New commuter. Preventative maintanance tips?

[Jake7]

Hey guys. Picked up a new commuter this past weekend - a 2000 mercury mystique. Basically, it's a ford contour but just badges as a mercury - both made by ford!

Every time I buy a car, I like to establish a baseline of general maintenance. So here's my plans so far:

- plugs
- wires
- oil/filter
- air filter
- coolant flush
- auto tranny fluid

Can anyone think of anything that I'm missing?

[VaporLung]

Depending on the difficulty, I would look at changing your fuel filter as well.

How are the belt(s)?

Oh, and if it has Dexcool (the red stuff) in the radiator - FLUSH THAT JUNK OUT!!! Use ONLY the Green (OG) antifreeze in the future. Do not mix them under any circumstances, and avoid Dexcool if at all possible. My good buddy is a mechanic and will tell everyone to do this. It rots your heater core at an accelerated rate.

Good luck!

[havasu]

Where you live, I would be closely inspecting for rust on the underside and spraying a few cans of a rust inhibitor before it sets in too bad. I would also grease up any and all u-joints and other zerk fittings found on the car.

(Also, thanks for the tip on the red stuff Vaporlung!)

[HiHood]

charcoal canister, differential oil, Bleed & or rebuild master cyl brake fluid check rubber brake lines for crackage.

[RiponredTJ]

Rad hoses, check alignment, rotate tires and balance, check tie rod ends.
Check for cracked or broken water pump impeller blades (they're plastic).
What's the mileage and is it a 4 or 6 cyl, standard or auto?
And in case you don't have it, you can download the Owners Manual and Scheduled Maintenance Guide here 2000 Mercury Mystique Owner

[Jake7]

Originally Posted by VaporLung

Depending on the difficulty, I would look at changing your fuel filter as well.

How are the belt(s)?

Oh, and if it has Dexcool (the red stuff) in the radiator - FLUSH THAT JUNK OUT!!! Use ONLY the Green (OG) antifreeze in the future. Do not mix them under any circumstances, and avoid Dexcool if at all possible. My good buddy is a mechanic and will tell everyone to do this. It rots your heater core at an accelerated rate.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tip! Just by chance, some non-Dex-Cool green (I always use green for some reason) was on sale down at O'Reilly's, so that's what I used! Good thing! I flushed it all out for about 20 minutes, and then re-filled. However, I didn't drain the block, just at the radiator drain plug. It wasn't really dirty to begin with, so probably wasn't necessary, but it makes me sleep better at night.

The belts look fine as far as I can tell - I'm going to replace them anyways, but that's down on my list of non-needed things that I'm going to do anyways.

Originally Posted by havasu

Where you live, I would be closely inspecting for rust on the underside and spraying a few cans of a rust inhibitor before it sets in too bad. I would also grease up any and all u-joints and other zerk fittings found on the car.

(Also, thanks for the tip on the red stuff Vaporlung!)

There's no rust on it right now (it was just shipped here from the mainland by a soldier, whom I bought it from). Where would I get this rust inhibitor? On my Jeeps, I generally just coat the underside in some good grease.

Concerning the suspension - I've got a consistent knock coming from the front suspension. I'm great with Jeep suspensions, but have never gone in-depth into a Mercury/Ford small-car suspension. That'll be an adventure for this weekend! I'll take plenty of pics - I have a feeling this is going to turn into the most boring build thread ever haha

Originally Posted by HiHood

charcoal canister, differential oil, Bleed & or rebuild master cyl brake fluid check rubber brake lines for crackage.

Good advice! Adding it to my list. The master cylinder still looks good, but I do need to bleed the lines and check their condition/replace if necessary. They do pulsate a little bit under pressure, so I'll bleed them this weekend and hope that takes that away. Also, it may just be some warped rotors - but I really hope not, because those are more expensive than just some brake fluid!

Originally Posted by RiponredTJ

Rad hoses, check alignment, rotate tires and balance, check tie rod ends.
Check for cracked or broken water pump impeller blades (they're plastic).
What's the mileage and is it a 4 or 6 cyl, standard or auto?
And in case you don't have it, you can download the Owners Manual and Scheduled Maintenance Guide here 2000 Mercury Mystique Owner

Rad hoses good and not original. Alignment I'm going to get done, but it's low on my list - she rides true as of right now. I do have to rotate the tires. Tie rods - something's loose under there, I can hear it, so I'm going to delve under there this weekend.

I'll check the water pump impeller this weekend as well.

It's a 6 cylinder, 2.5L, automatic transmission. 108k miles, and it drives like it hasn't had the easiest life, but the motor is still smooth as silk, which is weird because when I changed the oil it what black as death.

There was a Chilton's in the glovebox! Score!


I'll keep you guys updated - thanks for all the great advice!

[matt21481]

Diff fluids as well would be a good thing to add to the list. Just curious, what kind of Jeep to you have?

[Jake7]

Originally Posted by matt21481

Diff fluids as well would be a good thing to add to the list. Just curious, what kind of Jeep to you have?

This is actually the first time I've been Jeep-less in about 10 years. I just got rid of my YJ project about a month and a half ago. Trying to build on an island is just imposssibbblleeee with the cost of shipping, and only two ridiculously over-priced junkyards on the island, where Jeeps are rare as it is.

When I get back to mainland (2013), I'm going J-series. That's one of the only Jeeps I've never had the joy of owing.

[Jake7]

Anyone ever changed transaxle fluid?

[Jake7]

Nobody? I want to do it, but have zero experience.