Maintaining a beater?

[Nick1994]

How hard is it to get to the thermostat? It might be easy, throw in a $4.71 thermostat from RockAuto and change the oil with the $1.62 oil filter they have and drive it until it dies.

 

[Ponchinizo]

How hard is it to get to the thermostat? It might be easy, throw in a $4.71 thermostat from RockAuto and change the oil with the $1.62 oil filter they have and drive it until it dies.

I actually looked at it again today and wouldn't be too bad, a little double jointed reach for the bottom nut but I've done worse. I could pull the alternator to get room the way im supposed to but where's the fun in that? Gonna need a long penetrating oil soak or those studs will snap right off, but I can start that way before I do the work. I wonder why they made em so dinky. Very un-toyota like of them.

Can do the oil without raising the vehicle so it's getting hard to justify not doing that.

I'll do the sway bars if the rust hasn't ruined that Allen keyed bolt completely. Thermostat and sway bars are definitely dependent on the rusty parts cooperating with me but I bet they'll go with a long time soaking. I've gotten real rusty bleeder screws to go for me that way so it might just work.

 

[weaponoffreedom]

I would do all of the necessary repairs and all of the scheduled maintenance but I would not "pro-actively" replace anything that is still working. Absolutely do an oil and filter change now and do them on schedule from here on out.

When I say "scheduled maintenance" I mean the stuff that the manufacturer says (in their service manual) that needs to be done. Not the useless BS Up-Selling crap that the Stealerships tell you that "needs to be" done.

You may think that right now there are plenty of other beater cars around and that you can get by by not caring for this one and that you'll just buyng another when this one fails. But it never seems to work ou that way. When You NEED a car, there's none available or the price is sky-high. It also cost time and money to get another car, pay the sales tax and new registration, etc etc. You're better off to keep one car running as possible than pay all of the fees to keep changing cars.

If you want the car to last, do all of the maintenance yourself and don't take it to a garage and certainly NEVER to a dealer!

FIX that thermostat and use one with the correct temperature rating and not higher or lower. Engines running under temperature can lead to fuel dilation of the oil and added engine wear and all sorts of other issues. Use Never Seize on all of the bolts particularly around the cooling system such as the water pump and thermostat housing, and all other parts that have aluminium in them. You'll thank me if you ever have to remove those bolts a second time.

agree 10000%

 

[Number_35]

I actually looked at it again today and wouldn't be too bad, a little double jointed reach for the bottom nut but I've done worse. I could pull the alternator to get room the way im supposed to but where's the fun in that? Gonna need a long penetrating oil soak or those studs will snap right off, but I can start that way before I do the work. I wonder why they made em so dinky. Very un-toyota like of them.

Can do the oil without raising the vehicle so it's getting hard to justify not doing that.

I'll do the sway bars if the rust hasn't ruined that Allen keyed bolt completely. Thermostat and sway bars are definitely dependent on the rusty parts cooperating with me but I bet they'll go with a long time soaking. I've gotten real rusty bleeder screws to go for me that way so it might just work.

I've been successful removing old rusty stabilizer bar links a couple of times, but only after repeatedly soaking them with penetrating oil over a period of several days.

Sometimes, if they have to be done now, a grinder is the best way.

 

[Dinoburner]

Perhaps remove the valve cover before getting too vested to get an idea of how slugged it all is. My 95 GMC beater gets proper maintenance for cheap insurance and reliability.

 

[meep]

I feel like @Ponchinizo has been properly indoctrinated into the bitog way…

STAY AWAY FROM THE DARK!! WALK TOWARDS THE LIGHT!!

 

[paulo57509]

If you have to rely on the beater to get you back and forth to work with your tools, I wouldn't treat it as a beater.

Fix what's wrong, establish a minumum baseline in maintenance and drive it.

 

[justalubetech]

I'd at least change the oil filter and keep all the fluids topped up.

Sounds like it's just a farm/down the street type beater, an old Toyota will live forever on that duty with pretty much no maintenance.

 

[bigjl]

It’s a beater.

Make sure the tyres and brakes are good

Oil an oil filter once a year, do an air and fuel filter plus proper geometry adjustment on purchase.

Other than that repair and replace as needed.