Ziay!

travelerNY

I am looking at a used Hyundai Elantra (2001 with about 70-80k miles). It will be a weekend car and will get its share of abuse, as all cars do, in Manhattan where I live. I won't be able to do much maintenance myself (no place to easily work on it) but I am wondering if you can give me advice on:

A: Anything I should look out for with a used car given the mileage/age (for example, I read that the timing belt and water pump should be changed at 60k mi)

B: Anything you might suggest that I do upon buying a used car with this many miles to prevent headaches later on (repairs in NYC are a bit of a pain and garages are often expensive)

I was thinking: oil change (maybe synthetic oil), new filters, plugs, plug wires... Does this sound right? Anything else that I should expect to be wearing out soon?

I really do appreciate your advice. I haven't owned a car in quite a number of years and never one with this many miles.

d_cider1

Take this for what it is worth:

If you buy a Hyundai, Kia or any other non-standard Korean vehicle (i.e. Daewoo), expect to become your local repair facilities' favorite customer. These vehicles require frequent, and MFG-only, repairs.

Advice: sell it and buy a Camry

Tom-SJ

Changing to synthetic oil is a personal choice. Either way works well as long as you change close to the recommended schedule.

Other things:
- look at all rubber hoses to/from radiator and heater. Replace all if any are old, worn, cracked or showing bulges. As long as you have the water pump out, this is a good time. Don't reuse the coolant unless it is only 1 year old - it's cheap.
- replace any worn/cracked accessory V-belts, in addition to timing belt. I don't know whether Elantra engine is an 'interference' type - many Japanese engines are, so I wouldn't be surprised if Hyundai follows. In an interference type engine, a broken timing belt will almost always lead to destroyed valves and possibly pistons, because there is *no* clearance between TDC and valves in an interference design.
- check condition of power steering hoses - replace if worn.
- check condition of brakes and brake fluid. If need to be replaced, have the fluid changed too.
- check condition of battery for ability to hold a charge and and alternator to provide adequate charging voltage
- replace transaxle fluid and filter if available
- check A/C system for proper cooling.
- check all the lights