cliffyk

The 77k miles is irrelevant when the "less well-maintained" fluids (coolant, brake fluid, power steering, tranny and rear-end) are most likely 11 years old--and should have been changed 7 years ago, and then again 4 years ago...

Mike T

I agree that changing it at 77k is a little late when it should have been changed at 30k but the old phrase "better late than never", also comes to mind. By the way, here's the recommended scheduled maintenance intervals for 2001 Ford vehicles...http://media.ford.com/article_text/01smg2nd.pdf

cliffyk

I dd not mean to imply it should not be changed now, my point was that the age of the fluids is just as important, and arguably more important, than mileage.

I drove my '03 GT fewer than 1500 miles last year, and changed the engine oil twice--every six months just like the shop manual says. In almost all automobile fluids (especially coolant) it is the additive package that breaks down over time, not the base fluid...

Mike T

I totally agree with these statements.

cliffyk

Sort of on topic, Mobil states the shelf-life of Mobil 1 motor oil to be 5 years, "...in an unopened container." There is no doubt of more than a little CYA in that, it is nonetheless as far as they are willing to stick their neck out...

JC316

As a used car lot owner, I can say that there is jack you can do to the lot so long as you signed the AS IS papers. Also as a used car lot owner, I can tell you that the car came straight from auction, was cleaned and put on the lot with minimal or no inspection. Any car that comes from auction will have some kind of problem, most of the time it's minor like you have now.

I run a different kind of car lot where I actually take pride in the cars that I sell, but most lots don't give two craps and will lie through their teeth to make a sale.

cliffyk

You forgot about the copious amount of fresh air and sunshine applied to the vehicle while it awaits sale--and the equally impressive amount of smoke blown up the buyer's backside during the sale.

There are those like JC316 out there, but they are few and far between...

Seabee1993

I'm active military, and we have those "we finance E1 and up lots". Freakin predators!

Stevo86

^ True story, one of my new guys just bought a $32,000 Kia. We told him to take it back but he didn't want to listen. Retard makes $1,250 a month and $800 of that goes to car payment and insurance.

Seabee1993

The ridiculous APR they apply is the proverbial nail in the coffin...