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Quarter Million Mile Club
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Getting into the quarter million mile club is something that only happens to those who plan. Very few get lucky. Getting that many miles is not a real-win if you hear someone say “I got 300k miles on my car and I only put 1 motor and 2 transmissions on it”. That just does not make any sense to me. Yes, certain things happen, but with the correct measures taken and with out a driver introduced failure I.E. race car driver syndrome.These type of drivers can ruin major components like engines, transmissions, and brakes very quickly, so drive wisely. It’s not hard to make that commitment to make your car last and join the quarter million mile club.
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Step 1
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The number one thing is always change your oil, even though we do not always do it. It is called keep your oil clean and full. We end up having to change oil every 3 to 4K for that. There used to be that we could add filtering to your engine oil, keeping it clean longer. When I was a boy, my father would install a “toilet-paper” canister filter in his car. He changed it every 4 to 6K miles he boasted to me how much money he was keeping and how clean his oil was. His oil stayed in about 15k miles. I have not seen these types of filters in over twenty years, but they were standard in old Mercedes Benz’s. I am not an engineer, but why don’t we use things like this today? Change your oil as recommend by manufactures, keep it full.
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Step 2
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Manufactures recommendations fluctuate from 2 to 4 years or no more than 30 to 50 thousand miles depending on your vehicle for a coolant exchange. The word flush has been just hammered. But yes, a coolant flush. The coolant is the water and anti-freeze mix that has been changing into a silent killer. Working inside your motor like a cancer old anti-freeze / coolant is eating away at the seals, gaskets, and metals. As time goes by it becomes as much and sometimes more corrosive than tap-water itself. Taking on metals and electrical charges that will only most certainly be felt in the pocket at 100 thousand miles or more. Depending on the type of corrosive failure this could be another car that does not make it into the 1/4 mile club due to the link of bad coolant or a hose manufacture.
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Step 3 |
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If your shop does not talk to you about replacing your hoses, they do not know their job, and they just want your dollars. We used to recommend replacing all coolant retaining hoses every 7 years or 75 thousand miles. We have learned that rubber is not what it used to be and the ozone layer hasn’t gotten any better which is the number one contributor to rubber degradation. We now recommend that you replace your hoses ever 5-7 years. Just because they feel or look good it doesn’t mean that the rubber isn’t deteriorated on the inside and that’s a ticking time bomb that will go off at the worst time possible and the expensive of being stranded and maybe damaging your motor from overheating. Overheating is the most costly and degrading event that can happen to your engine. Every time your engine overheats it just makes your motor and components weaker and weaker. AAA of Southern California recommends coolant hose replacement every 4 years. I’ve heard of places with higher temperatures such as Las Vegas, Nevada and Arizona where they recommend replacement every 3 years, and that makes sense to me.(Excerpt from AAA Auto Guide Making Sense of Car Care)
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Step 4 |
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Changing your Fuel filter “WILL” save you $$MONEY$$. Changing your fuel filter periodically will keep your expensive fuel pump alive as long as the electric parts continue to operate. Today’s fuel pumps are so strong they will pump past a solidly plugged filter. You will never feel anything till it quits. The problem is like blowing air threw a straw that is crimped on the end. You can blow real hard and you will get air out the other end but you will turn blue after awhile and get exhausted quickly. So with your fuel pump it will just wear itself out. Fuel pumps today are at the very least $400-$1000 installed. So we advise you to think about the price and do yourself a favor and your pocket by replacing your fuel filter regularly.
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Step 5 |
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Brake fluid should be done because its “hygroscopic”, it absorbs moisture. Moisture is corrosive and accelerates failure of components such as ABS components, master cylinders and wheel cylinders. As for safety issues, this goes without saying you are putting yourself and you’re your family in “HARMS WAY”. As the fluid absorbs, moisture it lowers its boiling point. That means when your brakes are used heavily liked down a grade, they might go into what is called “brake fade”. Brake fade is when the petal drops to the floor and you have no brakes. Scary Situation and I know many of you have heard of this happening to some one and even maybe yourself at one time. It has happened to me, once. Big trucks overheat their brakes even with good fluid, that is why they have those sandy/ gravel off shoots- down steep grades that looks like off ramps. Have your fluid tested regularly for that piece of mind and well for your safety.
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Step 6 |
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Another unseen killer, only unseen to the consumer until it consumes their money and time is “Spark plugs”. There are many different replacement times for spark plugs. Many manufactures recommend replacing spark plugs at, 100K or so. As the plug wears, it requires more electricity putting loads on expensive components such as coils, controllers, and spark plug wires. These items end up having to overwork and inurn decreasing there life span and eventually accelerating there failure. Even though some things are impossible to recommend because of perception, in a perfect scenario plugs should be changed at somewhere about 70-80%, life expectancy. For the most part just follow manufactures spec’s on this and apply the 70-80%, life expectancy rule.
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Step 7 |
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Now to extend the life of your transmission. Another major component. Transmission Issues today have become more and more computerized. With these advancements most problems occur from control issues. What is meant by this is usually the problem has something to do with the sensors, solenoids, or computers. Many times the issue is not just in the transmission, but under the hood. Everything is tied together sharing sensor information. Knowing this one must also be advised that cars and trucks still can end up needing major repairs, some even caused by a fifty dollar sensor. For the health and longevity of transmission you need to have your transmission serviced properly. It is what we call “Correct Service”, Correct Service is doing service for a true scientific reason with real results expected. Most of The industry has generalized many things. The three main things in transmission service and maintenance is One changing of your transmission fluids. Second replacing the filter. Third the replacing of transmission fluid and filter by dropping the transmission pan and flushing the system and refilling with new fluid. Now you would say that is a flush but it is not. A drain is fill is more extensive where you get all of the debris from the bottom of the transmission pan and refill with clean fresh fluid. That goes along with the change out of your filter.
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Step 8 |
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Keeping your car clean and free of dents is a what we all want for ourselves. There is nothing like a good looking well maintained car. When your vehicle looks good you feel good about it and enjoy the experience of driving it more. I remember ten years or so ago a financial planner was talking on a California local channel. He said take two couplexs with the same income, same expenses, and just let one buy a new car every 2 to 3 years and the other kept theirs 10 or something like that, the one that kept their car longer ended up with $500,0000 more retirement dollars that the other. Now that was 10 years ago, and with rising costs we want to stretch every penny for that retirement and your nest egg.
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Conclusion
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With all that said, these tips have been proven over years of trial and they really work. But never disregard Manufacturers Service recommendations because at the very least it’s a guide line for you to go by. Skewed as they sometimes are, they are what we say as base line mileage or time indicators for service and replacement on your vehicle. Secondly I have not included many services that are manufacturer/model or drive train specific which is also are very important in regards to service recommendations including time and mileage. Driving a high mileage vehicle should not equate too feeling unsafe or being towed all the time. It should not defeat the purpose of why you are keeping your car. With the right technician and shop you should achieve all of that.
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Manufacturers recommend service recommendations have become part of there sales pitch. “Hey, you do not have to spend as much money on service”. I’ll have to say technology in oils and chemicals, and in conductive metals have made things last longer but beware of “misleading statements” as some I’ve already mentioned in this article. It boils down to observation by you and well C & M. That is why oil changes are your real “pit stop”. Time to do the health check-up, how is the trans fluid holding up with your driving? There are just a couple things to watch out for in the 30-60K miles range. But this sets up a whole range of things to come. Quick oil change places are vary convenient for you and us but have your oil changed by a real technician at least at 15K intervals. And be careful having the manufacturer take care of the car the first years “because it is still under warranty.” That’s like having the wolf watch the chicken coop. Many times I have performed a minor service up and reported to the costumer did you get your 60 K service, and the response was “yes, at the dealer, I was still under warranty”. Well, at least they paid for it. They had the right intentions but not their right service for the right reasons.
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