Used Car Common Problems Thread
 

thought I'd start a thread where owners/past owners/mechanics can chime in on common problems with certain vehicles other members are interested in buying used.

I have family down south looking to buy a 2nd gen mini cooper. 2008 base auto with 80k miles. Lots of horror stories on gen 1 but looking to get more info on g2 especially the NA base not the S. For a student so rough estimates for maintenance costs would also be appreciated. I'm assuming it won't be cheap like an average BMW approaching 10 years +

please advise thanks.

My 2005 Cooper S cabrio just had its driver side window motor, PS pump, and alternator fail at 100k kms. Prior to that I had problems with the cooling fans which were covered by warranty when it had warranty I believe PS pump is one of the commonly replaced items, the rest are just wear and tear.

Closing into 10 years of ownership in the family and we all love it still.
______________________

E46 M3 and things I learned
- Bearing and airbag recall (minor)
- Auto dim mirror goes yellow over time, drain the acid before it leaks and burns spots into the whole interior
- Walk away from a hard driven non-refinforced subframe
- If its been reinforced, check the seams in the trunk
- Their front strut tops start mushrooming but...
- Only 2003.5+ will have front strut top reinforcement plates but you can buy them for 01 - 03
- Coilovers will need another reinforcement plate for the rear spring perch or else it punctures the perch plate
- There's no replacement for displacement
- Gotta pay to play but is it worth? HELL YEAH it's a really rewarding car to drive

2006-2011 Civic Si's

6 speed manual transmission problems. Doesn't like to go into gear occasionally, often you will get high rpm lockout on 3-4 shift, generally minor but annoying issues. Can be corrected by a Hybrid racing clutch master cylinder and linkage. SUPER common problem.

2011-14 Mustang 3.7 and 5.0l has clunking front suspension issues related to failing front lower control arm bushings. Ford has a TSB to replace and add a heat shield, bring that with you otherwise the dealer will tell you it's "normal"

2005-2010 Nissan Pathfinder complete transmission failures due to coolant leaking into the trans fluid due to a failing rad/cooler. Simply google "pathfinder transmission problem" hehe.

1997-2001 Honda Prelude - Auto trans will fail between 80-120k, rebuilds cost $3-4k and only last 80-60k. Shifter cables are weak and prone to stretching but the box + cables can be swapped from a 4th gen which are stronger.

1990-1993 Toyota Celica - Power steering lines are prone to failure on all trims, not too bad of a fix but get a replacement line made at a hydraulic shop, parts store ones are junk.

2000-2001 Toyota Celica GT (1ZZ) - Prone to burning oil (rings), 02+ is fine.

2000-2002 Toyota Celica GTS (2ZZ) - VVTI bolts prone to breaking, easy fix but good way to knock the price down.

1997-2001 Jeep Cherokee - Fuel pressure regulator and fuel filter are a single unit and in the tank, considered a "lifetime item" by Chrysler and fairly expensive to replace (I think it was ~$500 for a pump/filter/fpr/sending unit assembly) but a fairly easy DIY. Rear leaf springs are also prone to wearing out.

Cars that ruined lives for decades:
1984 - 1987 Toyota Corolla GT-S - makes you think like you can drift and be takumi and slay dragons so you put your life savings into it only to be beat by a new model Camry.

1989 - 1992 Toyota Cressida - made to look close enough to its JDM counterpart that you think you can just 1JZ swap it and slaughter tires. Before you get to that point the auto transmission dies and the 7MGE blew its 5th head gasket.

1989 - 1996 Nissan Silvia - Mainstream do anything you see please to it kind of car but mediocre in every way and you can't make it good at anything to the point that nothing else is better at it. Even drifting. Fanbois already ruined every one of them out there.

1989 - 1992 Nissan Skyline (not GT-R) - promises hookers and blackjack like its senpai but a useless base at anything.

1990 - 1999 Mazda Miata - choice transportation for hairdressers everywhere. Actually delivers on its promise of fun and small convertible with RWD to boot but you spent your life savings on rust repairs and spent every minute on the internet defending it against its hairdresser stigma.

1992 - 1996 Volvo 850 - Sweet sweet swede with a big backpack for things. Panties puller as opposed to panties dropper... Parts are cheap and quality (OEM uses Sachs damper) but you will always be mistaken for a highschool teacher wherever you go.

2003 - pontiac montana - everything period.

86-92 Supra, Blown head gaskets.

BMW - Cooling system, electronics, suspension...Just about everything :fuckthatshit:

Ugh, this thread is so depressing. :crybaby:

Almost makes me want to join car2go. almost.

86-92 Toyota supra:
Blown head gasket and leaky targa top. Horrible for raincouver

2004 Acura rsx-s:
1. 2nd gear going to 3rd. Gear pops out. Can be eliminated by changing to specific tranny oil.

2. 02-04 leather seats torn with high in and out usage

3. Metal that the hood latch attaches too (front bulkhead upper) is really thin. So over time the metal starts to bend/break and could cause hood to fly upwards while driving.

Over all. Rsx fun to drive and very very low $$$ to maintain

If you are not mechanically inclined, not willing to pay, not a fan of diy projects, don't buy an used euro. Only consider it if it if the vehicle has a lengthy extended, or cpo manufacturer warranty.

from a consumer perspective, the biggest bmw group problem is how they build in engineered failures for everything. Every part is a ticking time bomb counting down to the warranty end date.

2001-2003 S2000 - no problems, just consumed a bit of oil. Soft top had the normal tear. Small rock chips were starting to rust in the front fenders from being so low, touched them up.

2007-2010 335i w/ the N54 engine - replaced injectors, HPFP (twice), water pump, turbochargers, coil packs, oil filter gasket, did a carbon cleaning.

A few of those were done by the previous owner. I haven't had any problems in awhile and those were all covered under warranty. I'll just try to keep her well maintained and have an emergency fund just in case lol.

94-97 Integra, including Type R's: ABS Unit has inherent design fault where with age, the accumulator cannot hold pressure due to internal leakage. As a result, ABS light will come on and there will be no ABS intervention. There is no fix to it other than getting a brand new unit or simply do ABS delete.

Another alternative is to swap 98-01 Integra's brake lines and ABS unit in, where the aforementioned design flaws have been addressed.

any Acura/Honda has 3rd gear problems
I'm surprised that they haven't fixed it yet

So this is applicable to MINI as well, correct? Yeah if it was me, i'd consider because I'm willing to attempt DIYs..but I dont think I can recommend it to family.

Problems i have personally encountered with my ap1 s2k & e46 m3

00-03 AP1 S2000.
-CV Shaft vibration under hard acceleration: can be fixed by Swapping cv cups from one to another

-Differential gear whining noise: Have the soft top closed and check for any gear whining sound from the back while driving. If you hear the whining noise, its not a good sign.

-Propeller Shaft leak: Will eventually snap off from the joint and leave you stranded. If there is a leak, get it replaced asap

-Transmission output shaft bearing noise: Sounds EXACTLY like the differential whining noise mentioned above. Except the noise comes from the center console - Bearing from Honda: $85, Labor: around $300~$400

-Softtop Tear: Rubs from the frame when closing & opening eventually creating a rip in the corner by the rear window

-Radiator Leak/crack: Easy fix, used radiators are cheap, or a good excuse to upgrade to a aluminum koyo rad

-Timing chain tensioner (Cards stuck on bicycle spoke ticking sound): New tensioner will eventually go bad again super fast. Better to send your old tensioner to Billman on s2ki and get it rebuilt. Life time warranty on his rebuilds

-Worth it? Yes, would buy again

__________________________________________________ ________________________
E46 M3
Had it for little over a year
Surprisingly nothing much went wrong on this car.. put 30k kilometers in 1 year, lots of driving to the states and back..

-Headlight auto level sensor broke, cheap $50 sensor

-Valve cover gasket leak

-Subframe cracks, had it reinforced (i guess this is kinda major)

-Misfire from bad coilpacks, cheap fix again

-nothing so far, knock on wood

-Worth it? Yes so far, too early to tell until the s54 goes boom or something like that

Toyota Corolla: Burns all the oil before an oil change is due.

Gen 2 Base Coopers are pretty reliable vs "S" models.
There are plenty of 100K+ mile base coopers without major problems.

The big problems to my knowledge are these:

Check for timing chain slack. If there is too much slack, replace with updated factory tensioner. If you still hear a slapping noise on startup even after replacing/upgrading to the updated tensioner, you will most likely need to replace the whole timing chain assembly. This is usually a common "S" problem, but there are a few base models that have had this problem . Timing chain replacements can cost around $2K. Probably more if done at a dealer.

The engine is port injected, so there shouldnt be much of a carbon build-up problem. Carbon build-up problem is a major issue for 07-10 "S" models ("S" models are DI). If there is a problem, try a seafoam treatment. Easy+cheap DIY.

If coolant is leaking, check water pump and thermostat. Fairly common issue. Repair at a dealer may cost upwards of $1K for both items to be replaced.

Change the ATF if it hasnt been done already. MINI will say it is "lifetime fluid", but it is highly recommended to be changed every 50K miles or so.

If the car pops a valvetronic code. Be ready to dump the car. It can be a lot of $$ to fix, or it can be just a faulty sensor. This problem is rare though.

And dont put shitty gas in. The car will go nuts.

Lastly, its just normal wear and tear items. Brakes and such are cheap. Plenty of aftermarket parts to choose from.


Where does your family live in the states? There are plenty of specialized MINI shops down south.

Hope this helps.
Feel free to ask me more questions regarding MINIs. Im a MINIac (Im on my 3rd MINI now) :P

90 - 93 Acura Integra - Antenna motor failure (change to S2000), poor trunk seal allowing moisture in the hatch, poor tail light seals

99 - 03 Acura 3.5 RL - SRS system. 3 CEL and 3 visits to the dealer under recall for seat belt receptacles, seat position sensors and SRS ECU.

02 - 06 Infiniti Q45 - OEM HID ballasts. Expensive so go aftermarket

09 - 14 Toyota Matrix 1.8L - Coil packs fail at random causing an already slow car to be horribly slow. There is a TSB if the car is under 5 yrs and 100kms old. Or $100 each. Grinding and squealing noise upon startup. Another TSB.

Not something you should be worried about. As long as you are up on maintenance its going to last a long time.

91-97 Mazda MX-6 - pretty much everything lol: blown head gasket, broken sway bar linkage, brakes that were complicated as shit to do (compared to Honda's), ate coolant and oil like no tmrw, broken power features, broken O2 sensors, exhaust bolts rusted and fell off

92-95 Civics - i love this gen, only annoying things were suspension bolts seizing

94-01 Integra - my rear antenna has never worked, rear calipers will seize with age reman replacement suck, and yeah the 3rd gear grinding

Wife bought a brand new 2008 Mini Cooper S and it definitely had it fair share of problems during her 4 years of ownership. The big one was carbon build-up in the head(apparently caused by the turbo). It went into Mini at least 4 times for this problem and they finally took the whole head right off, cleaned it out(or whatever) and reinstalled. Seemed to be fine after that. There was always lifter noise/ticking but was told it was normal. Lots of other little warranty-covered issues as well like electronic stuff. She sold it before the warranty expired thanks goodness. It was a fun little car but felt it was full of potential issues.

1995-1997 Nissan 240sx

- U-shaped clutch pin on clutch pedal can break over age. Cheap fix, you can either buy the U-shaped pin, or a new master cylinder. Do it all when you change brakes to save time and $

- 02 sensors warning lights on dashboard get stupid. You must repeatedly press the door jam button to reset it

- When cold, transmission doesn't like to go into reverse. Shift into 2nd or 4th, then go reverse

- Fuel pump can die. Get a new one

- Old front tie rods can leak. Switch them with good aftermarket ones that are solid


2001-2005 Lexus IS300

-The CD players suck and skip CDs. Get an aftermarket

- Do regular scheduled preventative maintenance, and the car is bulletproof

-O2 sensors can die with age. Get a new one

FC RX7 Turbo 2
Too many problems, don't buy one unless it doesn't have a rotary engine