Advice PLEASE. 2004 X-type 3.0
 

Hello,

I am seriously considering buy a 2004 X-type 3.0 tomorrow.
It seems to be in very good shape. It has about 65K miles.

Any advice?

Anything I should check out before I purchase?

Is this thing going to be reliable?

Anything that I should do if I purchase? (e.g. trans fluid, plugs, etc)

I really like the car but am a little afraid after reading some things on here...

THX for your help!

CarFax and examin car, etc.
 

Very Important: Request or purchase CarFax, service records (especially recall or TSB issues), and pay independent foriegn car mechanic to go over car.

Rikalbiar, no one can tell you if it will be reliable. There are a lot of people here that their cars have been very reliable (me included) and others maybe not. Depends how it was used/abused and how well it was taken care of. Sounds like you have been surfing around on here long enough to "scare" yourself. That means you coudl also surf on here enough to find all kinds of posts about what a great car it is as well. And if you serach a bit more theer are a number of threads dealing with what to look for before you buy. If you aren't very car savy do what one poster suggested and take it to an idependednt mecahnic and have it checked out. Might be a couple hundred bucks, but cheap insurance if you buy a car that might need some immediate work. Much easier knowing issues or having them addressed before signing on the dotted line than trying to go back after teh fact and try and get them fixed.

Overall, I think they are great cars for a pretty cheap price. Do your homework and you will be rewarded. Let us know what you end up with.

I did plan on doing those things... Yes, I have looked around this site - ALOT! It's great.

For instance, I have a 2005 Pontiac G6 that has known issues with it's steeering / clunking.

These are the types of things I was looking for....

Any known issues or things to look out for?

At 65K, what maintenance should I perform?

I tried to download manual from the sticky but could not get it to work...

Thanks Again! I appreciate it!

rkalbiar, a few things that I would pay particular attention to:

1) turn on the headlights as the car faces a wall. make sure that both beams come up to a decent height. You can also open the hood and stick your hand down on the back side of the headlights and then remove the cover for the outer assembly. THen gently sticking your hand in the hole, attempt to wiggle the headlight bulb as you watch the outside of the headlight. If you can see the lens jumping around, have the place replace the headlamp assemblies before you buy. Common problem and can be costly if you have to buy new headlight assemblies. Once the shop says they have fixed the headlights, double check. A lot of people have bought "good headlight assemblies" just to find out they are broken just like the ones they have installed.

2) drive the car at about 50 mph and see if you hear a groan/whirring sound. You can use this to knock down the price some as you can claim there is a problem with the drivetrain and you don't know how much it will fix to cost. All it will cost you is a few minutes of your time to put some grease on the propeller bearing on the rear drive shaft.

3) do a decent acceleration and listen for the transfer case to make funny noises. If you hear anything funny, walk away. Odds are the transfer case is going to fail soon and that is a pricy fix ($3000 or so if a shop does it).

Those are the big 3. The rest are much smaller problems that can be handled pretty easy after you get the car.

If you have any more questions, just ask.

Thanks Thermo! That's exactly the type of thing I was looking for...

I've done lots of surfing around this site and never saw anything about the propeller shaft???
How you lube it?

THANKS

rkalbiar, greasing it is pretty easy. All you need is a grease gun (loaded with termaline grease) and a needle attachment (can be picked up at any auto parts store, if in doubt, talk to the people there). From there, you need to jack up one side of the car so you can get underneath it. Follow the rear driveshaft back to under the back edge of the front seats. You should see something wrapped around the driveshaft there. That is the propeller bearing. Stick the needle attachment into the grease gun and then stick the needle as far as you can into the gap on the bearing. Squirt in grease till it starts to come out in other places. Move around the bearing about 2-3 clock positions, reinsert the needle and squirt in more grease. Continue around the bearing till you have gone 360 degrees around. From there, drive the car and it will distribute the grease for you.