My girlfriend and I have just moved to Seattle and are after a car for moutain biking and getting to the mountains and think the Santa Fe fits the bill.

We've found a 2003 2.4l 4 cylinder Santa Fe with 137k on the clock that is listed for $7000 (I think we can haggle down to about $5700). The car seems in pretty good nick.

But I have a couple of concerns that I was hoping you guys could help me with (please excuse my general car ignorance):

1) The coolant level was quite low (are leaks quite common? as long as we keep it topped up is that ok? or is this indicative of something else?)

2) There was a small leak of a red transparent oil coming from approximately the middle of the engine and running along a seam (is this the crank case??). Is this just a bit of engine oil or is transmission oil? I've looked at the reviews on this site and most people love the Santa Fe, but the ones who don't have had problems with the transmission. Is this indicative of a major problem, or is small leak ok and perhaps expected in an older car? I had a look at the engine oil on the dipstick and this seemed to be a similar red colour.

Cheers.

 

Have you tried filling the radiator? Does it keep going down when you fill it?

Red oil is transmission fluid. Is it a large leak?

 

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm sorry for my lack of knowledge, I appreciate your time.

This is a car I'm thinking of buying, so I haven't tried filling the radiator up at all. There were no obvious leaks on the floor of any liquid. There was just a couple of drops of this red oil forming along the seam of the engine under the car. This seam was running along the length of the car if that helps to identify it.

I pulled out the dipstick at the very front of the engine - I presumed this was the engine oil (or is that wrong?). This was the same red coloured oil.

If this is transmission fluid, is this a major problem and I should just walk away? I saw another '03 Santa Fe down the road and it had the exact same spot of seaping oil, so I was wondering if this is a standard 'feature.'

Cheers for any advice.

 

If you're interested in the car I would ask the owner if you could take it to a mechanic you know so that he/she could give it a good once over. They'll be able to tell you whether you have any problems. The red fluid you speak of is transmission fluid.

Either fluid issue could be a major issue or a minor issue. You won't know until someone who knows what they're doing looks at it. Good luck.

John