Are we wrong??

[LexAtlanta]

My neighbor has a 10 year old Camry with almost 180K on the odometer. He does not change his own oil....just brings it to one of the quick lube places. He could care less what brand oil they use, if it is syn or dino and he sort of sticks to the mileage recommendations they post on the windshield sticky. He has it changed when he remembers and has time.....not by mileage....it might be 3K it might be 10K. His car runs well and has no mechanical problems. He is not alone either. I think many people operate like this.

We all put out posts about using syn oil, OCI intervals, UOA numbers, what brand is best and the like.......and for what? This guy abuses his vehicle and it runs great. Are we wrong? Or just anal about our vehicles? Does what we do really have any impact on our vehicles? Or, is it a testament to auto manufactures that they build a great, long lasting product?

For me, I like to change my own oil and maintain my vehicles. I won't ever change my habits in that department. I just find it amazing that most of my neighbors don't pay hardly any attention to their vehicles and they continue to run well. I will say that mine run better

because of my maintenance schedules.

Is the modern automobile designed to run on the bare minimum of maintenance? Lets hear your thoughts............

 

[INDYMAC]

I think the best way to answer this is to go drive his vehicle, and then go drive yours. See which one you prefer.

 

[LexAtlanta]

I can tell you that I prefer mine

. Nobody in my 'hood keeps a vehicle like me.

 

[bruno]

Are we wrong - no ... but he's not so wrong either ! A lot of the car ideas we go by date back decades ! 1,000 mile oil and filter changes ( if the car had a filter at all ), tuneups every 10,000 miles , tires with tubes in them , valve adjustments , recycled oil ( really just filtered ) .... all either gone or changed today . What I'm leading up to is modern oils and their additive packages are much better than the stuff from years gone by . Plus you said nothing about his driving habits ! Does he do lots of longer runs ? Or lots of short hops ? Makes a BIG difference ! You may have heard about European makers going to variable change intervals and American companies are following along . Euro cars can go 18,000 miles between changes depending on driving pattern as long as the correct oil is used !

 

[PandaBear]

This is like how you treat your body/health. Some people drink/smoke/over eat and live well into the 90s, but some people that follow all the healthy lifestyles live to 30s and die due to cancer genes.

The same for cars. You have some cars that are designed with higher safety margin that can take abuse better, and still drives well with the abuse. Then you have junks that no matter how well you treat them they still die due to head gasket, transmission design, etc. But for the same car, if treated differently, and its life was limited by the factor you abuse, it will drives better and last longer if treated better.

If you drive that Camry since new and you treat it well, its engine may last 360K miles, but the body may last only 200K regardless. Is it important to over service it? Is it ok to underservice it? Hard to say.

 

[ctrcbob]

I have a buddy with a 96 Accord, with 300K plus miles on it. He gets his oil and filter changed at his local Honda dealer every 3000 miles. Costs him $9.95 for the change. (That was the deal when he purchased the car used, $9.95 every 3000 miles). I'm sure the dealer uses the cheapest oil and filter on that car, but don't know for sure. Still running great. All he does is change the timing belts every 60 or 80k miles.

 

[Bill in Utah]

And your friends Camry is on the sludge list.

I've always said just change the oil with *ANY* rated oil and you'll be fine.

I know of A LOT of folks (incl myself) who get 200k with no issues many times.

Just drive the car like an adult and change the oil.

Quote:
Does what we do really have any impact on our vehicles?


Not as much as we wish it would.....


Take care, Bill

 

[hominid7]

Originally Posted By: ctrcbob
I have a buddy with a 96 Accord, with 300K plus miles on it. He gets his oil and filter changed at his local Honda dealer every 3000 miles. Costs him $9.95 for the change. (That was the deal when he purchased the car used, $9.95 every 3000 miles). I'm sure the dealer uses the cheapest oil and filter on that car, but don't know for sure. Still running great. All he does is change the timing belts every 60 or 80k miles.


I bet the dealer uses dino mobil bulk 5w30 (superflo) and honda OEM filters. For 9.95 that sounds like a great deal to me!

For people that do not change their own oil, the dealer is typically the best bet as they use OEM products and generally speaking the guy doing the oil changes at the very least has a great deal of experience with your particular type of car so the chance of really messing something up is at least less.

My local Mazda dealer does oil changes for less $$ than the majority of the quick lube places.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Since the edit does not allow you to edit... (once the time has expired, even IF your editing, it does NOT allow you to post...

)

Quote:
Is the modern automobile designed to run on the bare minimum of maintenance? Lets hear your thoughts............



I just went over 100k on my 2005 Toyota Corolla. To date the only things I've done to it is;

change the oil
change the air filter
suck out some of the power steering fluid and replace
change the PCV valve

Same tires, brakes, spark plugs, coolant, brake fluid, clutch, belt, etc.

Never been back to the dealership once I drove it off the lot.

Same with my 2000 Silverado.

None of these 15k, 30k, 45k, 60k, 75k, 90k, "maintenance" lists that the dealer$ love for you to do..

Take care, Bill

 

[ctrcbob]

How did our cars survived back in "the old days" with the oils we had back then. (I remember when Kendell was the "Two, Two, Two Thousand Mile Oil" when the others were "every thousand miles" and this was back in the early 1950's - this is why Kendell oils to this day show a hand with two fingers in the shape of a V).

From the summer of 1961 to summer of 1963, I lived in the State of Maine, near Ellsworth. Two VERY COLD WINTERS there. Had a 62 Buick Special and changed my own oil "whenever I felt like it", using 10W-30 (or was it 10W-40, don't remember). Car sat outside, and even when the temperatures were below "Minus 20F", I never had problems starting that car, and it still ran great and used no oil when I traded it. I have to laugh whenever I read on this site about guys being worried about oils being too thick for them on cold starts.

FWIW, it was so cold those two winters that a few times, when it was snowing and I was driving, the falling snow would get scooped into the engine compartment, and build up on and around the engine. A couple times, my throttle would not work, so I'd lift the hood and have to dig the snow out from around the throttle linkage under the air filter to get it to work. I'd sometimes just let the engine idle in order to allow the engine heat to melt the snow in the engine compartment. It was so cold, that when I'd stop at a stoplight, engine idleing, the car heater was removing the heat faster than the engine was making heat, and would not start to pump out heat until I got moving again.

 

[txrhino]

Mr Bill, same tires for 100K miles? What brand...I need some of those. I bought a new Rodeo in '99 came with Bridgestones that lasted about 75K to 80K

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: txrhino
Mr Bill, same tires for 100K miles? What brand...I need some of those. I bought a new Rodeo in '99 came with Bridgestones that lasted about 75K to 80K


Well, to be honest (now that I think) I do have about 20k on my snow tires and 80k on the factory tires. So since I swap out for 2-3 months so the tires do not have 100k on them.

Uniroyal Tigerpaw 185/65/15

I'd say they are close to being replaced. I think I'll take them out another 10k and replace.

This is what they look like;



Take care, bill

 

[txrhino]

still impressive for 80K, the bridgestones were pretty slick at that point,

thanks

 

[Drew99GT]

Wow, I would have replaced those a while ago!

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Wow, I would have replaced those a while ago!


They do fine in anything but snow.

And since I have snow tires, why not get the miles out of them?

Also, the photo does make them look more worn than they really are IMO.

(its my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Drew, Watch out for the storm, 8 inches so far and TONS of wind..

Be safe, Bill

 

[H2GURU]

The vehicle mentioned as topic is well known for its durability. Just look in your local adds or Craigslist for the "gory details". People bring up the sludge issue but I do believe it was the 3.0 V-6 and only for 2 years due to emmisions vapor routing and then only if oil changes were ignored ( sorry I can't post link). Many tout a BEEMER or MECEDES or AUDI, but all the info I have says you'd be better off with a Toyota and have more leasure time and about 20 Grand more in your pocket. If you're a show-off then go with the LEXUS. Its been my experience that most vehicles will let your pocketbook know you've been ignoring them... other than these Toyotas. I think it just goes back to extreme tolerances on all their specs, resulting in generally longer over-all lifespan.

 

[Drew99GT]

Oh yea, we're under a high wind warning Bill. I'm lookin out my window now - I have a fence that's a little wobbly. It's about to become a kite.

 

[wannafbody]

We have a 90 Chevy van that has 235K on it. It has only run dino oil changed at 3-5k. Last year I kept topping it off with my used synthetic. Sure it burns some oil but it's never had the valve covers off or any internal engine work. IMO all these oils meet the same specs so dump 1 quart of each in the car and drive off into the sunset-LOL

 

[GMFan]

My father has a 97 5spd Chevy S10 with 140k on the engine and it turns over in the dead winter mornings without a problem. He changes it every 4k or so at the local shell station. The oil change reminder stickers have a shell symbol on them so I assume bulk shell oil.

I don't believe you need synthetic to keep your engine in great shape, and that conventional will keep your engine running long. I think synthetic is for people like me who obsess when there is no need to. I put synthetic because I simply can't go to a store and not spend the extra $6 without feeling guilty. I know it is probably a waste, especially on an engine like mine.

When my siblings ask me to do oil changes I ask, "do you want synthetic or regular stuff" and they go "whatever is cheapest." I throw in Valvoline dino in those cases.

I wouldn't doubt you could throw in SuperTech dino and change every 6k miles and you could get an engine to go 200k miles.

 

[BuickGN]

Every car I own breaks and I take very good care of them.

My friend with a 98 Mustang GT hasn't done an oil change in 80,000 miles. When it starts to get sluggish he adds three quarts to it. This happens every 4K or so. So far it's gone 130,000 miles and still going. The same guy had an 81 Subaru wagon and when the front seal on the transmission blew out he got tired of buying oil so he started using water and it lasted much, much longer than it should. He's already beating the [censored] out of his new IS350 so I'm sure that will last forever too. Not fair.