hi all! just picked up a 2004 and the previous owner said it was his daughters car and he was unsure of the maintenance. i have a few questions:

my buddy ran a repair shop and said the common issues he saw are:

timing chain guides and sprockets failing (not the chains themselves)

a front shaft failing

head gaskets (said either they do or dont, no preventative for the issue)

tcm module on/in the transmission.

any way to check these? car has 242k but runs good.

seats do not move fully, the buttons seem to work one way but not the other. could the contacts be worn? how do you remove and check or replace?

i would like to add an aftermarket double din but it has factory nav. i am not worried about that as i will get a carplay unit that works with my iphone. can the factory nav be unplugged and removed with no issue?

thanks!

All those things that your guy said are "common things he saw failing" are all very uncommon things to fail except the timing chain GUIDE. Head gasket failures are almost entirely due to.overheating the motor. The seat motor switch or motor can go out so troubleshoot whether there is voltage at the motor when you press the button.

Yup, the factory nav can be unplugged. It works with the DVD drive. If you unplug there then it won't even turn on.
I've been driving like this for a while. Only thing is I don't have the oil/filter maintenance reminder, MPG fuel monitor, and low fuel warning.

If there's issues with the TC tensioner you'll hear a rattle on startup when the oil is cold which will get worse until it's all the time, and then if you ignore that long enough you'll jump timing and blow your motor. No rattle = don't worry about it.

An actual "common issue" is oil consumption, check your oil every week and keep topping it up or you're GOING TO run low and blow your motor. At 130k mine drinks a quart every 3000 miles and that's pretty normal for these motors.

With 242k, how's the suspension look? That's a lot of miles especially for a car owned by (making assumptions) a non-enthusiast. The engine in there has GOT to be a lower mile motor swapped in during the car's life, I'd run a compression test and figure out how healthy it is before doing ANYTHING.

Lighting, what led you to assume that it has a lower mile motor swapped in?

Nothing in particular, that's just a lot of miles for a female owned commuter car with no maintenance history, literally speculating

Valid.

it looks good, outside and in.