I have to replace headlights every few years or so. But I’ve only had to replace ONE other bulb (license plate bulb) for any of our vehicles we’ve owned since the mid 80’s.
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Yeah yeah, electrode, electron, whatever. What’s the difference? (Please don’t tell me.)
Didn’t I read a few days ago that the sea level has actually gone down? At least that was the headline-I didn’t read the article. To me we should be worrying more about the volcano at Yellowstone blowing and ending civilization or that book 8.2 for the earthquake down around Cairo.
At any rate I’m a preventive maintenance or replacement guy. The question was why don’t you replace the transmission ahead of time? Actually I did just that. At 350,000 miles and the original transmission, I had it overhauled. People think they save money by waiting for failure but the reality is, the part (or whole car) will need to be replaced at some point. So all you are doing is putting the expense off for a little while longer, not saving money.
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Yes, for 18 months from 2010 to 2011. Here’s why:
You can see the small blip in the blue curve. Now it’s back to rising:
There are some good, well thought out postings here. One reason I replace them all en masse at some point is part of them require taking the rear hatch apart, and that is not something I want to do during a 3,000 mile trip away from home.
Um, actually I don’t like it much when I am at home in my cochero.
Bing, I do know the difference between electron and electrode, but I really liked electrode better. If you know a lot of electronics, an argument could be made for either word as you used it. Not many people would know that. At least I don’t think so.
So, those dang SUV’s back in the 1880’s started it all.
;-]
Hyundai Ioniq and Kia Niro hybrids have incorporated the 12V battery into the hybrid battery pack, and never needs replacing:
Not if it doesn’t fail while I own it. I’m in the opposite camp. I only fix what’s broken. For example, when I had a wheel bearing fail, I only replaced that one. The other side never failed in the subsequent 8 years I owned that vehicle. Looks like I saved about $150 and 4 hours of my time…I could go on…my cost of ownership is actually very low using this approach for 40+ years.
Yeah but if you are driving 30-40,000 miles a year with a 3-400,000 mile car and you need to be up and running every day, the extra preventive repairs reduces the risk of being down. I always preferred to choose my time and place for repairs rather than chance but whatever you’re comfortable with.
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For many years - that was me. Waiting for a battery to fail probably isn’t a good idea. However - batteries also usually start showing signs they are on the way out…especially during the winter.
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The charging system in the particular car will have a significant effect on battery longevity, overcharging or undercharging will decrease lifespan. As will allowing the battery to run down, from leaving the lights on accidentally or having accessories with parasitic draw on cars infrequently driven. That’ll spell short life on it. Any necessity for three year replacement intervals means the car has issues that should be looked at, or review habits of leaving lights on frequently. Each time it’s allowed to deep discharge with non deep cycle batteries will permanently reduce capacity to some degree; do it often enough and it’s going to fail.
High underhood temperatures and overly high charging voltages shorten lifespan the most aside from accidental discharge.
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Well, if you really can’t risk being down, how do you rationalize relying on a 3-400k mile car in the first place?
I know people in this situation and they consider the cost of buying new cars before most people would as part of the cost of their job
Back down to earth. So the options are spending $5-800 a month for a new car every 3-4 years or waiting until a battery or alternator fails to replace them? I rationalize it on a cost per mile basis which was lower than buying a new car. Besides the wife always got the new car to drive and I rolled the miles up. Two new cars seemed a little excessive. Everyone has their story but we were simply talking about pre-emptive repairs as not being as costly as people think because it is not a matter of avoiding the eventual cost but only delaying them.
We are replacing our trouble free 22 year old appliances, before they fail. I don’t view hanging onto them as saving money because they will eventually need to be replaced-either piece by piece or in a panic. The cost difference per month is negligible. Besides the wife wants new ones.
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There is nothing to cancel that.
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In terms of timeline, yes, you’re only delaying the cost, not avoiding it. In terms of cost-per-mile doing a repair (not maintenance, but an actual repair) before it is necessary does drive up your cost-per-mile to operate the vehicle. The increase in cost-per-mile is likely small enough that you consider it worth it to avoid an inconvenience, and the increased cost might even be lower than the costs your incur at failure (such as towing if you don’t have towing service already), but doing repairs before they’re due does come with an increased per-mile cost.
In the case of household appliances, there is a definite increase in per-hour operating cost when you replace them before they break, but if you consider the increase in cost-per-hour of operation negligible, then I see no reason that you shouldn’t do it. If the wife wants new appliances, I have no reason to object, especially since your upgrades will lead to less energy usage. The money you’re spending on new appliances is good for the environment and the economy!
Yeah to avoid an inconvenience, tow, etc.
I hearken back to my crank sensor. I took it to the shop to diagnose a miss under load and had ruled most other causes out except the crank sensor. They said it was ok. Next day 30 miles into my commute the car stalled. $80 tow, $500 repair, and a lost day at work. The crank sensor had been cracked in half. So yeah, inconvenience and the cost of it is a factor, but the extra cost of pre-emptive repairs is in the mills and I kept good cost records. I don’t remember if that was strike two or strike three for that shop when I brought the part back and showed them the crack and just got a “huh”.
Well it started out as an appliance sale which led to counter tops which led to some cabinet modifications which will lead to back splash glass. So that’s how I’m spending my summer. And the jokers glued on the counter tops with a case of construction adhesive 20 years ago. I’m sure that’s why they tried to get more money out of us for the extra they spent on construction adhesive. But hydraulic jacks can be used in the garage as well as the kitchen.
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The issue you claim to be addressing by your pre emptive repair approach is to “be up and running every day”. No car with 400k on the clock fits into that requirement…Unless you’re replacing MAJOR components like as you admit a transmission. Later you say this approach isn’t very expensive…yeah right. Talk about back on earth…
I keep cars a long time. They are usually pretty well done when i get rid of them. Case in point my 2003 Camry is still going strong but likely rust will eventually claim it. I don’t do ANY proactive repairs. For example, I just replaced the original battery because it started to get weak. Ive never had a breakdown needing a tow. EVER. Want to compare total cost of ownership and see who comes out ahead?
As I stated previously, I’m proactive on some things. The thought of getting stuck somewhere in this part of OK at night is not pleasant when the nearest tow truck is 75 miles or more away and there are long distances between small towns with nothing in them. Like when the pump in my Subaru failed 60 miles from the house with nothing along the way…
A fuel pump is something I try to be proactive on for instance. Once the car hits 200k miles or so I will replace the pump rather than risk getting stranded. Of course. the cost to myself is not that much and I improvise when possible.
When my first Lincoln Mark needed a pump it was priced out at about 500 dollars. The specs for a Fox body Mustang Cobra pump were similar to the Mark so 80 dollars worth of Mustang pump cured that.
When the pump failed in my daughter’s old Mitsubishi some years ago the replacement pump was about 300 bucks.
A 69 dollar pump for a 3.0 Ford Taurus worked just fine.
Naw Twin, that’s OK. I don’t care to get into a &(&((%% match. We each have our own methods that work for us. I’m not going to dig up my figures but some years ago I did a detailed analysis of my costs, both overall and on a marginal cost per mile for each 10,000 mile increment, from 10,000 miles to over 400,000. I just wanted to see what the breaks were. The interesting part was that it really didn’t make much difference with a major repair or two on the overall rate. Once you chalked up another 40-50,000 miles, the cost per mile of the major repair became very small. So advancing the repair a little ahead of time to avoid inconvenience or worse, really would have little effect on the overall cost per mile. Peaks and valleys in the 10,000 mile periods yeah, but not overall over the long haul. Even the initial cost of the car became less of a concern over the long haul (under 3 cents). Of course I never track fuel costs or insurance etc. Just repairs and maintenance. And the key is lots of miles to spread the costs over. Someone doing fewer miles would have a much higher cost per mile.
At any rate my only point was that doing a repair a little sooner is not as significant as might appear at first glance. Replacing a $150 battery in four years instead of 5, costs an extra $7.50 a year. That’s less than what I paid for my waffle this morning. When my last battery went at 3 years, I was on a deadline for a funeral 200 miles away on a Sunday morning. My choices were limited for a new battery, not to mention the jump charge of $25 (reimbursed). Just sayin’ that’s all do what you want.
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Floating ice does not sink further when broken.
Yes, and this thread has gone down this path already.