How to Buy a High Mileage Vehicle - What to Look For

Pull out the dipstick. Clean the dipstick once with a rag/shirt/whatever. Dip it back into the oil and pull it out. Hold it in bright sunlight. If the color of the oil is like that of a chocolate milkshake it probably has a head leak, which will soon destroy the engine. Walk away.

What color, consistency is the oil? If it is dark black and smells burnt, the owner probably doesn't change it enough, walk away. If the oil has a lot of shiny specks in it, that's metal from the engine someplace. Walk away.

Feel the oil. Is it unusually sticky? Does it stick to your fingers like weak glue? Walk away.

Look in the anti-freeze: Drops of oil? Walk away.

Check the brake fluid by sticking your finger in it and looking at it in the light. Is it brown? Does it have a burnt plastic smell? Overheated brakes, usually caused by not changing pads or extreme over use of the brakes (hard driving), means you walk away.

Look to see if the front rims have a lot of black dust (brake dust). Or even the wear on the rubber pedal pad. If the previous owner is the kind of guy that slams brakes, they probably gas it hard too. Always get it up to operating temperature on your test drive, that's when things will leak.

When you take the car out driving and you hit the brakes, do you feel a shudder? If you feel a shudder in the wheel but not the pedal, it's usually something worn in the suspension, like a lower control arm bushing. If you feel it in the pedal and the steering, then it's likely brake rotors. Suspension problems are expensive, turning the brake rotors and putting on new pads isn't and only costs $100-$150 to fix.

You should get it to normal temperature and slowly accelerate, shifting through the automatic gears, and let it rev a little high before shifting. There should be a firm engagement. Not slamming into gear, but smooth positive engaging. A mushy shift is a worn transmission. And transmission fluid should be cherry red and smell pretty benign; a hot/burning smell could mean trouble.

When you turn the car, especially if you turn in tight radius, do you hear a clicking sound from one of the front wheels? This would be on a front-wheel drive car, which most modern cars are. This is a damaged CV (constant velocity) joint, which is what allows the axle to turn the wheels without braking. If this is clicking, it will probably come apart pretty soon, which, depending on the model of car, can be a big repair bill..

If you brake and you hear a rubbing or scrubbing sound from the rear wheels, it is probably bad brake drums.You're looking at $100 - 200 to repair.

Finally, if you're driving and you hear a whining sound::

• If it is from the front of the car, it is probably a power steering pump. Check the fluid. If the fluid is low, then it takes $5 to fix (new bottle of fluid), but you have to wonder where the fluid went. 
• If it is coming from the rear of a rear-wheel-drive car, it is probably the differential (splits the power from the engine between the rear wheels), in which case, you don't just walk away, you run as fast as you can, because it will blow soon and cost way more than the car is worth..
• Wheel bearings can also make this sound, another semi-expensive replacement.

There are a lot of good values out there in high mileage cars, as log as you know what to look for to make sure you get one mechanically sound.