or any lane if there is no breakdown lane. Or at the bottom of an icy hill. Or in certain neighborhoods if your demographic or gender may leave you in danger.
Oldschool apparently has little capacity for putting himself in other people’s possible scenarios.
PREVENTIVE mainainence,
too often viewed as scams when suggested by dealers and chains, are truly needed to some extent…- see the post about people not reading their ownwer’s manuals.
How much is too much ?
How little is asking for trouble ?
Too often and it can be a waste of good money, hence the money making scam claims by some posters, yet suggested by dealers and chains or a daily basis. A money maker if the owner agrees too often yet not a scam at all. ( EVERY business, not just cars, wants to try to sell a little more at every pass. ( “ya want fries with that ?” - “and for desert you’ll be having ?” & WalMart’s 20 feet of shelves of ‘impulse’ items at every checkout. )
Too little / rarley and you’re in for high dollar repairs AND your hindsight will will kick you in the hiney.
- ie; yes, you should have put on brake pads when the inspection showed 2mm.
- tire rotation.
- antifreeze replacement.
- injector flush ( sometimes. See the recent post “clean fuel injectors” where many advise not to do it but to wait for symptoms…but don’t wait too long guys )
- filter changes.
- oil changes. ( engine, trans, axles )
- belts, hoses.
- cleaning…clean the accumulated oil leak residue from the engine block, clean the bugs and debris from the fins of the radiator and a/c condeser, Clean the mud and gunk from under the car, etc
PREVENTIVE
after all, this is why you brush your teeth, take a shower, and eat right.
The three biggest car killers are:
Engine failure caused by not checking the oil level regularly and not changing the oil at least every 5000 miles.
Engine failure caused by broken timing belts that were not replaced on time. This is a diminishing problem as car makers are moving away from rubber timing belts.
Transmission failure caused by never servicing the transmission or waiting until it’s too late…
To the big three I would add:
Poor choice of vehicle, those prone to expensive repairs due to less than perfect design of AWD and other complicated drive-line systems.
Allowing road chemicals used for winter road maintenance to remain on the paintwork and undercarriage, leading to premature body and frame rust…
before I retired, I was an ASE certified mechanic
Sorry but the best way for you to collect some usable information and learn something in the process, is to go visit a few local garages. Ask the service adviser or a few mechanics on their experiences. No one is going to care much about what you got off the internet, but when you say “Gordy at the Buick dealership said . . .” it’ll mean something.
It is just that I have heard the excuse that “it was not safe to stop” so many, many times that I have come to simply not believe it.
If the oil light comes on, you can stop your car before you toast your engine, or you can let the engine decide where you stop. At least if you pull your car over, you have a choice in the matter, and you have an opportunity to maximize your safety. If you keep driving, you may find yourself in a situation even more dangerous than if you had pulled over initially.
Most roads have shoulders, stopping on a shoulder may not be safe to some, but safe enough for others. Others might consider safe an off ramp 5 miles ahead. Certainly there are some roads without a shoulder that stopping dead in a traffic lane could be a recipe for disaster for you and others. I say if you have a shoulder to pull into that is safe enough, if not cross your fingers and pray, I would hate to be responsible for a pile up just to risk not blowing an engine.
Certainly situations can be constructed where stopping NOW is just not safe (and I mean not safe in the “may cause an accident” situation. But the incredible number of people that have used this as a reason to keep driving makes me suspect. Just think how many times we have read it here that it was not safe to stop and compare that number to the people that said “oil light came on,I shut the engine down immeditaly”, most keep on driving and need it explained that damage happens fast.
Perhaps the OP askes his classmates how long do they think they can drive with the red oil can light on, I bet most say “until it is safe to stop”.
This thread is closed.
Closed ? You’re Pretty Bossy. First, You Want Everybody’s Ideas, Credentials, And Name. Then You Take Some Of Our Fantastic Ideas And Announce That The Thread Is Closed.
What The . . . ?
We’ve Never Had A Thread Closed On Us.
CSA
Guess that just means he/she ain’t never commin’ back.
Yes, I meant “changing”.
Does being a certified loon count? 
You gotta be one to work where I do, and if you aren’t you will be soon enough. XD
No, this is for my AA degree.
If you did not wish to answer, and let me cite you in my source, what is the point of my posting here? I already know this stuff, but I need someone else, that has the ‘peice of paper’ to show I am getting my information from a reliable source.
Do explain how I am out of line simply asking, not demanding, that you give me some way of citing you as more than ‘Bscar’ or "oldschool’ or ‘whitey’ “a memeber at a car forum” whom I have no idea who they really are.
I did simply give a mechanic a call, they gave me the answer no problem, no bs and no attatude.
See where I am coming from?
Yes, I cannot use any of the information here becasue I cannot cite you! It is a waste of my time, AND your time!
That is why I need a name to cite. I can say “so in so, a 30 year mechanic stated that (…) is the most common failing in maintnance”
Never ceases to amaze me how someone is writing a paper or something as a research project and they just want to ask someone else for what to write. You can buy pre-writen papers for 50 bucks but writing the paper isn’t the reason for doing it. It is to learn how to research a subject, find supporting documentation, and properly convey that information in an intellegent manner.
Which I am attempting to do, which you are doing a fine job at foiling.
I needed a one or two sentance quote. not a paper.
I guess asking for personal info about both you and your students to be posted is probably not going to happen, huh? (Just trying to make a half-hearted effort to make sure any and all info is not going into the wrong hands of course.) 
Earlier I had referenced my wife having a problem due to this. She let her name out, it got passed to someone else, and this someone else used Google to find the address and phone number. This had led to my refusing to answer the phone most evenings and on many occasions my wife will avoid it also because she knows what’s coming; especially every Friday evening about 7 P.M.
I have read all of the posts to your question and all of your answers. I have to say, first of all, you clearly don’t know how to spell, or else you are careless about what you post. In just your initial question, you spell the word “revealing” incorrectly.
I really don’t trust your request to cite individuals related to this site.
Oh yeah, you didn’t even get the title spelled correctly. I’ll let you figure that out yourself.
The automotive information you are asking for is available on many other sites, and also in print.
Anyone who teaches for a living will know how to access and cite either.
I just don’t trust you.
Give your informative speech on the basic car maintenance based on the owners’s manual for the given car. It’s actually a bible of that specific car’s maintenance schedule. Cite that. There is nothing that anyone from this site can add that will keep a new car running longer.
I used the library for accredited sources when I had to write these type of papers. Getting a statement from a person in the industry was only one of the methods allowed,not the only method.