Diesel engine

[ajseymour]

Hi all, I am new to the forum and am looking to buy an Rx4. I am going to look at one tody and I was just wondering if I could run a few questions by you.

It is a 2001 model and it seems it has done alot of miles - it is currently sitting on 110.000 miles (thats approximatly 177 027). How long should one of their diesel engines last? Also is there anything I should pay close attention to? Waht about the Viscus coupling, how do they hold up to daily use?

Thanks for all your help

Andrew

[Alex]

Welcome Andrew!

177027 sounds like the highest mileage i ever heard
At least here in the forum.
The visco coupling is not a problem. The problem can be the prop shaft
or the silencers / damper at the prop shaft.

You have to check the hole chassis including the steering (transverse control arm).
Some infos about the enigne should be nice like oil change and the date
of the drive belt change ... and things like the normal service intervals.

Good luck with your search.

Alex

[ajseymour]

Thanks for the reply Alex. I thought you might be surprised by the distance this Rx4 has covered. I certainly don't mind crawling around underneath the car as I currently own a Land Rover Defender and am forever crwaling around underneath it.

[ajseymour]

Well I went to look atthe Rx4 and it looked very well considering the milage it has covered, so I am buying it. I crawled underneath and it looked like a well cared for car should after 5 years. There was no oil leaks that I could see and the only rust I could see was some on the boot door hinges and some under the rubber that runs under the drivers and passengers doors - is there a way of getting these off and stopping the rust in its tracks. As far as servicing goes, there was very little info on regular servicing but the car definatly looked like it had been lookded after and the guy selling had got the timing belt and all the oils changed two days before I saw it. It has all the old tax disks and MOT disks (not sure you have these in Germany), this meant that I was able to track the milage the car had done in the past couple of years. I took it for a drive and I think it drives like my fiancee's clio of about the same age.

Andy