Want to buy Used 2001 QX4 w/100K Miles... Help me avoid buying a lemon!
Guys,
I'm looking to buy a 2001 QX4 with exactly 100K miles for my son. Service records appear intack. THe truck looks to be in impeccable condition and everything is prestine clean. Now what?
Besides taking this to an Infiniti Dealer to pay for a complete mechanical inspection, what else can/should I do. SHould I consider a private mechanic in lieu of the Infiniti Dealer? If I take the truck to the Infiniti Dealer is there anything that I should ask them to pay particular attention to based on historical problems reports on the 2001 models?
Besides the "normal" visual inspections, are there more intrusive inspections I should consider paying for? Compression Test? Other more invasive inspections?
Laslty, how the heck can you tell if a vehicle burns oil?
Brad,
You seem to be on the right track. If the mechanic you trust likes the car, its probably ok. No one can tell you what will happen a week from the close of the sale though. Just test drive it real well and try all the options, cars can't lie. How does it drive?
Also, who is the owner? Sometimes the owner and his persona can reflect the treatment the car was given. Why is he selling? If it was the car he drove it may be in good shape, if it was in a barn and setting around for a year, watch out!
The way to check for oil burn is two fold...first, with the engine fully warmed up, coast to a stop from 50 mph in drive or with your foot off the clutch. Soon as you stop, rev the engine a nice healthy rev to about 3000 rpm, if you get blue smoke out the pipe the rings are leaking oil into the combustion chamber.
Second test has to be done after the engine has set overnight. Just start it and rev it a little. If you get smoke, it has bad valve guides or seals. Any oil burner will show up with high exhaust emissions on a "smog check" also. Oil burners also clog up the catylitic converter and the performance will go down, if the car feels sluggish, watch out. An Infinity should feel pretty energetic.
These checks will reveal oil burners if it is severe enough. Good luck.
Redwood
no vibration on idle, no hesitation during during test drive, no sound or harsh changes during shifting, no black or blue or white smoke on tail, no steering play during test drive are ok. other little nosies or problems on car can be easily fixed.
I don't have a QX4 but since they look a lot like the pathy, I'm guessing they're similar and I do have an 02 pathy. I have no complaints about mine except there is backlash in the transmission that has been there since day one. I live where we have cold winters and the older mine gets (110K miles) the more pronounced the backlash becomes. When the vehicle is cold, there is hesitation in the transmission that just feels sloppy at start up. When I bring the vehicle to a complete stop, I release the brake slightly and can feel the tranny come to rest. It's hard to explain but you'll notice it if it's there. It may not even be noticeable if you live in a warm zone.
I burn about a quart of oil between changes (3K) but I don't have the blue cloud people mention. All of my miles are road miles except for one hair raising descent down the side of a ridge during which the vehicle preformed much better than me (fortunately I'd removed the step rails).
Question. I'm close to a deal on a 01' QX4 (which is mechanically idential to the LE 4WD Pathfinder). It has 62,000 miles, is being sold by a Nissan Delaership in Knoxville, TN. The prior owner was an older couple who claim to have serviced the vehicle regularly.
The Nissan dealer indicates their own service department has gone over the vehicle thoroughly and has give the vehicle a clean bill of health.
So, here's my question. Would you still pay to have the local Infiniti Dealership do an inspeciton, or would you hire a mobile inspections / mechanic to check out the vehicle?
Who do you trust? Answer that and you answer your question.
Can't say... I'll be hiring the indep. mechanic or the Infiniti dealerhsip and have no history with either.
From a liabilty perspective, I would assume Infiniti has more "to lose" if they botch my inspection and don't turn up something that should be obvious.
Sounds like you don't trust the Nissan dealer so take it to whoever you plan to have service it and make it clear that your future business depends on the quality of their inspection.
Still a crap shoot if you don't have at least a semi-personal relationship with someone in the mix here somewhere but it's probably the best you can do.
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