For those who over maintain their cars, just wanted to offer another viewpoint.

[Oillover]

I don't mind over-maintaining my vehicles.

Considering I always buy used vehicles, I've literally never owned anything which left my possession in worse condition (mechanical or aeshetically) than when I purchased it. I usually only sell when I get bored of something.

I suppose I don't mind "throwing money away" as I'm not only benefitting myself (maintanance/upgrades are my hobby which keeps me in shape), but the next person as well.

As I've gotten older, I've accepted that receiving adequate compensation ($) for my efforts is irrelevant.

 

[VersatileGuy]

For that year, make, and model Honda, the one thing you should have been obsessive-compulsive about was the transmission fluid change because they made them fragile. Because if you didn't, you'd probably be either replacing one at the mileage you sold it at or earlier or selling a brick.
Doing synthetic is fine until the gaskets start leaking, then you're starting to lose money.

 

[cb_13]

I quit caring about maintenance when I went to sell a truck I’d owned for about 7 years. I kept a log of all maintenance and repairs I’d done during that time. It wasn’t done by a dealership but I was a dealer tech at the time so real similar other than my cost.

Not a single person that looked at the truck even popped open the book to see what had been done.

If I’m keeping it I’ll over maintain but if I think it’s only a keeper for a few years, I’ll do just enough to keep it on the road.

 

[VersatileGuy]

The OP's situation is extreme given what's portrayed as pricy, constant maintenance.
9 trannie services, 33 premium oil changes and all the brake + PS services equaled ...how much in US$?
You did overdo the oil changes and the trannie services, for sure. A 30K ATF interval would've sufficed.

Still, The TOTAL $ over 11 years ownership would be interesting to see.
I suppose you didn't ask much for an '06 w/185K. I bet it sold quickly.

Had you just retired and over-maintained due to boredom?
Did word of the period's bad Honda transmissions push you to 9 services?

All this from a BITOGer who lists $21.14 oil changes using Walmart oil in his signature.
Doesn't jibe fully.....a SuperTech customer lavishing dealership services upon this vehicle...hmmmm???

GOT IT! He had a crush on the service writer.

What they say suffices doesn't actually means it suffices; wear occurs on a continuum but the manufacturers pick a point where something will last but not too long. 30k might be just good enough for the vehicle tranny to last 200k or 300k and may not be good enough if the vehicle was used hard.
Him dropping it to the 15k might have extended the life of the transmission considerably.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

True about the safety part, but unless a vehicle is older/rusty, not much that can go wrong except brakes ( they should hear the brake wear indicators making noise ) and driving on bald/old tires.

In all the years ( I have always had high milage cars ) that I have been servicing my cars ( I follow all those service inspections, drive far more than the average, and keep my cars longer than average ) , I don't ever recall anything been found that was unsafe and needed to be fixed/replaced. I have driven over 1.6 million KMS.

Safety issues I actually see ( in the ditch, read about another one in the local news ) are truck tires blowing ( I doubt they replace them when they should ) off, truck tires coming off killing other drivers or passenger vehicles tires coming off because they were not installed properly ( probably done by an owner too cheap to get it done properly given they didn't know what they were doing ) after seasonal tire swap.

And bad drivers ( regardless of vehicle condition ) killing other drivers.

 

[gfh77665]

When I pulled the valve covers at 160,000 miles to do the valve adjustments, it was a sludgy mess. Following the OLM with synthetics was not enough. I guess the many years of soccer mom duty was rough on it. Lots of short trips and this is the engine with VCM.

It was not your fault. Unfortunately, it was doomed coming off the assembly line. The Hondas VCM and their PAX tire system was a total disaster.

Unlike the fan boys or the haters, I realize ALL makes have a sore spot. Chevy AFM, hemi tick, Ford cam phazers. Toyota, Nissan, Kia, whatever. The list goes on.

 

[Dave9]

I just wanted to share this with the forum, in the event it might pursuade others from "over maintaining" their cars.

I bought a 2006 Honda Odyssey used from the original owner back in 2013 with 50k miles on it.
The car was in Mint condition. I decided I wanted to pamper the car. I went to the Honda dealer for everything.

Well there you go, it gets expensive, quick, to have a shop do everything, especially if someone is OCD about maintenance, or an *easily suggestable* person who would have whatever work done, that a dealer svc dept suggests (depending on honesty of service advisor of course).

I did every possible preventative maintenance on it. Periodic brake fluid changes. Periodic power steering fluid changes.

Without knowing the period, it might have been overkill, but it's not like you should run the same fluid forever, either. I don't subscribe to the idea that a vehicle needs brake fluid changed every couple years, and have had no problems extending that period much longer, but do accept that certain vehicles and certain driving environments may benefit from more frequent changes. Power steering fluid, meh, I'll check the level and if it looks nasty on a paper towel that I wipe the dipstick with, I'll siphon out the reservoir, run that a while, then repeat. It's also good to know if the specific vehicle is known to be prone to steering rack failure, not so much the pump unless it is difficult to access for replacement.

I changed the transmission fluid every 15,000 miles. I changed the oil every 4,000 miles with premium full synthetic (mainly Pennzoil Ultra Platinum), and either Honda OEM or Fram Ultra filters. About 2 years ago I transitioned to lower priced full synthetic oil and filters.
I only used the expensive OEM Honda replacement parts for everything.

It's a Honda so frequent transmission fluid changes are a good idea, but yeah, 15K mi might be on the short end of necessary, except being a van, we don't know how much weight you were hauling. The OCI was more reasonable even if modern oils don't need one that short for "average" use, but let's suppose you had extended it to 5K mi instead of 4K, then that isn't that many more oil changes and cost in the grand scheme of how much TCO there is for a vehicle, including depreciation if it isn't already old enough to not be a consideration.

OEM Honda parts, depends on which part. If the part didn't have a lot of years on it, then in my mind, that supposed superior quality of OEM parts might be an illusion, but that doesn't mean I'd get generics, and if paying shop labor anyway, that's often more of the cost difference than the OEM part, again depending on which parts.

I spent so much money on maintenance and repairs.

The remorse I am feeling now is that I sold the vehicle last month with 185k miles on it. I no longer own the van.
All the money I wasted on all that over maintenance is gone forever.

Except maybe not, because if you are paying premium shop labor and parts prices too, then if your maintenance extended the service life of a significant component, then you saved having to pay for the repair of that/those items. Plus, good service records tend to increase resale value, except for the wacky market that covid brought.

If I could go back and do it over again, I would just do adequate but sufficient maintenance with low cost fluid's, filters, parts.

For all those who over maintain their vehicles (like I did), you may want to think about how you will feel on the day you eventually sell that vehicle.

Fair enough, I would only religiously maintain a vehicle that I planned to keep a long time, and as it got older if not already, do more and more maintenance and repairs DIY. Are you a member of the most popular owner's forum for that vehicle? That is a wealth of info, like how to DIY and which parts are good/bad/worth-saving-on. Granted the older a vehicle gets, the more you'll find fellow owners with the same faults and experience DIY fixing them, as well as youtube videos for popular vehicles.

I feel like there is a middle ground (besides the DIY option) and while your maintenance might have been overkill, you can't really think in terms of the total cost of it all, rather than only the cost of the overkill portion because some of that, at a certain interval, was prudent to do anyway, and a little extra maintenance is better than not enough, especially if it helps you sleep at night.

 

[Dave9]

True about the safety part, but unless a vehicle is older/rusty, not much that can go wrong except brakes

... and in some regions, vehicles are getting rusty as they get older, and one of the worst things that can go wrong is also brakes, rusted out hard lines. On a dual chamber reservoir setup, you're supposed to be able to lose one axle and still have braking on the other, but in my experience, that is not always the case, that when one empties, the pedal can sink and braking effectiveness is too low if you are caught unaware of a sudden leak while driving.

 

[twouvakind]

The car did what it was designed to do with more than adequate maintenance.

 

[dubber09]

IMHO, if you over maintain a car to add value when you sell it later, you are doing it for wrong reason.
To me, I do it so the car performs reliably, gives me a chance to catch potential issues early as well so I deal with them at home and not on a road.

 

[hrv]

The car did what it was designed to do with more than adequate maintenance.

Points...Plugs and condenser every 3000 to 5000 miles along with a oil change....

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

... and in some regions, vehicles are getting rusty as they get older, and one of the worst things that can go wrong is also brakes, rusted out hard lines. On a dual chamber reservoir setup, you're supposed to be able to lose one axle and still have braking on the other, but in my experience, that is not always the case, that when one empties, the pedal can sink and braking effectiveness is too low if you are caught unaware of a sudden leak while driving.

My wife got rear ended in stop and go city traffic. She called me after the the guy rear ended her …she said his brakes failed ( he told her that ). She said there was brake fluid ( driver told her what it was ) on the road.

Guys car was all rusted out, IIRC, 18 years old.

He later told my wife the brake lines had rusted out and blown the brake lines when he hit the brakes.

If you have old vehicles and live where there is lots of rust ( areas ), you need to rust proof unless you check underneath every year.

 

[ripcord]

My wife got rear ended in stop and go city traffic. She called me after the the guy rear ended her …she said his brakes failed ( he told her that ). She said there was brake fluid ( driver told her what it was ) on the road.

Guys car was all rusted out, IIRC, 18 years old.

He later told my wife the brake lines had rusted out and blown the brake lines when he hit the brakes.

If you have old vehicles and live where there is lots of rust ( areas ), you need to rust proof unless you check underneath every year.

Yep. This is why they have vehicle inspections in places like New York.

 

[CKN]

That's a new one on me. Not everyone is shopping for a beater. I suppose luxury car buyers who purchase 2 and 3 year old off lease cars are "cheap" and "don't have a lot of money to spend." Have you shopped in the $30-50,000 range lately? And if some Schmoe low balls you, you walk away.

Selling $30,000.00plus vehicles privately is problematic. Yes-there are some sold that way-but not many. There is always a loan on vehicles in that price range, sellers don't have titles, financing is an issue, the list goes on.
The majority of vehicles sold privately are sub $10,000. Used to be sub $5,000.00

 

[KrisZ]

Selling $30,000.00plus vehicles privately is problematic. Yes-there are some sold that way-but not many. There is always a loan on vehicles in that price range, sellers don't have titles, financing is an issue, the list goes on.
The majority of vehicles sold privately are sub $10,000. Used to be sub $5,000.00

That is my experience but from a buyer's perspective. I was looking for another newish vehicle, meaning $15k plus range and there aren't many private listings at all. It's either dealerships or "private" sellers but with a dealer license. Once you go sub $10k budget, a lot more private sellers are actually listing. I ended up buying from a dealer that had the vehicle I wanted as a trade-in.

 

[Wylie6G72]

A friend told me years ago that all I'm accomplishing is making it a really nice car for the next owner(s).

I don't think of it as over-maintenance when I remember that OEMS strive to offer a car that is economical to maintain (10K oil changes, lifetime factory filled transmissions, etc ), so they provide a maintenance schedule that will just get it through the warranty period. I enjoy feeling as though I'm going above and beyond to get me past the end of my warranty without a major component failing that may have lasted longer with more frequent fluid changes, like the PTU on the newer Escapes, as just one example. And speaking for myself, I'll do just about anything to keep from having to visit a dealership service department.

 

[ripcord]

With all the restrictions coming down the pipe on new ICE cars and the growing price of new vehicles, our future selves will thank us for keeping existing ones running as well as possible.

 

[dnewton3]

see my signature line

 

[eljefino]

... and in some regions, vehicles are getting rusty as they get older, and one of the worst things that can go wrong is also brakes, rusted out hard lines. On a dual chamber reservoir setup, you're supposed to be able to lose one axle and still have braking on the other, but in my experience, that is not always the case, that when one empties, the pedal can sink and braking effectiveness is too low if you are caught unaware of a sudden leak while driving.

And that line pops during the heaviest braking you'll do that month, so losing an axle and having the pedal go to the floor will really make you pucker. When it happens unexpectedly, your reaction may not be what you think it will be-- imagine a "wet fish" where one jumps back off the defective pedal. The "empty spot" in pedal travel will take so much throw any braking left will be with the pedal in the carpet. Worth not ever experiencing for yourself.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Toyota claims their transmissions have lifetime fluid.
So I guess I over service my Toyotas. Come to think of it, time to over service the GS350 AT.
It ain't gonna over service itself!!!!