Nickstock98t/a

Hi I'm nick! I'm 23 and I just bought an a4 1998 red trans am a couple of days ago. I purchased her in illinois at a pontiac dealership for $8900 i had to give up my 95 grand am for her. so total price was $7700 and shes only got 48k miles on her. shes tottaly stock. just how i like em. do you guys or ladies have any suggestions on how to get her back to feeling new again? like should i get a tune up? change gas filter? oh and what type of gas should i use? so far i've been using premium. fyi also I'm taking her to the local pontiac dealer for a full ispection for $79.95 later today. they are gonna spend an hour and a half with her just to see what she needs and to see how great of a condition she's in. think its a good idea? thanks

irnbru83

Best thing to do is find a friend who was/is a mechanic and have them check it out. The pontiac dealership in my area is horrible and I wouldn't take my car back if I didn't have lifetime warranty on the passenger side of my car :p

If you know it was never in a wreck, that's a good start. Things to start with would make sure the oil was changed fairly recently and that it was a good oil (gc 0w30 is good), change the fuel filter, check the air filter (get a k&n!), clean everything... and i mean everything.

bjamick

iTrader: (31)

first thing i do when i buy a car is change the oil!!! but at 48k miles that is pretty low, you could sea foam it if you want to it wont hurt it. there is a write up in the general maintainance section on how to do it. and also change plugs. and then get a lid, filter, and long tube headers and some exaust.

WS6 Rampage

iTrader: (3)

Seafoam it($24.00), swap the fuel filter($12.00), swap the spark plugs and switch from platnum plugs to Iridium while your at it($40.-60.ish), swap the PCV valve($5.00) and swap out the rear diferential oil($40.00). I'm not the person to ask about oil on here honestly but everyone seems to dislike Mobil 1 5W30 on here. I personally use Royal Purple 10W40/Racing41.

Oh,...and by the way,....your gonna pay the dealer 80 bucks to just look at it. Beware,...after that hour and a half then there gonna start charg'n ya for stuff. MAke sure that if you bring it in to tell them NOT to start fix'n stuff without your permission and with a breakdown of the materials and its cost. Then ADD $95 an hour for labor. IMO,..... your honestly better off get'n some of the materials yourself and do'n at home yourself. Or at least buy the materials yourself(cheaper) and have a shop swap the fluids and etc. for ya. The dealer has a tendancy to rape people after they bring their cars in.

Nickstock98t/a

oh okay thats sounds good. i woke up late and missed my appointment to the dealership today. but i will take it tomorrow if it stops raining just to make sure i didn't get ripped off and to have someone experienced see if theres an "underlying problem" but ya i definitely will do all that stuff u suggested at home. thanks people

NC01TA

You did real well! Congratulations! Always a good idea to change ALL fluids. Yeah, it is pricey but gives you a fresh start with no worries for quite awhile. Nothing like confidence when you are driving instead of worrying about 'this and that'. The dealership is a very good idea if they are good. They range from poor to excellent just like everything else in life. If you have heard good things, especially if you bought the car from them, good move! Again, peace of mind.

angel71rs

Congradulations on your new car. For sure do the plugs, factory plugs are known for losing the little pucks on the ground electrode resulting in super wide gaps. Gas filter too to be safe. Wires should be fine.

I wouldn't recommend that. If the dealership is honest, no problem. But there are crooked dealerships that will come up with all sorts of "problems" with your car, from brake problems to bad shocks to leaks that they say need to be fixed. They'll even charge you to replace parts they didn't even replace.

Best to ask friends/family to recommend a trusted/talented mechanic. Notice I said "mechanic", not repair shop. Too may times a shop will have a good mechanic/mechanics working for them, they get a good rep based on their work. But then the mechanic(s) moves on to greener pastures and the replacements suck. Customers will follow a mechanic they know and trust to another shop because they know they can rely on them to do good/honest work.