will need a leather conditioner product that you will work into the leather after you have cleaned it well.
If your car heating system has an interior cabin air filter you need to change that now. Not all cars do but if yours does you should change it.
After you have cleaned the interior you should use a plastic conditioner to protect your vinyl and plastic parts.
What To Do After Cleaning
After your car is completely clean you can start with your general maintenance.
The first thing you should do is go to your bigbox store and pick up some of their cheapest oil that matches your car’s requirement. 10w30 or whatever your car takes and a filter. Change your oil and you will be running your car for only about one to two weeks and then you will change your oil again with fresh higher quality oil like a synthetic and a better quality filter. You want to clean out all the debris in your system especially if the previous owner didn’t care for their car much.
Changing your antifreeze. This is a job that you should do every year to three years depending on the use of your vehicle. The higher the miles the more often because the coolant can get contaminated over time. Since this is your first change you should also strongly consider buying a new thermostat and gasket. They only cost about $15 total and its a real good investment for any car over 80,000 miles or any car that you don’t know the history of. This is the best time to change it because you will be draining and replacing your antifreeze coolant.
Transmission, Trans Axel, Drive Axel Fluids are your next task. Many new automatic transmissions do not have a filter but if yours does it will require unbolting the pan off your transmission and replacing it. If you don’t then you want to drain your transaxel and then replace the fluid with new fluid. Be careful here because transmission fluid is different between car manufacturers and some makers like Honda should only use factory transmission fluid. This is a very easy job to do but it has to be done right. If in doubt contact your car dealer for more information.
Brake Fluid should also be flushed. Pick up a quart or two of brake fluid that matches your car or truck. If you don’t have a helper to help you with this process which will require someone pumping the brakes then you will need a brake fluid vacuum tool which costs under $30. Flush each of the brakes so that new clear fluid comes out.
While you are changing the fluid and flushing the system you will want to inspect your brakes. If you find that your brake rotors or brake drums need reconditioning it is possible to have a local parts shop cut the drums and rotors on a lathe but because these parts are often very cheap especially on smaller cars you will be better off just buying new drums and rotors. Remember to change your springs and clips when changing your brakes and always change your pads when you get new drums or rotors because they will be out of shape and conformed to the old ones. Changing your brakes is not something you should expect to do but if you need to do this then this is the time. Changing the fluid if it is dark in the reservoir is a good thing to do with your new used car and the fluid is really inexpensive. Dark Fluid will cause a spongy brake.
Power steering fluid is your next task and you can normally just clamp a line on the reservoir and remove it and drain the fluid out of the reservoir then refill. Flushing the entire system is even better but it requires that you take the return line off and cap the reservoir and then pour new fluid into the system until it starts exiting clean. Again power steering like automatic transmission fluid is specific to the maker of the car so make sure you use the correct type of power steering fluid.
Whats Left To Do?
There are a lot of extra things that you can do to condition your car for good running and the list can get endless if you want it to be.
Start replacing all of your expendable items like your air filter, spark plugs and other things as you see necessary.
Check the age of your Battery and if it works well you don’t need to replace it right away.
Get a new set of windshield wipers even if they look reasonably new and then stick the old ones in the trunk in case you brake one in a storm.
Protect your car with a good waxing. I prefer 100% pure Carnauba Wax vs any other option with synthetics or additives. Carnauba wax is a natural product and its a professional product that works. Get yourself a 7 inch good grade buffer for $30 and a gallon of wax and keep your finish well maintained. Polishes will cut through clear and paint and reduce its life. You can also use your buffer to remove the cloudiness from your headlights. It is a good investment and will last you the life of your car.
Final Note
What your car might exactly need to get it road ready and in its best shape is not the same as every other vehicle but the best place to start is with your vehicle’s owners manual.
If your car is under 30,000 miles you should probably have very little to do. Wash, Wax, Clean the interior and get your oil changed. Any vehicle that is under 30,000 miles is just approaching its real break in period. Many cars are driven this much in just one year but it would be better if the car was a few years old and had minimal miles because you would know it didn’t see a lot of road time. HOWEVER and a big however another reason might have been the car was in a serious accident or had serious mechanical problems that took forever to get fixed. You should be able to tell the difference and hopefully you have records of all service or can get them from a dealer.
If your vehicle is 75,000 to 125,000 miles or more you should look at your manual’s list of scheduled services and consider all of them as not done. Thats right don’t take the word of someone selling you a car just do all of the prescribed maintenance that your manual says should have been done up to this point. That will include all of what we described above and it probably will also mean changing your belts, hoses, timing belt, brakes, all of your filters, fluids and any other expendable item. A vehicle with this many miles on it will either show a lot of wear or if taken care of it will show minimal wear.