It really peeves me how much people don’t know as much as me. You guys are with me, right? Because it sure sounds like you’re organizing a circle.
“It really peeves me how much people don’t know as much as me.”
Hopefully, you are not including grammar and correct word usage in the knowledge base that you are referring to.
;-))
I can’t speak for the recent Subarus, but of all the cars I have known, my 96 Subaru with bright orange caps and handles along with well positioned dipsticks and reservoirs made it very easy to check the basics. A very clear and concise owner’s manual helped too. Are they as easy now Subaru owners ?
The latest automotive isssue from CR, for the few of you who care, has now listed Subaru as their leading car company. I’m sure that only building one drive train and a limited number of modls helps. But, given the variance in opinions of how well Subarus survive, I am sure it has as much to do with driver maintenance as initial quality.
Making cars much easier to service goes a long ways toward inviting owners to do the necessary checks. Our Subaru was my wife’s primary driver and she actually got into checking things now and then. That the car gave us the fewest problems over the time of ownership, was in not small way determined by how user friendly it was. Color coordinating the mechanics might just induce the less inclined to take more interest. Just kidding !
IMO, there is nothing like a stint in the military to make one a little more aware of vehicle maintenance, if you weren’t brought up that way.
Dagosa–Yes, both my '02 Outback and my '11 Outback use bright yellow handles/caps to highlight the various dipsticks and reservoir openings, but I think that this has become pretty much S.O.P. among car manufacturers nowadays.
This practice does indeed help folks to locate items that need to be checked, but I don’t know what can be done to induce some folks to actually open the hood. No matter how easy things are to decipher under the hood, nothing is going to help very much unless someone can figure out how to get folks to open the hood in the first place!
VDC…My 05 Rav, 04 4runner and all the other cars since were never so well thought out in this manner. Sure, there are appropriately placed, but everything is Blended in and reaching for something you shouldn’t is still easy to do for a novice. As far as opening the hood is concerned, my 4 runner gets my wrath for putting the hood lever next to and identical in feel to the gas door lever. It gets opened a lot ! Guess you can tell my memory is poor or I 'm color blind…orange/yellow. So at least Toyota took it’s time following suit. This may seem trivial to most of us, but it was much less fearful for my wife…you can touch the “yellow” stuff, stay away from everything else.
Speaking of conditioning drivers and removing their minds from all automobile operations…
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120304/AUTO01/203040305/1148/rss25
I’m not ready for autonomous operation, but it could be a boon for folks that are physically handicapped and can’t drive.
Indifference and laziness,if you ask me-however I’ve had first hand experience with plain ignorance,which attested to the durability of the vehicles.The first case was a Chevy pickup with the 305 V-8,the Boss lady recieved it for a Christmas present,between her and the daughter mostly they put gas in it and ran it.Well I was gassing it up one morning and convinced her to pop the hood,it had between 18-19K on the OEM oil and was about 2qts low on the varnish coated dipstick,needless to say I convinced the daugter(I believe it was) to have the oil changed asap,the Chevy survived.My wifes honda didn’t fare so well-she blissfully ran it and ran it,without oil check or oil change,it finally died but someone added oil and it came back to life(that time anyhow-before I was going with her ) the second time it didnt fare so well,it died in the middle of the night on a deserted stretch of road.Just so happened one of her friends came along.She had to replace the engine and the Honda mechanic gave her a good lecture since then she has been an advocate of frequent oil changes particulary since I’m around to do it-so I maintain that some folks just don’t know any better-Kevin
Just a couple of years ago a guy in this area bought a top of the line Ford pickup with every imaginable option that could be had. At approx. 3k miles he brought it to the dealer for an oil change.
The next time the truck entered the dealership it had 25k miles on it and was hanging on the back of a tow truck with a blown motor due to lack of oil.
The truck’s owner admitted right off the bat that he had not raised the hood to check the oil even one time; thinking all the while there was no problem because warranty would cover it. He was sadly mistaken and when told he would have to foot the bill then he started pointing the finger at everyone in the automotive chain from the mechanic who changed the oil at 3k miles all the way up to FOMOCO. This guy is not alone, unfortunately.
Agree with Cig and having the car care class. I can see a dealer holding one monthly or quarterly or so after hours. Advertise it well, get the local tv station to come down & run a spot on it. They could have a few of the new car models sitting around to show off. Hold it in your “spic & span” service dept to promote it as well. Might even sell a car or two, and drum up some service dept. business as well.
"I can see a dealer holding one monthly or quarterly or so after hours.
Back in the days when Honda was a new and unique auto maker in the US marketplace, there was an almost cult-like small group that coveted these cars. I can recall that one of my coworkers, who bought one of the very early Civics, belonged to The Honda Club (sponsored by either the dealership or the manufacturer), and that they would meet once a month on Saturday mornings, in the service area of the local Honda dealership. At these meetings, the service manager would go over maintenance in general, and would focus especially on how and why an owner should do regular fluid checks.
Whether this was something that was nationwide, or if it was just characteristic of the local dealership, I don’t know for sure–but I suspect that it was not just a local phenomenon.
When I was a teenager, a buddy of mine had just bought a car. We stopped at a convenience store and when I came out, he had a jar of automatic transmission fluid in his hand and was looking under the hood. He said he couldn’t find where to add the trans fluid. It was a standard transmission. lol
I believe that most, if not all, community colleges give the course that you describe on basic automobile maintenance.
I’ve actually thought of offering seminars on the basics. Slice an inline 4-banger such that prople can see the pistons, valves, and timing belt/chain operate (turn the crank with a 115VAC motor located where the starter was), add a video camera with a projection screen, create an outline, rent a room for a day at a local venue, charge $99 a person, set up a website, and see how many people show up. It’d be fairly easy to set up some cooling system and brake system mockups too.
@mleich Your right, they do, but at a price. What I’m suggesting would be free, out of the goodness of a dealer’s heart (try not to laugh) in hopes of selling a car or services.
It still stuns me how little people seem to care about proper maintenance and attention on a major purchase like a car, resulting in little bills turning into big bills.
Case in point:
My 1998 Camry’s brakes started groaning and vibrating a bit in the past week. Most people I know said I was wasting money by actually trying to correct the problem. This past weekend, I took off the wheels and checked out the front brakes. The driver’s side rotor (not visible with the steel wheels on) showed signs of overheating. No noticeable pulls, no uneven pad wear. A few minutes of investigation showed that the rubber ring on one of the slide pins had stretched and was jamming the pin every so often as it moved… that was causing the brake to drag and overheat the rotor. Total cost to repair: 1 hour of my own time + $5 for a new pin kit and $25 to turn the rotors smooth = $30 + one hour of my time.
Had I neglected the problem, the rotors would likely have needed to be replaced, along with the pin kit, likely new pads, and if I had been really bad, I might have even ended up frying a bearing. It easily could have been a $500+ repair had I neglected it.
$470+ per hour for my time is a pretty good rate in my book.
Mleich, community colleges will not allow students who are nonmatriculated to take their automotive courses or be in their labs. There are just too many safety and liability issues involved. And the matriculated students are required to buy their own chests of tools. These can cost $4,000, and onbody gets to use them but the owner.
DfromSD, Saturn tried this for Saturn owners. I attended one of their sessions (we’d bought a Saturn). The session was useless, but I won the door prize…a nice set of Mr. Goodwrench sockets and ratchets, both SAE and metric.
@thesamemountainbike I sent to one of those classes when I went bought my Pathfinder (Merchants Nissan). The class was very good for the novice. They showed everyone who wanted to know…how to change their own oil…and if you had an automatic…how to change the tranny fluid. Also other basic stuff…like changing the air-filter and wiper blades to name a few.
tsm, I think the classes he was referring to are just one or 2 night courses; they have them at the CC here. Not really a “hands on” type course; no tools required. Just very basic. A little on how the int. comb. engine works, fluid checking, “heres where the spark plugs are, this is the alternator, this is the battery” type thing.
oops looks like I doubled with Mike.
Well its not just cars, but there are other things than saving money. You either take an interest in the mechanics of your car or you don’t. If not just be ready to pay someone who will-don’t forget that step though. Same thing for houses. Some people will have to call a plumber for a leaky faucet or a sparky for a light fixture. The interest is either there or not. No point trying to make someone do something they don’t want to do. I feel the same way about computers. I just don’t want to deal with it and would rather just pay someone. So why is it so necessary to bend everyone into the mold of changing their own oil? Just take it to someone they trust, as long as they do take it to someone. Not everyone is interested in saving money by doing things they just don’t want to do.