I know, I know, the used car market is crap because of the pandemic, but someone in my family got munched up pretty good in a car accident where they didn't have the benefit of airbags, and started second guessing my life choices, I when I spied a car that was on my A list and in my price range on Craigslist, of course I shot the seller a bajillion questions. The seller claimed that they had bought the C30 for their kid to drive in high school and college, and that the maintenance had been neglected to some degree.
1: Good news: Oil was full. Bad news: No memory of last oil change. Estimated cost: $60: 7 quarts (really 10, since 5 quart jugs) 0W-40 and a new filter. Takes about an hour.
2: TPMS system: Some of the TPMS senders. $200 per wheel. Probably $400 total. I'll have to pay the shop for this.
3: Halfshafts: Bad boots. $200 and 3-4 hours.
4: Leaking Sunroof drains. $10 and an hour futzing.
5: Passenger Tail Lights and driver parking lights won't stay on. At least, not reliably. Cost: Countless hours of frustration, worst case, new wiring and Body Computer Module (thousands!). However, i think its related to the mixture of burnt out bulbs and bad aftermarket LEDs in the car.
6: Idle vibration: Probably bad engine and torque mounts. Expensive! 3 parts, about $300.
7: Mystery aftermarket wheels: 17x7.5 rims and 6 point spline key: zero cost upfront but 225 width tires are going to add a bit.
8: Old air filter: $14
9: Old cabin air filter: $10 and a ton of swearing, had to remove the gas pedal to do this. not easy at all.
10: Bad windshield wipers $43. This car's wipers are not cheap!
11: Belly pan gone $85 for a durable plastic unit or $185 for aluminum plate.
12: Belts and tensioners look original. Car is 10 years/150k miles. $100 for tensioners and $30 for belts. The tensioners still spin okay, but I'll do them with the halfshafts. 1 hour.
13: Battery box missing pieces $15. Probably 30 minutes to remove the battery and get it right.
14: Possibly related to #5: trailer hitch wiring bodged in and just laying in rear compartment. Cost: an hour of futzing to hide the wires and test that it wasn't related to #5.
15: License plate light has internal short: Fixed by bending metal innards: took 1/2 hour to pull bumper apart
16: Front parking light bulbs burnt out $16 for a couple of packs of bulbs (W5W clear and amber)
17: Driver side fog light burnt out ($18 H8 bulb). Takes 10 minutes to pop the old bulb out.
18: Shifter blind heavily mutilated: manual shift works, but you can see into the console. $17. 20 minutes to swap.
19: Handbrake handle trim missing. Expensive! $15 for a tiny piece of plastic that clips on. 10 seconds to clip on.
20: Cup holder: Rubber fingers are shot. Cheap! $18. 10 seconds to swap the old one. I'll try cutting new rubber sheet to fit the old unit, as it pops apart.
21: Passenger Side Seatbelt clasp: the C30 seats slide forward to let rear passengers out, this lets the seatbelt follow the seat in the default case where there aren't riders. Again, $15 for a tiny piece of plastic.
22: Trailer hitch chain loop is bent. Fixed by bending it back with a big freaking wrench. 5 minutes.
23: Busted oil filter cap. $25, 60 minutes to install, and a lot of swearing because it's going to make a big mess to let a quart of oil out of the engine.
Repair expenses are something I expect from used cars. I'm a bit surprised by the extent of stuff that's been let go in this case. On the upside, it's pretty easy to remove parts: nothing is rusted together yet!
