There's an old saying, presumably intended to warn young men going a-courting and contemplating wedlock, that “Love don't last; cooking do”. Needless to say, few heeded this advice. Much the same can be said about car buying; looks tend to outweigh practicalities.
Modern cars are generally hi-tech machines. In the old days, if you had spanners and a little knowledge, anything from a simple service to a complete engine overhaul was possible.
Times change and now diagnostic equipment is often necessary and full service histories are important requirements when it comes to resale. There are DIY-friendly cars about, but it's easy to become bewitched by a sleek and seductive model and disregard the possible running costs.
FRIGHTENINGLY EXPENSIVE
As I have said many times before, check out servicing costs on any make or model you are thinking of buying. Servicing costs may be very heavy for hi-tech vehicles, so make certain you can afford the HP payments (if any) and still keep to the recommended service schedule.
Work on many modern vehicles may be frighteningly expensive. I recently heard of a sporty car with a faulty folding-roof motor. I was told the cost of repair would be R30 000!
However, sometimes what appears to be a potentially expensive operation turns out to be quite the opposite. For example, the owner of a C180 Mercedes was feeling despondent when the cruise control ceased operating. Indeed, for a long time he drove without it until he was told by a neighbour that his brake lights were not coming on.
In this instance the brake-light failure turned out to be good news because the two were related. All that was wrong was the brake-light switch had failed - by no means an unknown fault on this model. A new brake light switch was all that was needed to cure both faults.
COLD SPOTS SUGGEST BLOCKAGE
A friend asked me to check his car's cooling system because the temperature-gauge needle was a bit on the high side. There was no coolant leakage and the hoses looked okay but felt rather soft.
He had recently bought the car, which was about 10 years old with 150 000km on the clock, but had no service history. All the same, the engine ran well and it was generally in good condition. The thermostat was the first thing to check and this proved to be working properly.
Although the radiator core showed no signs of damage or leakage, when the engine was hot (and stationary, of course) I felt around the face of the core and could feel certain cold spots suggesting blockage.
A thorough reverse-flushing brought no improvement. It is always worth trying a flush and flushing compound can sometimes work wonders when flushing with only water fails to do the trick. Alas, in this case a new radiator was necessary.
DON’T NEGLECT SMALL ITEMS
I believe in fitting a new thermostat and filler cap when doing any work around the radiator. Radiators are not cheap and it's not worth risking damage by neglecting to renew those less expensive but equally important items. Check hoses for leakage and signs of corrosion around the clamps. If in doubt, renew. A burst hose at speed could wreck your engine. - Star Motoring