Just thought I'd share my recent maintenance experiences (car has 158k miles now)...
Thermostat change 3 months (4700 miles ago) - The old one was running low at 180 deg.(for the last year or so), new one runs at 195 deg. Oil consumption seems to have reduced from 1 litre (quart) in 3500 miles to now 1 in 4300(ish) miles. My theory is that the old thermostat was causing some fuel contamination of the oil??? Of course, may be too early to tell for certain yet.
Trans pan drop and filter this weekend, took 7 litres (7.4 quarts to refill). Decided instead of flush to just drop the pan again in a year or so. This was messy enough without doing the full flush. I did a little research here and on the web, saw lots of good reviews for Valvoline Max Life high mileage Dex(6)/Merc, so went with that. The pan was actually pretty clean, just a little stuff on the magnet (did a full flush, pan drop and filter at 85000 miles, used Dex 3 at that time). Anyway, I like the Valvoline, shifts are definitely smoother now.
Changed my first set of front struts this weekend. I used Monroe quick struts, they come with fully assembled with new springs and top mounts, making them pretty easy to install. Or they were easy to install once I figured out I had to jack up the entire front end (two jacks), so that the sway bar doesn't keep the suspension somewhat compressed on the side your working on. Thought why in the #@&%^ is this strut too long?, until I had the sway bar thing figured out.
Thermostat change 3 months (4700 miles ago) - The old one was running low at 180 deg.(for the last year or so), new one runs at 195 deg. Oil consumption seems to have reduced from 1 litre (quart) in 3500 miles to now 1 in 4300(ish) miles. My theory is that the old thermostat was causing some fuel contamination of the oil??? Of course, may be too early to tell for certain yet.
Trans pan drop and filter this weekend, took 7 litres (7.4 quarts to refill). Decided instead of flush to just drop the pan again in a year or so. This was messy enough without doing the full flush. I did a little research here and on the web, saw lots of good reviews for Valvoline Max Life high mileage Dex(6)/Merc, so went with that. The pan was actually pretty clean, just a little stuff on the magnet (did a full flush, pan drop and filter at 85000 miles, used Dex 3 at that time). Anyway, I like the Valvoline, shifts are definitely smoother now.
Changed my first set of front struts this weekend. I used Monroe quick struts, they come with fully assembled with new springs and top mounts, making them pretty easy to install. Or they were easy to install once I figured out I had to jack up the entire front end (two jacks), so that the sway bar doesn't keep the suspension somewhat compressed on the side your working on. Thought why in the #@&%^ is this strut too long?, until I had the sway bar thing figured out.