Here we have a 2010 through '17 Chevy Equinox.
In this video, we're going over some of the things you should check or replace if you
have one with high mileage or you just bought it.
Let's start with under the hood.
The battery is located right under here.
Checking out the battery first because you can't drive the vehicle if it doesn't start.
There is a bolt holding on the module, you can take that bolt out, slide the module to
the side, that's the PCM.
And check the battery cables.
See if they're loose.
Give them a wiggle.
Those look good.
Make sure they're not corroded.
And then you can check the battery condition, see if it's the original battery.
If it's the original battery, it's probably going to need to be replaced soon.
Even if it's 2017, it's getting up there.
As far as the fluids go, check all the fluids, check your owner's manual for the appropriate
amounts.
The wash fluid is located right here, coolant right here.
If you're taking the top off the coolant, you want to make sure the engine is cold.
You don't want to take that off, or you're going to have coolant splashing in your face.
Brake fluid is located right here.
You can wipe that off before you take the cap off if you have to, and just give it a
shake and then you can see where the level is according to the max and min line.
Transmission fluid, some of them you can check from up top, they have a dipstick.
This vehicle has the four-cylinder and the smaller transmission so you can't do that
on this one.
You have to check the fluid from underneath.
The oil cap is located on the top of the engine and the type of oil is on the cap so that
you know what type of oil to use.
The dipstick is located right down here.
The air filter is located in this airbox right here.
There's two screws right here, two screws on the backside, pop off the cover, take the
air filter out, put the new one in, you're good to go.
Check for any major fluid leaks in this area, make sure you check the hoses, see if they
seem a little brittle.
If they seem like they're a little swollen, you want to replace those.
If the hood is not staying up, you'd probably need a new one of these.
Wiper blades, they're pretty easy to do and it definitely makes a difference if you have
good wiper blades.
I'll just take that and push that button down, they slide right off, and put the new ones
on the same way, lock it in place.
Do the same with the passenger side.
Before we take the wheel off to check out the brakes, you want to give the tire a shake
while you have the vehicle off the ground, shake it to the side.
That's going to check your inner and outer tie rod ends.
Then you can shake the tire up and down and that'll check the lower ball joint and also
to see if the wheel bearing is bad.
To check the brakes out, take a look inside the caliper, there's a little window.
You can see how thick the pads are if they need to be replaced.
Same with on the outside, it's easier to just look at the back side of the caliper.
If the rotors are rusty, maybe the vehicle just sat for a little bit and you just need
to drive it and get that rust off.
If not, maybe they need to be replaced.
Take a look at your brake hoses.
Make sure there's no dry rot in the hoses.
Take a look at your bleeders on the calipers.
If the bleeders look good and your fluid looked dirty when you were checking the fluid level,
then you could actually bleed the brakes out, put new fluid in.
That's going to help out.
While you're here, take a look at the struts, see if they're leaking at all, or if you notice
that they were bouncing a little more than normal, that's not good.
Take a look at the sway bar link, see if there's any looseness in here.
You can grab the sway bar, try to shake it up and down, see if there's any play.
This one's nice and tight.
Checking the rear brakes and shocks is going to be the same as checking the fronts.
Check for any fluid leaks that are going to need to be addressed under the vehicle, whether
it's the engine side or the transmission side or the transfer case on this vehicle.
Some of these come in two-wheel drive so some may not even have this.
The transmission fluid level check is right here.
It's kind of on the side towards the back of the transmission and you're going to use
an 11-millimeter wrench to take that plug out.
You need to remember, make sure the engine is running and the vehicle is warmed up, and
then take that plug out and make sure the vehicle is on a level surface and you want
the fluid just trickling out.
To check or change the fluid in the transfer case, the fill plug is right here.
Always take the fill plug out before you take the drain plug out just in case you can't
get it out.
Otherwise, it's impossible to get fluid in there.
And then the drain plug is right there, you can drain the fluid out.
Take a look at your exhaust, make sure your flex pipe isn't ruined like this one, this
one that this part is coming off and it's actually leaking, you can hear it when we
start it up.
Also, check the muffler, see if you see any leaks, right where the pinch welds are.
It's starting to leak so that's not good.
For the rear differential, you could check the fluid level right here, pull that fill
plug out, that's where you can check the level and service it if you want to take that out,
and then pull the drain plug out there, and put the drain plug back in, and put the appropriate
fluid back in.
You can get all these appropriate fluids in your owner's manual.
So double-check all those before you just assume.
Check for rust.
See if you see anything where the frame is cracking.
This bumper has a little bit of cracking and rust peeling off of that.
So you don't want anything like that, but if you see any major holes, you're going to
have to fix those all along the pinch welds.
Sometimes these get damaged in this area.
There's a lot of plastic underneath here.
That looks good.
So these are some things to look at on your high mileage Chevy Equinox.
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