Car Maintenace Tips

Do we have any car repair people here who can give some common sense ideas for basic car/truck maintenance?

I'm talking stuff like oil changes and tire rotations, but any other suggestions would be great. How often should this be done? I read somewhere every 3 months or 3k miles. Some newer oil types say you can go longer. My step-dad had his done every 2 months or 2k miles.

Any ideas and/or tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated.

JaneWI

Found this website that will give you some basic information on cars. I hope this helps you.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/cartalk/index.jsp

js123 wrote:JaneWI

Found this website that will give you some basic information on cars. I hope this helps you.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/cartalk/index.jsp

Thank you very much! I wanted to learn to be a mechanic when I was a kid and must have gotten distracted along the way. Now I'm just hopeless.

In my previous life, I was an owner/manager of a quick lube place. Not the jiffy kind, but the monkey kind. I can tell you right now, all of the stuff they try to push on you, you do NOT usually need.

Oil, if you drive in city conditions with a lot of stop and go, every 3-5k is reasonable. If you use synthetic oil, you can go up to 7k. There is absolutely no reason to use a monthly guide, it is all in the miles driven. Regular oil breaks down and becomes gummy with heat and friction and needs to be changed with use.

Personally, in my own car, I have always gone 7500 miles in between oil changes and have always used synthetic oil. My car now has 150K miles and runs like it did new. I also never do any of the other fluid changes, not worth opening up sealed compartments just to change a fluid that doesn't need it. Everything gets checked, but not changed.

Tires need to be rotated every 5 thousand miles and done in the rotation pattern suggested by the tire manufacturer.

I hated that job, but did leave with 25 cases of Mobil 1 oil and a new set of tires. Oh, and a new reason to hate my father in law, who was the majority share holder of the company and decided he only wanted to pay minimum wage.

Thanks for the info.

I fix a lot of stuff with Duct tape....

Just replaced the ball joints on both on the front end

saturn 1996 sc2 going on 200,000 miles any day...

Took two days(it was getting dark) to get the old parts off
a propane torch wouldn't put out enough heat to break the bolts loose...Anyways while heating the bolts with an acetalyne torch we also torched one of the boots covering a cv-joint...


after carefully cleaning all the greese off I made a patch about one foot square out of Gorrila tape (super duct-tape) and covered the boot
just to keep road dirt out....

Regular duct tape would appear to flimsy for this repair...but not the Gorrila tape...

Last year some kids must have been playing around or something..(who knows) but I found my license plate ripped off and laying on the ground
(Glad they didn't steal it or throw it just to be funny)....

But a little duct tape and Gorrila Glue and I still have the Plate..

elvis44102 wrote:I fix a lot of stuff with Duct tape....

Just replaced the ball joints on both on the front end

saturn 1996 sc2 going on 200,000 miles any day...

Took two days(it was getting dark) to get the old parts off
a propane torch wouldn't put out enough heat to break the bolts loose...Anyways while heating the bolts with an acetalyne torch we also torched one of the boots covering a cv-joint...


after carefully cleaning all the greese off I made a patch about one foot square out of Gorrila tape (super duct-tape) and covered the boot
just to keep road dirt out....

Regular duct tape would appear to flimsy for this repair...but not the Gorrila tape...

Last year some kids must have been playing around or something..(who knows) but I found my license plate ripped off and laying on the ground
(Glad they didn't steal it or throw it just to be funny)....

But a little duct tape and Gorrila Glue and I still have the Plate..

I love the gorrilla tape and the glue. The tape is like leather its so strong. The majority of repairs I have to do can be done with the tape or the glue.