The first gen V-6 had the family DNA. It had a rear main seal that rotated. When the planets were aligned correctly it spewed oil on the exhaust manifold. I got tired of explaining to people my car was not on fire. A few days later it would rotate so the split wasn't lined up and all was good. At $200 1983 dollars to fix it, oil was cheaper. Kept the mosquitoes down too.
I think a lot of us had cars like that at one time.
Pullin the gas station (back when they actually pumped gas for you) tell them to fill it up with oil and check the gas. I had a Dodge that had a leak on the rear end. Jut told the man to put in the thickes tgrease he had about once a month.
Ditto. My 2008 Ranger now has 8300 miles on it. Oil and filter every six months. Had to replace the tires after 4 years (dry rot, despite the tires not ever getting direct sunshine where it is parked) and the wiper blades twice so far....
-dan z-
My first car was a 10 year old '49 Chevy. Changed the oil every 1,000 miles and plugs replaced or cleaned every 6 months. I used it 3 years to commute to the university. When I sold it, it was using a quart of oil and a quart of antifreeze every week. Engine seized the first time the new owner used it but he had bought it as a spare for $25 and did not care. I had paid $225 for it and got a rebuilt carburetor installed for $25.
My 1961 Morris Mini 850 gave consistently high fuel mileage - average
49.6 MPG all the time I owned it, but at about 200,000 miles it was going through up to a quart in 50 miles of oil. It was "fill up the oil and check the gas" untill I rebuilt the engine. Half the rings were so soft you could twist them like a noodle, the other half were hard as glass, several in multiple pieces. There was NO MEASURABLE WEAR on either the block or the crank. When I stood the exhaust up in the corner of the shop several quarts of "tar" drained out of the muffler - it was going through so fast it didn't even completely burn- - - No leaks though. just a few nasty black stains where the exhaust parts joined -.
The only car I've ever driven that was faster in 3rd than in 4th gear.
I had a mid 80s Chrysler Lebaron coupe that I really liked and was fairly rare, most were convertibles. The engine ate a quart of oil every fillup. I am still not sure where it went because it didn't drip or smoke. I guess the emission control ate it. When it became oil between fillups I traded it on the 21 year old Honda I am driving now.
Wife and I own Subaru Foresters but these are only made in Japan.
In this whole discussion, if your car is still under warranty it is important to maintain warranty service.
My old Forester had a head gasket failure at 40k but was 2 years out of warranty and I had to pay for a new gasket which was not cheap. Happened to bump into family friend who works for Subaru of America and he told me to call the Subaru help line and tell them that even out of warranty failure should not have happened. Ended up with getting about a third of the repair price back but had to provide proof that I had kept up service. They accepted my hand written notes in a log book I keep for the car as I changed oil myself.
Old cars, do what you want but new cars you should do service as specified in the manual.
If it was the V6 I have a pretty good idea where it went. I had a
1988 Lebaron with the 3.0 liter Mitsushitty engine and it started slurping oil - no drips - no smoke. I figured it out when the catalytic converter melted down - the valve guides were so loose when I removed the valve springs to replace the seals they felt like a floor mounted gearshift. The converter was cleaning up all the smoke. When I dropped the pipe there was a blue cloud. The converter was still handling the smoke, but it was rattling something AWFUL.I put rebuilt heads on it and drove it another 100,000km or so, then sold it.
And if you excede the requirements - use better oil or change oftener, it never hurts. I got out of warranty failures covered by Toyota ( as dealership service manager) for good customers more often than not. Didn't have many failures of any type on vehicles our dealership serviced - but of the very few we had, the majority were looked after if they were reasonably close - like over mileage but under time, or over time but under mileage -or just over both.
Most of my customers fell into the "severe" service class - with either a lot of short trip in-town driving or high speed heavy long distance driving, so I saw most customers 3 or 4 times a year for service.
Never had a camshaft wear problem on any of my customer's vehicles - yet did quite a few for vehicles that had been serviced elsewhere on the M series (Cresida, Corona Mk2, and supra) and early R series (Celica, Corona, Hilux) engines - same with chain tensioners. Might have had one or two out of 600 or so of my customers' vehicles with timing chain tensioner/guide problems - yet we did a fair number on vehicles serviced elsewhere (or not serviced)
Maintenance IS important - and lubrication is the most important maintenance.
That's pushing the limit. I change oil once a year. That works for me. But I have gone 1 1/2 years if I dont get it changed in fall, cuz I am not gonna freeze my ass off doing it in winter. I did not get it changed last fall, so i'm over a year now. As soon as the weather warms up, I'll be doing it. I live in a rural area, so most of my driving is longer trips. It takes at least 15 min. just to go to town, and I often go further.
The garage I bring it to has some kid of computer program that goes through all that and keep up with recall stuff too. I let him do whatever he needs. This biggest issue it the rubber band (timing belt). Subi now has direct drive, but that would mean I would have to get a new one and that is not going to happen.
Routine service does not need to be done at the dealer - but you should keep receipts - just in case. An annual visit to the dealer for some service isn't a bad idea .. Be aware - there are Technical Service Bullitens that your local garage might not find - these are not "Recalls" - but they can be quite important. example from long ago - ~ 1978 -79 GM new turbos - I knew 2 people who had the identical motor - both meticulously serviced - one by the owner ; one by the dealer. The self service guy had his motor blow on the highway without warning. When I told the other guy about it - he said the dealer replaced the turbo hoses with bigger heavier ones during his last oil change - no charge - didn't tell him or put it on the invoice... hmmm . The self-service guy raised enough stink - even though the car was way-out-of warranty the GM district rep agreed to split the repair cost. 50-50 John T.
The garage I use brags about getting the hard cases towed to them from the Dealer to fix.
And my Subi dealer is dishonest. They have this panel they bring you showing your that your Automatic Transmission fluid is all brown, meaning bad stuff. It should be red. My garage showed me what the stuff looks like and it is indeed brown. Said it hasn't been red for many, many years. The dealer lost ALL of my business.
Not warranty jobs .. they are the dealers bread & butter. You have a crooked dealer / service dept. ... known to exist. John T.
When they did the head gasket they also like to do water pump and timing belt as access is easy and cost minimal. Head was going again on my 13 year old Forester at only 65k so I traded it in and now have a '16 with different engine. I quit changing oil myself as I'm old and leaky too but can't trade myself in. The new Forester would be very easy not even needing ramps. There is a newer one coming out next month built on their new platform. Will be interesting to see. New Subaru SUV called the Ascent is here and will be at dealers this summer. Subaru is doing great in the USA and I believe sales here exceed those in Japan.
Love my Subi. All those years and I did not realize how much I loved to drive. Subi as the only car manufacturer to increase sales during Obama's Great Recession.
Trouble with Subi's new technology is that I love it but not enough to pry my my old one out of my hands! I love that car.
You trumpets really are one sad basket case. The economy was in freefall, B ush had the emergency creation of the TARP fund and was making the bailout loans before Obama was in office.
Your objectivity, your credibility is zilch.
Several years back I had a local Toyota dealer pull that same scam with my still-under-warranty Avalon. The sludge in the "My Fluid" tray compartment looked awful compared to the sparkling crisp red stuff in the "New Fluid" section. Stupidly I fell for it and agreed to an expensive flush of my properly-functioning transmission.
The transmission was never right after that. It no longer shifted smoothly and didn't kick down properly. I think some crud must have gotten dislodged in the process and plugged up some passageway or valve.
It was a fight but I got them to repeat the flush- which didn't help at all. Who knows, maybe they didn't actually do it again. I ended up going round and round with the dealer over two months but never got any real satisfaction. Eventually the Toyota Regional Distributor stepped up and offered a decent-sized check which I accepted- and shortly thereafter got rid of the car.
That dealership is still in business- but they don't get any of mine or my friends', neighbors' or relatives'!
I got a good deal on mine with our family friend guaranteeing below invoice price. I told the dealer that deal pended on good trade in for old and I got what I wanted. I had a friend in a similar situation with a Chevy SUV and price was good but he maybe got $500 in trade in. My wife does not like my new Forester as much as her old as it appears much bigger with about 3 inch height and width. With CVT it is very smooth. I might have liked their new auto-braking but you have to get a lot of extras like sun roof which I've never liked. Someone told me he hears of younger folks trading in cars, not because of wearing out, but to get the new electronics.
I'll probably be too old to drive in 10 years but by that time they will be self driving.
I LOVE when people trade excellent low mileage cars just toget the bells and whistles - then I can buy excellent low mileage cars with all the wrinkles ironed out, and without all the confusing new technology - for a good price!!
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