Are you the average vehicle owner?

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Do you have a rough working knowledge to no working knowledge of how your vehicle works and what maintenance it needs?

Then please take a look at this and tell me if it's explained in a way that makes at least some sense to you.

It's boring, it's dry, and you'll probably need a cup of coffee, but if you read through it and have feedback, I'm interested. Thanks!

[Scotty_ffgamer]

It makes sense to me. Read it on my break so I can't go into anymore, but nothing confused me as I read it. Didn't notice any grammatical/spelling errors either on my quick read if that's something you wanted looked at too, but I wasn't looking hard for those things.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Thanks Scotty!

Yeah, sure, any grammar or spelling errors I should probably hear about. I know my sentence structure can get odd.

[Pike]

Makes perfect sense to me! It was an interesting read too (IMO)

I get my oil changed every six months or so. I never actually hit the "get your oil changed at this many miles" mark on the sticker because I pretty much only ever drive my car to work and back, which is like. Three miles round trip lol.

<---- proud member of the "my car is 14 years old and still under 100,000 miles" club!! (ok it's at like 98500 but you know)

[Mirage]

That reminds me. i'm probably past 10k miles on my current oil now so i should probably change. It's also a 20 year old car.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Makes perfect sense to me! It was an interesting read too (IMO)

I get my oil changed every six months or so. I never actually hit the "get your oil changed at this many miles" mark on the sticker because I pretty much only ever drive my car to work and back, which is like. Three miles round trip lol.

<---- proud member of the "my car is 14 years old and still under 100,000 miles" club!! (ok it's at like 98500 but you know)

Yes, that is a really short commute. If you like your Toyota and want to keep it for a while, then changing the oil every 3k miles or every 6 months is a smart choice.

*Gets preachy*

They probably already do, but asking your mechanic to take a look at your air filter, belts, and other fluids once in a while is also important. Your rubber car parts like belts and hoses can get hard with age, outside of the exact mileage they have on them. Rubber wears from use or age.

Your coolant has corrosion inhibitors that prevent the metals in your engine from rusting. Normal coolant needs to be flushed every 2 years. Some manufacturers have special coolants that can go longer, but none of them actually last the lifetime of the vehicle like is claimed. Your Toyota's 'proprietary pink/red" coolant needs flushing around every 4 years/50k miles.

Brake fluid gathers moisture over time. This can damage other braking system components that would other wise be fine, meaning repairing things that wouldn't need repairing with regular fluid flushing. Moisture/water can also flash to steam under heavy braking due to heat load, meaning you no longer have brakes and have an accident. Getting the brake fluid every 2 years is ideal.

I'm sure budget is a factor, because it's a factor for everyone, but none of those things are incredibly expensive and can be planned out in advance as needed.

Thanks for taking a look at the little write-up!


As for Mirage's car.......Vaya con dios.

[Mirage]

I have no idea what that means. I am gonna change the oil and probably filter too this week, though. Most certainly

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I was sarcastically giving your car a blessing.

I can't think of too many 20 year old cars that even recommend a 10k oil change, and a lot of the ones that did wound up adjusting their recommended interval to something sooner because the vehicle's wound up having problems. If that interval is overly optimistic now, it definitely was 20 years ago. Mercedes, BMW, and GMC comes to mind as manufacturers that changed their intervals with recalls or something else. They're starting to admit it's not so ideal for the average car/driver combination.

The main issue is that it encourages people to not even bother checking the oil level for 10k miles either. Most people don't check their oil level. So if you have a leak, there stands a good chance you can run the car low on oil and damage it.

When oil changes were 3k miles, the odds of the oil leak getting to the point where it could damage the motor before the car's oil was completely refilled at the next oil change was less that cars that now go much longer before the next oil change.

Basically, longer oil change intervals gives any potential oil leak that much longer to drain the engine of oil before the next oil change with most drivers never bothering to check the oil level.

If you check your oil level regularly, then at least that problem is moot.

EDIT: I just rememebered that you're in Europe (Norway? Finland?). Anyway, so that's 10,000 kilometers which is apparently a little over 6,000 miles. I was thinking in miles. 10k kilometers is probably still a bit of a stretch depending on the age of the vehicle, but not nearly as bad as 10k miles.

[Old Manus]

This thread has reminded me that I should probably change my oil and for that I thank you.

[Mirage]

No, i did mean 10k miles. 16000 km . I'm pretty sure i don't have an oil leak, however. There's still some oil in there for sure, although I'm sure it could benefit from a bit more than there currently is. But as I said, i'm changing it when i go to my parents this week. My dad's got the tools and the space to do it, so I won't have to pay anyone.

Is it possible to tell if your engine's low on oil from unusual sounds or behavior?

Oh yeah, my car is also probably gonna pass 300000 km this year . I think I have surprisingly few problems with it considering the age and distance it's driven.

[escobert]

I usually go 5-6k between changes.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Is it possible to tell if your engine's low on oil from unusual sounds or behavior?

Yes, but by the time your oil is old and/or low enough to cause engine noises it's almost always too late.

[Mirage]

well, it's been going for 4000 km after my most recent oil change so it's most likely not broken . The radiator fan got a tear in it though, so it's making a bit of noise when my car's idling or driving slowly. It's not critical, some auto repair guy said.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Yeah, it sounds like another noise. Most noises aren't good, but a weak cooling fan is much better than an oil starved bearing.

[Mirage]

speaking of sounds. the bearing for my right rear wheel broke. my car needed to be towed like 4 hours from my parents place. I was trying to make it all the way there, but after 500 miles on an already noisy bearing, it got so bad that my car became too unstable to drive.