Car Maintenance

[nseries]

Hi Members,

Other than oil change for your car,how long you guys do car maintenance like changing brake fluid, auto transmission fluid or even change radiator water?The water inside the radiator might get rusty if mixed with coolant after a long time.

As for different kind of engines oil for your car,of course the fully synthetic fuel for newer cars but let's talk about older cars like in the 80s and 90s.Will fully synthetic with very thin oil is good for caburator engines?I heard from my local mechanics suggest that better not to use very thin oil for older engine as it might get noisy and so on..Or will it be better to use thicker like semi synthetic oil for older engines?

For tires, how long did you guys actually check the tire pressure once a while?Do you go for wheel balancing or wheel rotating every 6mths to keep the tire wear equally?

And lastly,cleaning of your car.How often do you guys watch your car? Could it be interior and exterior cleaning at the same time if you are cleaning your car?

 

[obi_waynne]

Brake fluid is changed every 2-4 years (I'm running DOT5 synthetic otherwise it would be nearer 2 depending on a fluid check)

Engine coolant - every 2 years with an anti freeze check every winter.

20w40 mineral oil is pretty good for older engines but it does depend a lot on the engine. Some with hydraulic tappets prefer a 20w50. Too thin an oil will usually lead to leaks and smoking.

Tyre pressure is checked once per week and if a tyre is down 2 times in the 2 weeks I suspect a puncture (not been wrong yet).

I clean my car regularly and fastidiously on a very regular schedule and then I clean the inside of the car also on a regular schedule without fail....... :embarrest: (6 monthly!)

 

[lutonmatt]

i do the bits on my car when ever i feel like most days after working on cars all day long you dont want to work on your own car but other days thats all you want to do

oil on a carb engine keep it thick as it will have tappets and some times push rods and they like thick oil to thin and it will start to be noisey and leak and smoke

new cars like thin oil 5/30ect

tyre pressure when ever i think it looks flat

clean maybe once a week or every other week all goes on the rain lol winter it never gets washed as its always raining summer that week of sun we get i wash it once and polish it

and as for the trans am that gets cleaned a day before a show or meet so maybe once twice a month

 

[HDi fun]

tappets and pushrods aren't exclusive to carb fed engines. The reason a more viscous oil may be appropriate is because the engine was designed to use it in the first place. And co-incidentally, carbs were the more common form of fuel metering at that time. So a 1981 engine with injectors will use the same oil as the carb fed variant.

Pushrods are rare now, not many engines have the camshaft located in the block these days.

Anyone played with the SU or Stromberg carbs that had oil dampers in them?

 

[lutonmatt]

they are bad things they are never in the co2 limits for the mot but you never adjust them to pass as they will never go up the road so i never bother with them

rebuild my quad jet carb on the trans am the other week loads of things on that took every thing off all screws the load cleaned back together and it work better then it did when i got the car

 

[HDi fun]

That's part of the fun, if you call it that

I saw a Ferrari 308 being MOT tested recently (last month) and it had some really silly HC figures, something like 19000 parts per million when the requirement is 200ppm.

Yet it seemed to be running very well

 

[nseries]

Currently im using a 10W40 Mineral oil for my 95 Lancer and i can see some smoke when the engine is cold.I guess there shouldn't be any issue with it.It doesnt make any difference if i change to 20W40 also.

I'll change brake fluid if i find the brake fluid is low or dirty.And as for cleaning,i will send my car for washing interior and exterior once a month.If it happens to rains,i'll wash the exterior on my own.Waxing will be perhaps once in 6months .

 

[obi_waynne]

nseries - If the smoke is white or even light grey on startup this is ok - if it is blue it could mean you are burning oil.

 

[nseries]

#8.

Wayne,yea its white but it smells.When the engine is warm up already,the smoke is gone.Still can smell abit of burning fuels.Thanks for the info.

Cheers

 

[HDi fun]

A little puff of blue at startup is no big deal. Probably just valve stem seals

 

[obi_waynne]

Yup - its when it keeps going or your neighbours start turning on there fog lights you want to start worrying.

 

[ChrisGMOC]

I clean car/s every week weather permitting, inside & out, polish & wax every 3-4 months. water, oil etc checked every month & fixed were needed, otherwise changed once a yr. Tyres checked weekly.

Chris.. :blink1:

 

[Juddian]

Here we go.

Oil and filters usually half the recommended interval, 4.5K on the hilux, 5K on the older MB, yes i know i'm wasting money and half been told many times, but my motors last for ever so i'll carry on regardless.
Hilux is still under warranty so gets the genuine 10/40 semi, very reasonably priced too, MB gets Fuchs synthetic 10/40, but i usually let my indy do the servicing on that, he's very reasonable and his work is first class.
Auto gearboxes get oil and filter change at 25 to 30K. same with rear diffs, i only have RWD cars (until i get a legacy 3.0 litre hopefully).
Coolant 3 years or so, i use the comma 5 year stuff now.
Brake fluid 2 or 3 years.
Vehicles washed most weekends, unless very clean, but never more than i week missed.
Interiors as needed.
Cars get hosed off underneath every weekend in winter, and sometimes more frequently, if the salt is particularly bad i will go through a ford on the way home to start the process, my lovely Mrs takes full advantage of my requests to do the same with the pick up, and goes through the ford at breakneck speeds (she's a bigger hooligan than anyone i know) and gets the tidal wave over the roof.
Waxoyled and greased underneath every year before the salt goes down too.
Waxed every weekend for a month or so at the beginning of summer to get a deep cover, then a couple of times late autumn before winter.

Yeah i know, molly coddled motors or what.

 

[mcstealth]

Brake fluid - Dont av a car long enough to bother with changing brake fluid, if i had a car i knew i was going to keep for good probly every 2 years or so

Engine coolant - Every year with anti-freeze

Engine oil - Dont really bother checking it TBH, just put in what AutoData says and leave it

Tyre pressure - Just fill it to 2 bar or so, dont bother checking it, only if a tyre looks a bit low, then ill fill it up n bath it

Cleanlyness - very rarely wash it because i dont keep a car that long, i mostly buy a cheap runaround, use it for a bit and then scrap it, i will get a project goin as soon as my driving ban is up tho