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

[Kurtatron]

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.

For real, this is one of the first examples I’ve heard about vehicle neglect creating a multi car collision. That guy should be fined for neglecting his car that badly, for endangering others. Seriously.

 

[BrendanC]

i over maintain but only due to the fact that i won’t sell my vehicles. drive them till the wheels fall off then bolt them back on. the two accords will be passed down when that time comes and my truck will be constantly upgraded to keep it modern.

 

[John105]

Isn’t this conundrum solved by considering the marginal benefit? Why not change the oil every 1,000? 500? Daily?

With what ATF costs I cannot even imagine changing the fluid every 15k? Is this a drain and fill in with case ok you do need 3 of them since only a small amount comes out, but the intervals there are short.

My maxima went 25 years with normal not excessive maintenance, I don’t think excessive maintenance accomplishes much.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

For real, this is one of the first examples I’ve heard about vehicle neglect creating a multi car collision. That guy should be fined for neglecting his car that badly, for endangering others. Seriously.

Totally agree but he wasn’t charged by police for failing to maintain his car.

I just asked my wife ( grouchy with me interrupting her show lol ) and she said police don’t show up for accidents below X $ amount and they went through their insurance. My wife drove away after exchanging driver information, he had to have his car towed due to no brakes. I would have insisted on the police being called if it was me.

Nothing happened to the guy.

I would have gone ———- and called the police. That’s not an accident, it’s gross negligence.

I had a car almost collide with me ( he was racing his friend ….passed him but ran out of straight road before a hill ) about several years ago near the top of a steep hill ( I almost crashed swerving to avoid him ). I was beyond angry, I turned around and eventually caught up with him ( construction traffic stop ) and got him out of his car. I called the police ( several witnesses saw it ) but they couldn’t be bothered doing anything about it.

About two years later, a police officer going to work was killed by a car over the line on a hill on the same road not far away.

That driver also got off except for some joke lenient charge.

Competing theories presented to court on crash that killed police officer in 2013

Const. Michael Robillard was heading to work in Ottawa when his Honda Civic collided with a Dodge Caravan driven by Brandi Edwards-Turner.

ottawacitizen.com

 

[SC Maintenance]

Totally agree but he wasn’t charged by police for failing to maintain his car.

I just asked my wife ( grouchy with me interrupting her show lol ) and she said police don’t show up for accidents below X $ amount and they went through their insurance. My wife drove away after exchanging driver information, he had to have his car towed due to no brakes. I would have insisted on the police being called if it was me.

Nothing happened to the guy.

I would have gone ———- and called the police. That’s not an accident, it’s gross negligence.

I had a car almost collide with me ( he was racing his friend ….passed him but ran out of straight road before a hill ) about several years ago near the top of a steep hill ( I almost crashed swerving to avoid him ). I was beyond angry, I turned around and eventually caught up with him ( construction traffic stop ) and got him out of his car. I called the police ( several witnesses saw it ) but they couldn’t be bothered doing anything about it.

About two years later, a police officer going to work was killed by a car over the line on a hill on the same road not far away.

That driver also got off except for some joke lenient charge.

Competing theories presented to court on crash that killed police officer in 2013

Const. Michael Robillard was heading to work in Ottawa when his Honda Civic collided with a Dodge Caravan driven by Brandi Edwards-Turner.

ottawacitizen.com

According to your article the deceased was texting and driving 27km/h over the speed limit in the dark and in the rain. The findings of who was at fault was inconclusive? Maybe the other driver shouldn’t even have been charged at all? Clearly it’s complex since the case is still in litigation 9 years later?

“The Ottawa Police Service’s collision reconstruction report in May 2014 found that Robillard “may have been texting at the time of the collision.” Phone records indicated Robillard sent outgoing text messages on his iPhone at 3:28 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 3:31 p.m.

He received messages at 3:28 p.m., 3:31 p.m. and 3:32 p.m. from the same friend.

The OPS report said Robillard was distracted by his phone, but it characterized that finding as “not conclusive”

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

According to your article the deceased was texting and driving 27km/h over the speed limit in the dark and in the rain. The findings of who was at fault was inconclusive? Maybe the other driver shouldn’t even have been charged at all? Clearly it’s complex since the case is still in litigation 9 years later?

“The Ottawa Police Service’s collision reconstruction report in May 2014 found that Robillard “may have been texting at the time of the collision.” Phone records indicated Robillard sent outgoing text messages on his iPhone at 3:28 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 3:31 p.m.

He received messages at 3:28 p.m., 3:31 p.m. and 3:32 p.m. from the same friend.

The OPS report said Robillard was distracted by his phone, but it characterized that finding as “not conclusive”

So, what about a driver who passed another car near the top of a hill and almost crashed into another ( me ) driver with several witnesses who saw it ( I tracked down the Fed Ex driver behind me later for a witness ….he said “ I can’t believe you are alive , it was that close” ) but police didn’t even pay the driver a visit?

Get caught texting and driving ( even at a stop light ) , car impounded. Get caught drunk sleeping in your car, criminal charge. Almost kill someone passing over a hill, nothing happens. Even with witnesses. No police visit even.

My point was more about the hill and how dangerous it is when people drive recklessly.

There is more to that story I posted.

Just checked….she was eventually charged with failing to remain in a marked lane two years after that story. Maybe she was also speeding and texting.

 

[SC Maintenance]

So, what about a driver who passed another car near the top of a hill and almost crashed into another ( me ) driver with several witnesses who saw it ( I tracked down the Fed Ex driver behind me later for a witness ….he said “ I can’t believe you are alive , it was that close” ) but police didn’t even pay the driver a visit?

Get caught texting and driving ( even at a stop light ) , car impounded. Get caught drunk sleeping in your car, criminal charge. Almost kill someone passing over a hill, nothing happens. Even with witnesses. No police visit even.

My point was more about the hill and how dangerous it is when people drive recklessly.

There is more to that story I posted.

Just checked….she was eventually charged with failing to remain in a marked lane two years after that story. Maybe she was also speeding and texting.

Again, I’m only going based on your article. But according to it, she was driving the speed limit and the driver behind her didn’t see her doing anything erratically. He didn’t see the accident because it was over the hill. Also, given they researched the deceased Cell Phone, I presume they researched hers as well?

Either way, it was a tragic event but I have no idea what it has to do with this thread. It seems to be nothing related to Maintenance?

 

[SC Maintenance]

A stitch in time saves nine. The problem with the car is what is in time?

The xterra in my footer has 400K miles. It’s never had one issue with the transmission, either differential, or the transfer case. There is no service interval in the owners manual for any of those. Just check the fluid once in a while. The factory service manual says to change the fluid if there’s an issue but again no interval. so I changed all of these fluids on a regular basis. Did I waste my money?

If I had to pay the dealer to do them, it would probably be several hundred dollars each time. However, I can do a spill and fill both diffs and the TC For well under 100 bucks in fluids. Quick math tells me I probably spent $1200 over that 16 years. Did I waste my money?

 

[xspeedy]

I think many of us do the work ourselves and the cost for the premium stuff or frequency over “cheap” annd infrequent isn’t really that much. Definitely not when compared to labor at a shop. And I think many of us enjoy doing the work and feel reward and peace of mind from a job done right with good products. I get your point though as I don’t think the effort is appreciated by normies.

 

[dnewton3]

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!!!!

I cannot bring myself to believe anything has a "lifetime" fluid; I guess that depends on how long one intends to keep a vehicle and annual miles driven.

ATF in my vehicles gets OCIs every 30k to 35k.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I cannot bring myself to believe anything has a "lifetime" fluid; I guess that depends on how long one intends to keep a vehicle and annual miles driven.

ATF in my vehicles gets OCIs every 30k to 35k.

Spot on. Toyota sez our GS has lifetime fluid; Aisin makes the tranny and they say service it.
Perhaps Toyota could define "lifetime"? In the meantime, anything over 25K is "lifetime"...
If I deal with a new used car, trans service is the 1st thing I do. Then again at the 5K mark. When it starts to look decent, then 25K to 35K services. Cheap insurance in my book.

 

[350Rocket]

Here's another perspective.... bought a 20 year old car around 2004, plus a couple cheap parts cars and already owned my first car, a rusted out 1987 that I had way over maintained (especially the transmission). 200k miles on the old car and 125k on the new one. Built one good car out of all of them, including the overdrive trans from the old one with 200k on it.

Almost 20 years later the car just turned over to 00,000kms for the 4th time. Actual 400,000 or 248k miles but the transmission has 325k miles on it and still shifts firm. Junkyard engine with mostly 3k mile oil changes still runs fine. I'm hoping to be driving this car until I'm done driving.
So sometimes over maintaining does seem to pay off.

 

[cjcride]

I'm a little bit of the opposite. I buy a new cheap car just basic change the oil and a dose of techron twice a year. Brakes I just throw on pads buy budget tires but not garbage. So far two beater cars from day one 37 years out of them. First one junked this one probably the same.

Was it the rust that got the best of them or mechanical repair bills?

 

[Marcozi]

Nothing wrong with over-maintaining your car. I tend to keep my cars for years and 100s of thousands of miles. I changed the oil and filter on my 1985 BMW 325e every 3000 miles Sing Castro GTX 20/50 and a MANN filter.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

Again, I’m only going based on your article. But according to it, she was driving the speed limit and the driver behind her didn’t see her doing anything erratically. He didn’t see the accident because it was over the hill. Also, given they researched the deceased Cell Phone, I presume they researched hers as well?

Either way, it was a tragic event but I have no idea what it has to do with this thread. It seems to be nothing related to Maintenance?

I thought it was good therapeutic maintenance flushing it out

 

[bionictony]

for me i do my own oil/transmission/coolant changes. so cost is minimal for me. my oil changes are less than $10 at the moment including filter.

 

[Delta1]

I maintain my cars as if I'm going to keep them forever, and since I do my own maintenance work the cost is reasonable. The result is 100's of thousands of km's without a single break down. Since I live in the rust belt I also oil spray the underside, replace the brake lines before they rust out with copper nickel lines and clean the car often; no regrets from me!

 

[cptbarkey]

Thanks for your reply. A few responses are needed here by me.

LOL about the crush on the service writer. I am about to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary.

On the Odyclub.com forum, the transmission issues were discussed, the consensus seemed to be: If you change your ATF fluid every 15,000 miles you're golden (meaning you won't ever have transmission issues in the 2005 to 2007 Odysseys if you do the ATF drain/fill every 15k miles).

Regarding the oil changes, as I mentioned in the post, about 2 years ago I switched to lower priced oil and filters.

I kept an accurate list of all repairs. Some of the more pricy repairs were the timing belt, water pump, tensionser, camshaft seals.
Also the power sliding doors were quite expensive to maintain as other mechanics don't want to touch them, they all say take it to Honda. I had various repairs done to the sliding doors over those 10 years, including new motors, latches, and several other parts.
The Honda dealer I was using would mark up the parts about 150% if you let the service department order the parts, so I got their permission to actually go to the parts counter at the same dealership directly and order the parts to eliminate that extra markup.
But still each service visit averaged $1,000 per sliding door. (with about 2 repairs per sliding door over that time = $2,000 * 2 = $4,000 just to keep the sliding doors working perfectly. Other expensive repairs were new rotors for all 4 wheels (3 times), new brake calipers, leaks in the rear hatch and sun roof, engine mounts, air conditioner compressor and condensor failed, power steering pump failed, and alternator failed. Several other repairs and maintenenace such as PCV valve replacements, suspension parts, etc.
I really liked the van, and it had the aeura of Japanese reliability, but these vans as nice as they are, are not frugal vehicles.

The total of all the repairs and maintenance over 10 years totaled close to $20,000.
I was fortunate with the used car market still being pricy, and was able to sell the van for $5,200. I had paid $13,500 for it back in 2013.

Honestly, I'm looking at Consumer Reports magazine's car reliability ratings.
I'm thinking about migrating to Toyota Corolla's in the future, as I just want a vehicle that has a low cost of ownership.

What you paid for was piece of mind, and safety for your family while being transported. You need to face your regrets and move on. Good luck with the next vehicle.

 

[loneryder]

I used to over maintain my company cars in case I wanted to buy one. I wasn't paying. Then I had to provide my own wheels and I still over maintained them. Didn't want to break down on the DC beltway. I always sold them myself and got good prices even though they had a lot of miles. I provided service records and had no trouble selling them.

 

[nickaluch]

Was it the rust that got the best of them or mechanical repair bills?

First one a Geo prism after a hard winter I washed the car not something I would do often . Once the car dries my neighbor called me asked what happened to the car? The paint washed off on the hood , trunk and top. My wife had enough she said it's embarrassing. I promised her anything that goes wrong next I'll junk it. The next winter I lost the exhaust hitting I chunk of ice. Junkyard picked up gave me a couple of hundred. Then I bought a new Pontiac G6 cheap still driving it 17 years.