myversa

字典仔: I hardly did any maintenance for my old car after the first 3-4 years.  Even after 10 years, I only did some oil change by myself once a while (without changing the filter thing).  It was a basic car without air con and power anything (windows, steering).  The big problem came in the last 2 years of its life, I tried to fix it but cannot.  But actually it was from 1992 to 2008 so 16 years in total and 14 years of big trouble free.

If I did the maintenance properly the car might have lasted longer...

字典仔

myversa: what do you have before?

honestly, i have many friends doing their own oil change too. but when a car gets older and older, it needs more and more attention. I have had friends who used to bring me their cars only every 2 years or 25k to do all the fluid and they will take care their own oil and filter change / tire rotation...

example: friend's in-laws has a 05 corolla, he takes care of it for them till 80k and knows that the car is seriously in needed for a tune up; after we got all the rest of the stuff done it makes a dramatic diff and now his in-law knows, even a new car with only about 80k, not only oil change is needed

i am sure if you take care of your car better, it could have lasted much longer and you might not need a new car soooo soon, but just keep in mind, take good care of this one now!

shutterbug

What needs to be done on a 80k 05 Corolla beside oil change, tranny flush, air filter, brakes, maybe a serp belt, maybe an injector flush if crappy gas used?  I can't think of any right now that will greatly improve it's performance.

Cars nowadays *almost* maintenance free until 160k compared to the old days.

字典仔

33# shutterbug


this is what i did:

transmission fluid (was very dirty)
brake fluid (very dirty)
coolant
power steering fluid (customer requested)
clean and adjusted rear brakes
air filter
pollen filter
drive belt
spark plugs

i know it's not much, but more than you think; more significantly is the car is soooo much smoother afterwards

and i dunno what you meant by maintenance free, that can be pretty mis-leading, like those car manufacturers...i have seen someone who bought a Malibu, was advestised it doesn't need its first tune up until 160k...turned out he toasted his engine at 25k without not even one oil change...

myversa

字典仔: I am already very pleased that my old car can run that long.  Of course I want to take good care of my new car.  I sent my car to dealer every time for maintenance so far.  I am thinking somewhere else when my car is not under warranty anymore.  Any place in mind that can do nissan maintenance?

字典仔

to be honest taking it back to the dealership is not necessary as it depends on the mechanic himself, not the dealership / general shop etc...

i am sure there are some good places out there, you might have to try them before you know if they are any good (same thing for dealer, I could easily tell you if they do a great job or if they did a ****ty one)?!

the most important thing is to know your ride better then you can probably make it last much longer

shutterbug

33# shutterbug


this is what i did:

transmission fluid (was very dirty)
brake fluid (very dirty)
coolant
power steering fluid (customer requested)
clean and adjusted rear brakes
air filter
pollen  ...
字典仔 發表於 2009-12-11 18:41

OK this is what I think.

Of the things you listed, these are not required on the maint schedule for 80k: coolant (long life one), power steering fluid, spark plugs (iridium)

Brake fluid should be changed at the same time when brakes are changed.  I always recommend that.  Pollen filter doesn't have anything to do with the driveability of the car so it was not included in my thought, just like wiper blades.  So what you have there is just what I thought.  I don't think it will improve performance that much lor.

What I meant by maint free is nowadays you don't really need to tune anything like the old days, i.e. carb, timing, adjust valve lash, etc.  When you go get a service, it's mostly just "inspection".

字典仔

37# shutterbug

冇錯而家d coolant話就話係long life, 不過如果你八萬公里都冇換過就會好似我個朋友咁, 想claim個warranty又要搵呢個果個黎睇下係唔係真係會cover, 又話dealership好去decline 佢, 一睇就知佢保養得唔好啦...

係, 八萬公里有問題係唔常見, 咁冇耐就會過左保養期, 到最好塞水箱之類既問題唔知會唔會貴過換水箱水呢?

軑油係個朋友叫換既, 咪換囉 (不過都真係幾污衊)

火咀, 好多人都會覺得架車涷車易著左, 又會慳油d ~ 好似我個朋友咁, 平均一架corolla都渣到50 to 60km一tank, not bad; 最重要都係架車順左...

brake油, 係應該每兩年(或我會每兩萬五)換一次, 等得整brake黎都最少四萬幾公里, 如果好似我有個朋友咁, 八萬幾先第一次整brake咁咪四/五年都唔駛換?

pollen filter去會令driveability 好d既, 試問如果個司機成日都吸入一d唔乾淨既空氣:



老實講, 個司機都好重要架!

現今既車可以調較既野係唔多, 所以一架保養得唔好既車往往都會百病纏身, 得閒又有check engine light, 再唔係又漏油又漏水, 總之三兩萬已經可以見到小分別, 十萬八萬已經會幾明顯架喇 (不過, 架車好多時候都仲渣得, 睇下幾時死d咩咁?!

好似別一個老友記講, 你保養得咁好將來邊有人買新車? 邊到有人會講"祝我既下一手車主好運"?

shutterbug

When there's raditor leak, a lot of the time it's not because of the long life coolant going bad.  Many times it's because bad quality rad in the first place, engine overheated before or other engine problem, problem in other parts of the cooling system, owner put wrong coolant, live in a salty area, got hit, etc

Iridium plugs are rated for 160k, so at 100k they should still have plenty of life.  Now of course these iridium plugs must be of good quality in the first place.  Some domestic although they say 160k, they are faulty at 60k.  I replaced them on a Corolla at 160k and the plugs that came out still look fine, never missfire or have any other driveablilty problem and no obvious improvement after I put in new plugs.

Btw, I've always thought that pollen filter is not needed for everyone.  Unless you have asthma or other breathing issue, you don't need it.  How many people drive with their windows down?  If you walk in downtown the air is much worse?  Anyway, it's not hard to do and the dealership can rip you off by doing this.  For normal people, the only pollen filter you need is your nostrils...LOL

字典仔

disagree, a friend just blew up his radiator last week when it's minus, coolant has never been changed by just over 100k and he was lucky to have noticed the temp goes up even on a freezing day, as soon as he stopped he saw smoke coming out from the engine bay...radiator is cracked...same for another friend who has bought an used car and cheap out from doing coolant flush, both thought they have to do timing belt soon "yet they still dun have it done yet because the radiator replacement has costed them extra in their budget and xmas is coming up, blah blah blah"...

yeah maybe car nowadays always come with bad quality rad in the first place, and it's designed can't really take overheating; if the coolant has never been change, how can it be wrong (i know, some time body shop uses the wrong type of coolant etc, have seen that many times)? radiator looks fine when it's taken out (no sign of overheated) or any sort of impact...

So you didn't notice any diff in cranking or gas mileage when replacing by 160k? I dunno how you mean by plugs that came out still look fine, did you measure the gap? maybe you should keep using them then...

have done cars that didn't have their plugs replaced regularly and overheated the ignition coil; of course, if the 160k you have has quite a bit of hwy mileage, then it will be better than a lot of ppl with mostly city stop and go driving; have you looked thru the spark plug holes and see how much carbon gets built up on the piston? Showed my friend the other day, replacing his plugs at 153k (we thinks it's the possibly the first time, used car), lots of carbon gets build up on the piston and I have told him to keep it up better otherwise it will be a nightmare later; he noticed easily cranking up and better gas mileage too?! what type of plugs did you put in? also he has used some Motul fuel system cleaner after all the service was done and again, car feels significantly better...

it's always your choice for doing pollen filter or not, there are always thing that you don't have to do, like my friend's yaris at 53k i can pull over 10 clicks on his e-brake and even tho with 90% front pad the stopping distance on that car is just bad! after a simple clean and adjust on the rear brake again it makes a huge diff too, who says rear brake has to adjust "regularly" (only when it needs to, just like this case, so worse!)....