Some new vehicles can store and display all kinda info. There are too many information. Oil life percentage indicator change rate varies as well. In winter numbers go down faster than summer. After highway cruising it goes down faster. I don't do stop and go type driving much. Freeway and ring road is only couple blocks from home so as soon as I leave home heading downtown it is freeway driving doing ~70mph. When I go out to our cabin we're on ring road doing ~80mph. It keeps the engine clean and engine lasts longer.
I've not yet looked into the OBD software -- instead, just trying to get a feel for what the *driver* sees.
Exactly. *Our* style of driving is "short hops" -- often JUST "many blocks" between stops. E.g., "grocery day" consists of perhaps 6 stops over a course of 4 or 5 miles. Hence the reason our average speed is so low. The car spends all of its time "getting started" instead of *running*. Couple that with any bias the software may *deliberately* introduce for "first service" and we expect the maintenance interval to be short. But, if it turns out ot be just 3K miles, we'll be very concerned with the
Most of them aren't all that hidden. Back in the '90s tires were going for around $270 a pop and there's a lot of them. When you're driving at least ten hours a day you have plenty of time to think about things, so I investigated buying a rig rather than being a company driver. My conclusion was most owner operators thought they were making money because they were better drivers than bookkeepers. The golden age of trucking was long gone by then.
Consider fuel. Fuel economy has improved but then you were doing good to average 6 mpg and you could run about 600 miles a day legally assuming you could get the loads. So you're buying 100 gallons about every day. At least you get a free shower most times.
I thought about hot shots:
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The lower entry and operating costs are attractive. The biggest problem is the areas where hot shots are most feasible are places I don't want to be.
I know exactly what happens for my oil changes. I pull into the driveway, put a pan under the engine, and remove the drain plug. While it's draining, I get out 4 quarts of oil and a filter. When the oil is drained, I remove the filter, being careful not to drop it into the pan of old oil. Screw a new filter on, replace the plug, and refill the engine. Start it up to check for leaks, then turn it off and recheck the oil level adding a little more if needed. Reset the check engine light, record the mileage in the maintenance book, and I'm good to go. It takes almost a half hour if I get distracted.
Oh yeah, and while I'm on the ground removing the plug, I check to make sure there are no dead skunks caught in the suspension and so forth.
If you fill the filter with oil before screwing it on, you won't have to add, later. I've found that you can get a *lot* of oil into a DRY filter -- even if the filter is mounted "opening down" (e.g., like on Subaru's). The filter pleats capture and hold the oil (even if you can't *completely* fill the filter due to risk of it running out while you are screwing it on. "Wetting" the O-ring on the filter with a bit of fresh oil also helps improve the seal to the block.
I've a box of surgical gloves that I *never* remember to wear (just one hand) until after I've finished. On those times when I do, it makes it a lot easier to clean up (put the used filter *in* the glove after taking the glove off so it doesn't leak oil unexpectedly).
I add all the other ancillary "checks" at the same time:
- power steering fluid (on cars that have PS pumps)
- brake fluid
- windshield washer fluid
- coolant level
- specific gravity of each battery cell
- check CV boots
- run my finger along the rotors to check if they're getting "grooved"
- lubricate door/hood/trunk locks
- cursory examination of the vehicle's undercarriage
Afterwards, I give a cursory examination of the waste oil -- looking for other fluids (none!), metal chips, etc.
It's still a 30 minute job. And, you KNOW the oil got changed, the drain plug *did* get reinstalled, etc.
If you take a lot of short trips the oil can get contaminated with moisture as it is not heated up enough to get rid of it. Over time things can start to gum up, I'm told, thus the 6 month recommendation. My wife's car used to be changed once a year. She never hit the miles mark.
I think it's a good idea to get under, and write the oil change date on the oil filter, permanant marker. That way you can tell if they did the work, by the color of the oil and the date on the filter.
One friend of mine in South Carolina had one of those oil non-changes. He wasn't pleased.
My van has an oil leak, and I'm currently in the process of looking for an affordable part. The dealership was going to charge $590 for the parts to fix the oil filter adapter, and about $100 in labor. Right now I just add more oil to it occasionally.
I've heard that older vehicles are held together by the old oil and if you change it the motor thinks the world is coming to an end and won't start any more.
I skipped that step in my description, thanks. The Yaris and F150 both have filters that mount right side up. Then there are innie and outie filters. I prefer Swix or Napa Gold because when they punch the base plate and thread it the threads are on the inside of the filter they are easier to get started. Hard to explain without a picture.
Two of the bikes have the filters mounted sideways. The other bike is old school and has a replaceable element, not a cartridge.
I sort of mentally included them in the dead skunk check. After all, while you're waiting for the oil to drain, you might as well inventory the engine compartment, make sure nobody stole the alternator, etc.
I've got the feeling 95% of today's drivers have never actually laid their eyes on the engine of their vehicle. Only factory trained experts are allowed to pop the hood latch.
how old is old? Back before detergent oil you definitely didn't want to stir the shit up. Back when you adjusted valve clearance, I've pulled valve covers to find what looked like a thick coating of grease. suddenly introducing them to detergent oil wasn't a good idea. I think that's where the paranoia about going from dino to synthetic came from.
So far we're all reviewing/refreshing common sense knowledge gained over time. Sign of us getting old? I quit doing all those things crawling under car. Buy a new car, visit dealer when service code comes on. Drive until odometer hits ~200K miles, go buy another car trading in the old one. I have two more new cars to buy now. One for me, one for wife. Now I have to go, get med. exam. to renew my license for another 5 years.
Yup. One reason I dislike the oil change places is they barely give the oil time to leave the pan before they've got the drain plug back installed and are squirting oil from a multi-choice nozzle into the vehicle (how much of the oil selected by the *previous* customer is present in that hose??)
While looking at cars, recently, I'd routinely pop the hood to check to see what sort of maintenance hassles I would likely encounter. If I couldn't *find* something (e.g., the first vehicle I looked at had electric power steering -- "Where's the power steering reservoir?"), I'd ask the salesman.
Talk about dumb-as-a-post... none of them knew the least bit about what's under the hood. They were more interested in how many *seats* it had or how fancy the sound system, etc.
[You'd think these guys would express an interest in the PRODUCT they are selling! Esp as they probably spend a large fraction of their day sitting around waiting for customers!]
Yeah, one would think that and one would be dead wrong. Reminds me that the only difference between a car salesman and a computer technician is that the car salesman KNOWS when he's lying to you! ;)
Yeah, I've got a dwell tach, timing light, and vacuum/pressure gauge that are getting really lonely. I checked the valve gap on one of the bikes a few weeks ago just for old times' sake but they were good.
I've been working on cars for well over fifty years and it's sort of a habit. I figure it's sort of a test. When I get down on the ground and have to call a neighbor to help me up it's time for the exit plan.
Besides with the bikes I'm a little paranoid. More than one person has had an unexpected exit from this vale of tears because a mechanic forgot to replace an axle nut, etc. I'm not saying I've never screwed anything up but I don't need professional help to do so.
I had a 2007 Yaris that suffered death by snowplow in 2011. I liked it so I didn't bother shopping around and just went back for another one. The salesman was trying to show me the features of the car and not doing a good job. Finally I just said 'I've been driving an essentially identical car for the last three years. Let's just go back to your office and get this done.' That was fun too. I told him I was paying cash but he just couldn't help going off on his pre-programmed financing spiel.
I think what was under the hood was safe from that guy. I had to show him how to open the hatchback and that's strictly turn the key and push.
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