'05 4.0L Xterra - brother inlaw ran oil REAL low

[Ramblin Fever]

This was a truck that I had originally purchased bout a year ago, sold it to my sister when her trailblazer's transmission took a dive.

Xterra was very slighly used, but essentally brand-new in the grand scheme of things - truck has around 47-50k or so, can't remember exactly. They've been using 5w30 Durablend in IIRC a 6qt sump; I only once changed the oil in this truck and haven't touched it since I sold it to them.

Brother in law is famous for neglecting cars, VERY famous, in fact that I sometimes want no part in helping them take care of them, because he is the type to say that you forgot to do something.

Nonetheless, I DO help my sister with her Dodge caravan, in which I run Rotella synthetic 5w-40 in it - it burns 1qt in a week roughly, rotella has slowed it down a bit.

Anyway, she came over Saturday to pick up her kids with the Xterra and asked me to check the oil cause it's tapping - she knows that her van only taps when the oil level's low, and she'd been asking her hubby to check the X.

Anyway's the oil was so low that only a drop was on the dipstick, that was after I let it sit for 2-3hrs.

OH, man it ticked me off!

 

[unDummy]

Ticked off? Why? Sounds like normal US consumers to me!

Since blood is thicker then water, what you need to do is start a maintenance program for your sisters truck. Have her drop it off on a weekend every 4th month, with a blank check, and perform all the maintenance that is needed. There is nothing you can do to help the BIL. So, don't bother trying.

 

[JTK]

I wouldn't sweat it Ramblin. If it didn't spin a bearing it's fine!

Back in my Isuzu days, I would regularly find my SIL's 2003 Rodeo 3.2L so low on oil, NOTHING would show on the dipstick. I'd top it off with what ever I had on hand. No sense in lecturing because she didn't care. If that Nissan V6 is anything like the isuzu, they will hit the too low level once and it will be done for. Hydraulic lash adjustors come in handy to give some advanced warning (if so equipped)

Joel

 

[JustinH]

I agree strongly. If you have the time to work on it and would like a few bucks, then do the work on the truck.

Quote:

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Ticked off? Why? Sounds like normal US consumers to me!

Since blood is thicker then water, what you need to do is start a maintenance program for your sisters truck. Have her drop it off on a weekend every 4th month, with a blank check, and perform all the maintenance that is needed. There is nothing you can do to help the BIL. So, don't bother trying.

---

 

[Ramblin Fever]

I guess I just couldn't fathom EVER doing this myself - to a $23k dollar vehicle.

I don't get it. Honestly, I can't understand how people can just not care about their hard earned money being sucked down by the sump pump.

 

[pzev]

I work at Autozone, and I see this ____ all the time.

 

[Quest]

LOL! It's part of human nature--some folks don't care about things in life, including things they wear, food they eat, vehicle they drive, etc. Unless they learn to smart up, otherwise, suffering is all theirs (not mine).

I maintain everything I own well, so well that most of them outlast their intended "expiry" date. I would totally throw in my towel if I see someone that I care for taking on an intended neglect on things like oil check, and I would just simply let them spin a rod bearing so as to teach them a lesson.

No, it hasn't happen to my family yet and yes, I've known people who does that (and I absolutely refused to help them no matter how bad the situation is---even though I know I can save them a few hundred bucks...)

My 2c's worth.

 

[Evil Ron]

I'm with Quest, life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

My favorite thing is when a neglectful owner blames the car for being a POS. My sister bought a brand new Mustang in 1979 and spent the next 5 years running it into the ground. I don't know that she ever checked the oil, she got it changed when she remembered to, only got a tune-up when it became nearly un-driveable (a 2.3 running on 3 cylinders is a rough ride, I assure you) and treated the ATX like it was built to take whatever abuse you could think to throw at it.

By the time she traded it in, it was burning at least a quart of oil every 1000 miles (althought it never once smoked) and the transmission was picking gears randomly instead of sequentially. I still cuss her for ruining what was a very cool car in it's day. I can't help but say to myself "that car would still be a gem if it had been mine". I did as much for that car as I knew how to in my early teens....at least it always looked good. Fate struck its final blow when a girl I went to school with bought it and got broadsided by a Chevy pickup. I visited that Mustang at the wrecking yard and bid that warhorse farewell. I guess that car is responsible for my love of the Fox body Stang.

Anyway, I digress. Maintenance is so important that it's hard to believe it falls so low on so many peoples' list of priorities.

 

[Gary Allan]

I've seen this more than once. In Ramblin's situation ...it's more that he, more or less, GAVE them a perfectly good ride and they just trash it like its a common pair of socks. People like this just don't see the value in what you gave them (even if they paid market value for it). They need beaters in the
Look what I've got for you!

Thanks! Now I'll just throw all of your hard work and good will in the toilet like it was used tp.

 

[drivewaytech]

It’s difficult to turn a blind eye to the negligence of those for whom you care for. My personal experience occurred with a friend of the family that was a single mom with four kids. She had no vehicle and a sick child, so I lent her my old pick-up for getting around and trips to the doctor. What should have been a 4 week loaner turned into a year until she finally burned up the transmission. Didn’t check the fluid levels. Someone from my church offered me a free car (old and beat up, but ran great) for my act of kindness; becuase I didn’t have the money at the time to replace the transmission. Instead of driving or selling it, I invested a couple hundred bucks into the car and gave to the friend. Took her about a year and a half to run it into the ground. Still ran, but wanted something nicer to drive. She then somehow managed to receive a loan to purchase a very nice used Honda that she could not afford ($16,000). Despite the disgust in the situation, I still advised her to keep up the maintenance with the car because even a Honda will kill over if not serviced properly. The transmission lasted 7 months, and after the rebuild the engine supposedly went shortly after. Haven’t heard from her in some time.

 

[dwendt44]

No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

It doesn't sound like her only problem with transmissions is fluid level. She burned yours up, and burned up another one in a Civic? She 1) towed a double-wide with it, 2) drove around with the e-brake on, or 3)switched from reverse to drive without stopping first.

 

[Gary Allan]

In her case, I'd suspect that everything other than the immediate localized environment is on the back burner. She surely never had a dime to spare for "elective" spending. It had to be mandated to get attention. It's still a senseless shame and one that could be avoided at much lower cost than the remedies that she had to employ for lack of MAKING TIME to maintain the vehicles. She probably won't outgrow this either. After your pattern is repeated for awhile, you kinda have a hard time breaking your acquired bad habits. Some situations have no reasonable solution and your attempt to enable the needy person ..just makes you an enabler for their bad habits. She needed a ride that included a part-time pseudo husband to maintain it too.

 

[drivewaytech]

My transmission had a slow leak for which I made very clear. My wife reminded her at least once a week to check it. I guess after some weeks the reminders fell on deaf ears. As for the Honda, I believe the transmission was on it's way out when she bought it. Seemed to be an awfully nice car to be on a "buy here, pay here" lot. She didn't check or change the oil in the car because she did not have the money to do so. I offered to at least check the fluid and top it off as needed, but she didn't have the gas money to make it over our way. We broke communication some time ago when she *blessed* us out for demanding that she remove her stuff that was stored in our basement for a year. We were trying to clean the house up so we could put it on the market. Basically, my typing this is kind of a vent, my wife had grown tired of my gripeing when all this had happened. She is a single mom of four with no job and transportation for long periods of time. That is not easy for anyone. But yes, she made many poor decisions, and I did enable some of them. My heart to help others has not changed though. I will continue to help freinds or family when I am able, despite their laziness, or lack of awareness. I preached at her enough, that seed will sprout someday. Heck, it happened for me......

 

[Gary Allan]

Hey, pal, goodwill doesn't always fall on fertile ground. In my experience, it rarely does. Some times you get the joy of seeing it do some "lasting good". I can fill volumes with my failures in making people's lives permanently better with my efforts. If I did it for personal pride of success..I'd have very little to boast about.

No one said the apprenticeship would be easy or gratifying.

 

[01rangerxl]

I guess I have been lucky so far. Most of my family members change their own oil and keep fairly good tabs on their vehicles. Even my sister, who will be the first to tell you that she does not care to know anything about her car, knows that maintaining her car is important. She even knows not to waste her money on Fram oil filters for it (usually it gets Mazda OEM, though she will probably start buying Wix soon).

The only slackers in the family are my parents and my aunt. My parents do take their vehicles in for regular oil changes at the dealer, but they rarely open the hood between oil changes. The only way the hood will be opened is if either I am home, or they run out of washer fluid. My mom at least says she will try to remember to check the oil level, the air filter, etc...but she usually forgets. The odd thing is, even with this somewhat slack behavior, they take everything the dealership says as gold and have lost a lot of money that way. They have yet to realize that not every dealer is like the small town dealers they are used to where they personally know 1/2 the people working there. The sad thing is, they used to do their own oil changes and all that.

There isn't much hope for my aunt I am afraid. She knows that the oil should be changed, but she will drag out OCIs as long as she can. She also neglects everything other than the engine oil. Her cars tend to go downhill pretty quickly. It isn't too big of a surprise that she is the member of the family who always needs major work done to her vehicles.

My cousin and his wife are the best with this kind of stuff. If everyone maintained their vehicles like they do, junkyards would be pretty empty. Immediately after buying her new GMC Envoy, my cousin's wife began researching switching from DexCool to green coolant. The truck wasn't even broken in before she began thinking about the coolant!

 

[RedDart]

Back to the original subject of this post...that Xterra is not long for this world with the brother in law's lack of maintenance and common sense.

Xterra

 

[Auto-Union]

My bud has a XT he rarely drives. HE does M1 changes at about 3000-5000 miles. Clean. Anyway, my conclusiin w/ oil level is that people think half-full oil is like half-full gas tank....it will run fine. They don't realize WHY it needs to be full. Many I know REGULARLY run their oil down 2q or 1/2 way. It's insane. Best hope for these people is a vehicle that does not burn oil, BUT a car like mine, not using oil...I feel like if one of those bone heads got it w/ bulk oil...it would run down. On ClubRSX, a bunch of teen ricers, all of them complain their car burns tons of oil. Well, when you abuse the engine, yeah. That is one of the things I consider a real problem with used cars, you just don't know how often they were run low. Also, important to know that the remaining oil can be runined by running it really low. fwiw, I would never buy a used RSX.

 

[JustinH]

I agree, its hard to find an unmolested sporty car.

The RSX's, and the Turbo Mitsu's, and Subarus are all over the used car market.

Most of them were run into the ground by kids, who had to sell them once they realized that they couldn't afford a $30k car while going to college.

I'm 3 years out of college, and take the upmost care of my 4 year old $6500 saturn.

In most cases I have found the link to be if a teen buys his own cars, they get taken care of. If the parents buy or supply a car, it will get run into the ground in short order.

When my grandfather passed away in the late 90's, he had a 91 chevy cavalier that he had ordered from the factory just how he wanted it. Gold paint with tan interior. This was probably 1999, the car has 13k original miles on it, and was serviced only at the dealer.

I was driving around a 90 thunderbird that was a rot box, but I still took great care of it.

My "out of school" and "can't hold a job" cousin had no car of course.

My aunt decided to give it to him. She paid for all expenses on the car, insurance, registration, everything but gas.

He reduced the car to a pile of rubble in under 10,000 miles.

He decided it would be a great idea to paint the car himself in the garage with a paint roller. Black rolled on paint looks great on an automobile, let me tell you this.

He then had an episode where he kicked the car when it wouldn't start, and put a huge dent in the door.

After that he wrecked the thing, and it ended up in the junkyard with just over 20k miles on it.