Crosswords4 mins ago
Have You Cut Back On Servicing?
Have you cut back on the service requirements on you car & in what way?
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Remember the old Morris Minors. They had cup and ball steering trunnions.They relied on lube to stop wear and the ball falling out the cup. Bit like a human hip/knee joint. Saw many Morris Minors with a front wheel collapsed horizontal on the road. That was due to lack of servicing. Think of the consequences at top speed (55mph :-) ) on a motorway if a wheel joint popped out. :-(
T'would be false economy; sold the Audi and now only have my immaculate orange Honda CRV, which is now 19 years old and has had every service by Honda using of course only genuine spares. It's not worth a lot (though people keep leaving notes on it asking if I want to sell it) but she performs beautifully and I see no reason to part with it.
retro; I've spent many an hour crawling about under an MGB with a grease gun and crud in my eye.
retro; I've spent many an hour crawling about under an MGB with a grease gun and crud in my eye.
Chris;// I might get the oil & filters changed every 50,000 miles or so but that's about it.//
What kind car are you driving here? Changing the oil in your car every 3,000 miles was necessary in the 1970s, when most cars used 10W-40 oil, which tended to wear out within about 3,000 miles. Thanks to improvements in high-quality lubricants and tighter tolerances in the assembly of automotive engines, the 3,000-mile baseline simply does not apply to many cars on the road today; in fact, automakers now recommend you change oil at 5,000, 7,000, 10,000 or even as high as 15,000 miles for newer models under ideal driving conditions. For example, Toyota recommends you change oil at 5,000 miles, Honda recommends 7,500 miles, General Motors suggests 7,500 miles, and Ford recommends 10,000 miles. A 2008 Porsche Boxster can go 12,000 miles between changes, and a 2010 BMW 3 Series can go up to 15,000 miles before you change oil.
I always changed oil and filters on my Jaguars at 6,000 miles.
50,000 miles!! It is little wonder that you "drive it until it stops".
What kind car are you driving here? Changing the oil in your car every 3,000 miles was necessary in the 1970s, when most cars used 10W-40 oil, which tended to wear out within about 3,000 miles. Thanks to improvements in high-quality lubricants and tighter tolerances in the assembly of automotive engines, the 3,000-mile baseline simply does not apply to many cars on the road today; in fact, automakers now recommend you change oil at 5,000, 7,000, 10,000 or even as high as 15,000 miles for newer models under ideal driving conditions. For example, Toyota recommends you change oil at 5,000 miles, Honda recommends 7,500 miles, General Motors suggests 7,500 miles, and Ford recommends 10,000 miles. A 2008 Porsche Boxster can go 12,000 miles between changes, and a 2010 BMW 3 Series can go up to 15,000 miles before you change oil.
I always changed oil and filters on my Jaguars at 6,000 miles.
50,000 miles!! It is little wonder that you "drive it until it stops".
I never pay more than £500 for a car, Khandro. (I know several people who never pay more than £200).
I'm currently driving a 15-year-old Ford Escort Estate that I bought with 85,000 miles on the clock 5 or 6 years ago. The Ford dealership I was working for had paid £300 for it as a trade-in and they would have put in on their forecourt at around £1400 if they'd done it up. (It's got alloy wheels, air-conditioning, etc, etc).
I bought it off them, as a 'trade purchase' for £350 and then paid another £120 to get it roadworthy. (It needed a couple of wishbones).
Unfortunately the head gasket went a few months later, costing me £487 to fix. That was the last time that it had fresh oil in it and it's got over 140,000 miles on the clock now.
The fuel efficiency has recently dropped (for 'around town' travel) from about 42mpg to 36mpg, so I reckon that the air filter might need changing. So I'll probably get the oil changed at the same time in the next week or two.
Of course it's had little jobs done to it from time to time (such as new brake discs and some welding to get it through the MOT test) but I would still hope to get another 20,000 miles out of it and then get £150 scrap value for it. So, given that it effectively cost me £470 to buy, I'll have lost £320 in depreciation for 75,000 miles driving.
With those economics, I'm hardly going to spend hundreds of pounds per year on servicing it, am I?
I'm currently driving a 15-year-old Ford Escort Estate that I bought with 85,000 miles on the clock 5 or 6 years ago. The Ford dealership I was working for had paid £300 for it as a trade-in and they would have put in on their forecourt at around £1400 if they'd done it up. (It's got alloy wheels, air-conditioning, etc, etc).
I bought it off them, as a 'trade purchase' for £350 and then paid another £120 to get it roadworthy. (It needed a couple of wishbones).
Unfortunately the head gasket went a few months later, costing me £487 to fix. That was the last time that it had fresh oil in it and it's got over 140,000 miles on the clock now.
The fuel efficiency has recently dropped (for 'around town' travel) from about 42mpg to 36mpg, so I reckon that the air filter might need changing. So I'll probably get the oil changed at the same time in the next week or two.
Of course it's had little jobs done to it from time to time (such as new brake discs and some welding to get it through the MOT test) but I would still hope to get another 20,000 miles out of it and then get £150 scrap value for it. So, given that it effectively cost me £470 to buy, I'll have lost £320 in depreciation for 75,000 miles driving.
With those economics, I'm hardly going to spend hundreds of pounds per year on servicing it, am I?
Great Chris. Ever consider what helps your vehicle stop( especially in an emergency) ?
Brake fluid is hygroscopic. If it isn't changed on a regular basis you could get vapour lock . Means you brake and the soft pedal goes to the floor with no retardation.Next thing you know you have an Artic tailgate greeting your face in an emergency braking situation.
Brake master and slave cylinders contain several small rubber seals that deteriorate in time . If a service does not reveal the loss of fluid as a result of a seal defect you also lose the fluid that operates your hydraulic brakes but of course are now NON hydraulic and useless. Worth considering when you are putting other road users and pedestrians at risk for the sake of saving a few quid.
Brake fluid is hygroscopic. If it isn't changed on a regular basis you could get vapour lock . Means you brake and the soft pedal goes to the floor with no retardation.Next thing you know you have an Artic tailgate greeting your face in an emergency braking situation.
Brake master and slave cylinders contain several small rubber seals that deteriorate in time . If a service does not reveal the loss of fluid as a result of a seal defect you also lose the fluid that operates your hydraulic brakes but of course are now NON hydraulic and useless. Worth considering when you are putting other road users and pedestrians at risk for the sake of saving a few quid.
Hygroscopic Brake fluid and brake fade/failure
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