Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 135184	2013-10-05 07:14:00	How much car servicing is really essential?	Nomad (952)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1355168	2013-10-06 09:27:00	It isn't about money. The theory is that a slightly dirty filter will actually become more efficient. Look at your car's manual, chances are you will see the recommendation is every second oil change. Or ask any unbiased mechanic. it may only be under light conditions, not the conditions most drive. one trap you have to check when reading manuals. long maintenance intervals is a selling point and open to marketing. also its highly dependent on what vehicle and also what brand filter are used. especially with dual stage filters, often the finer stage clogs really quickly and some brands do away with the finer stage turning it into a single stage filter. something your only going to find out by cutting the filter open. with my own its the other way around, replace just the filter. the oil is good for 10k but filter clogs up within 5k. very noticeable on the oil pressure gauge.	tweak'e (69)
1355169	2013-10-06 18:48:00	What I am trying to say is ... if one picks up a used car like a Corolla 6 or 8yrs used, fairly typical, fairly price 4 digits does the expense in the thorough maintenance work out when by the time they flick it off the vehicle's 15 or 18yrs used anyway it may not be worth much. All my cars have been at least 18 years old when I bought them. The current one, it had been well maintained, that was obvious from it's condition. I checked, then took mechanic, he was very pleased. It's had no issues at all, as it was on 170,000LM I had the cam belt and water pump replaced now...a bit early perhaps, but then better safe than sorry. We continue to do it's maintenance regularly. Husbands ute is a 1986. Always been maintained and hence still going strong. You may think a 15 yr old car is worthless, and many are - because they weren't looked after......but many are fine and these are the ones sought after for those with limited budgets and an aversion to paying off thousands on cars.	pctek (84)
1355170	2013-10-06 19:40:00	I put mine in the local garage every 10,000 km for a service, just oil & filter +check the rest. I used to do it myself but it's too hard to even get at the filter these days and the garage doesn't charge me much more than the oil & filter would cost me. I also stopped worrying about the exact km since the last service and just do it whenever the odo hits a round number - 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, etc. My last car ('92 corolla) did over 160,000 km with no mechanical failures this way - 130,000 of them while I owned it. Actually there was a bluebird after that I forgot, but I didn't own it long enough to use as a reference. I've had 3 cars stolen over the years and gotten all 3 back in a state not worth having. My work corolla, I rang the dealer after 12 months to ask about when to do the first service expecting to book it in. They said 15,000 km and no mention of a time period. It was well under, would take 2-3 years to hit 15k, but we got it serviced anyway due to the lease agreement.	dugimodo (138)
1355171	2013-10-06 19:44:00	I've had a very good experience with AA, so I won't say anything negative about them. I had a fused headlight, but I still took it down to get [fail, and get me 28 days] a WOF. The guy at AA, changed it. While this might seem like a little tiny job, for my car it isn't. You actually have to remove the battery before you can get it in. Probably took him as long as it did for the rest of the warrant. Only charged me 3.50$ for it, too. Good on him. My car is 20 years old, had it for over 6 years now. No real issues. Nearly 300k on the clock, still going hard. If you drive it well, service it when need be, it'll last you a while if that is your intent. Going overboard on servicing won't make it last any longer. As for resale value, honestly few people will be swayed by servicing records. In contrary, I had bad experiences with them - no difference from those 'other' bad guys.	bk T (215)
1355172	2013-10-06 20:48:00	My Local Midas was pretty much the same price as the local garage/mechanic. In fact the Midas guy said he can match any price . All these places do charge quite a bit for basic parts though, I can get spark plugs from supercheap for considerably less than what they charged me. Ive had more issues with various local garages/mechanics than Midas. Midas allways did a good job, various local mechanics didnt. Basic stuff like not putting in antifreeze, leaving multiple engine cables unplugged( radiator fan left unconnected) etc etc	1101 (13337)
1355173	2013-10-07 00:00:00	I bought a unloved 92 prelude with 260K on the clock recently for about $1600. Looks like nothing had been attended to in about 50K or so (apart from oil). For about $300 I went and bought OEM oil filter, ATF, air filter, and rocker cover gasket, plus generic oil, coolant and spark plugs. In a month or so I'll do the oil and ATF again - much cheaper than paying $100 - $200 for a garage to "flush" either system and less risk of actually making **** worse by dislodging a few years worth of crud with the sucky machine. I'd barely opened the hood of car before this (thanks youtube!). The only reason I'll take it to the shop is to replace steering rack boot, rotate the tyres and get a balance/alignment (fronts have less tread than rears) which I'll probably do when next WOF is due. [/cool story bro] So really to answer OP's question, other than all the fluids (which most people can do themselves) and the belts (which most people can't) I don't think it's economical to do much preventative maintenance on older cars. Just get an underbody inspection done every WOF by someone competent and replace boots/bushes etc when they first start to degrade, because they really can cause i$$ues after failing. But things like circulation valve replacement for instance? I think most manufacturers recommend replacement around 150,000km. You might get slightly better efficiency after replacing it, but it's not a common part to fail, so is it worth paying $400 to do it? Not IMO.	pablo d (15490)
1355174	2013-10-07 00:04:00	Also interesting to note is that the manufacturer's replacement period for the timing belt on most older Honda's is 160,000KM, not 100,000KM, yet there is so much fear around this component failing that nobody seems to ever let it tick past 120,000KM.	pablo d (15490)
1355175	2013-10-07 00:21:00	Also interesting to note is that the manufacturer's replacement period for the timing belt on most older Honda's is 160,000KM, not 100,000KM, yet there is so much fear around this component failing that nobody seems to ever let it tick past 120,000KM. Probably cause if the cambelt fails you will be picking up the engine internals off the road.	DeSade (984)
1355176	2013-10-07 01:19:00	I put mine in the local garage every 10,000 km My last car ('92 corolla) did over 160,000 km with no mechanical failures this way 160,000? LOL, it's just a baby.... Husbands ute is, as far as we can tell, around 500,000. Oil should be done more often. Say 5000 - 8000.	pctek (84)
1355177	2013-10-07 03:49:00	My last car ('92 corolla) did over 160,000 km with no mechanical failures this way - More likely its because its one of the most reliable cars ever made, nothing to do with the service history My Mazda did 330000Km, and had no regular servicing for the latter 1/2 of its life . I only retired it as I didnt want to pay for a new clutch.	1101 (13337)
1 2 3 4 5 6