The one thing I think is funny is that most of use who change our oil regularly with synthetic and spend the extra money on something other than a Fram filter will likely end up selling the car or junking it due to rust before the engine shows any signs of major trouble. Sure, it might need a water pump, timing belt, etc. or something after so many miles but that will be it. The engine itself will be fine and not burning oil or knocking, etc.
On a somewhat humorous note, I decided to change the oil in my riding mower with a Kohler engine one day this summer. I thought I had a filter on hand from a lawn and garden store and pulled it behind my car in the driveway and drained the oil into a pan. I then removed the filter. I went to get a new filter and realized I didn’t have one. Oops! I now have a mower I cannot start sitting in my driveway. Sure, I could have driven around it but I was mad and didn’t want to take a 30 mile round trip to town just because of the filter. I had extra filters for my cars on hand. The 1997 F250 4.6L filter didn’t fit. The 2000 S10 4.3L filter didn’t fit. The filter I had on hand for my 1994 Geo Metro 3 cylinder fit like a champ! The thread pattern and gasket matched the old filter exactly so I screwed it on, refilled the oil, and was good to go. People like to joke that the Metro is just a big mower engine and this just adds to the fun!
I also found out that the same oil filter goes right on to the neighbors’ mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine. So, if you are ever out and can’t find the oil filter for your mower, just go to a parts store and ask for the oil filter to a 1994 Geo Metro 3 cylinder 1.0L. Yes, mower parts do interchange with the Geo Metro!
The one thing I think is funny is that most of use who change our oil regularly with synthetic and spend the extra money on something other than a Fram filter will likely end up selling the car or junking it due to rust before the engine shows any signs of major trouble.
I use synthetic on my truck…mainly because I tow in the summer and we take it skiing in the winter where temps can easily reach -20. My wifes cars…I just regular Dyno oil. Her 2 Honda’s used Fram filters exclusively. We sold gave both of them away to relatives. The 87 had about 320k miles…and the 96 had about 250k miles. Last I knew the 87 was over 400k miles…and the 96 was wall over 300k miles. Lately I’ve been using Wix because the parts store near me that carries Wix will sell me a case cheaper then I can buy the Fram filters for.
I have an older HP desktop. When the motherboard died, I bought an Intel brand replacement board with an I3 CPU. It runs great and is noticeably faster. I’m on my second on button fix, though. I can’t find a direct replacement so I kluged a momentary switch from a local electronics store. The next failure, the switch broke loose from the mount. I repaired the mount, and it is working fine now.
@cwatkin Good point about engine life vs rusting out. I used to religiously plug my cars in while parked in our garage. The last vehicle we disposed of (last year) was a 1994 Sentra with a perfect engine and a front body rusting out. The block heater raised the garage temperature to where the salt could do its job. With thin synthetic oil in the crankcase, there is no longer much need to plug in while parked inside and the the garage temperatiue is now a reasonable 25-30 degrees in the winter.
So… does anyone have an opinion on whether or not to use Fram oil filters, synthetic oil, or when to have your timing belt changed or what psi level to inflate your tires, when to change my car’s battery and whether I should keep or sell this car?
The truth is that Fram filters are not the best out there, especially the cheap grade in the orange box, but will likely serve most people just fine. I don’t run them and usually buy another brand on sale for a little more than the normal price. Yeah, it is probably overkill but I would rather be safe than sorry. I also run synthetic oils in everything. This includes my vehicles, mowers, and even my two stroke mix for chainsaws and such. It is all personal preference. I usually try to stock up on oil and filters when they are on sale so I don’t have to pay full price for an upgraded product.
The timing belt is very critical, especially on an interference engine. Do it at or before the manufacturers suggestion for mileage and/or time. If you don’t, the engine will usually pretty much be trashed on an interference engine as the valves crash into the pistons when the timing belt breaks. I know someone who had a car that suggested belt changes every 120k. He read that the belt was good for 200k but they suggested 120k as it was an interference engine. He could have gotten away with longer had this been non-interference and taken a change being stranded/needing a tow but not trashing the engine.
@JoeGuy Yes, we have opinions on all these based on facts. Usually not all in the same question.
So:
Does not matter whether you use Fram filters. Unless you have an odd car and only OEM filters fit. If synthetic oil is required, the OWNER’S MANUAL will say so. Otherwise regular mineral oil of the proper spec will do.
Timing belts are changed according to your OWNERS MANUAL, the most unread bestseller in the world! No one here is going to second-guess the owner’s manual Please read it!
Tires pressures are posted both in your OWNERS MANUAL as well as on the door post of your car. Please read it!
Car batteries last different times based on use and where you live. Most batteries in the colder regions give up by the 6th winter. My neighbor has a 6 year old Acura DX, and is starting to have problems on a cold morning. We advise to have your battery tested after its 4th winter. I’ve gotten as much as 7 years out of a Nissan OEM battery.
Whether to sell or keep your car is a highly subjective matter. Technically if the annual ownership cost starts exceeding the average ownership cost so far, it’s time to trade because you are going up on the cost curve. That’s what trucking companies and fleet owners do. Simply, most shops will recommend that you get rid of the car if any repair job starts exceeding 25% of the car’s value. I would go to 50% if the car is otherwise safe and reliable.
Personally we use the following:
The cars becomes unreliable, and cannot be made reliable at reasonable cost
The car becomes hard to start and can’t be made easy to start due to excessive cost, excessive wear, or unavailabiltiy of parts.
The car becomes unsafe and can’t be made safe
The cars becomes unsightly because of excessive rust.
Some cars have better “genes” than others. Some get so expensive to repair and maintain that they are scrapped long before they are worn out. Many European cars fit that category.
As you can see, there are no easy anwers to complex questions. However, by reading your owner’s manual you would not have had to ask questions (1), (2), and (3).
If you give full details on your car and its current condition we can advise you whether to keep fixing it or dispose of it.
I once had a girlfriend and I was talking about oil changing. She said it hadn’t been done in a while and was likely due. I figured out that she was like 6k overdue and had been running Wal-Mart Supertech conventional oil for 12k. I figured the oil was going to be broken down and like sludge but it wasn’t. Besides being black as night and 1 quart low (she hadn’t checked it either), the oil seemed ok. I could see under the valve cover with a flashlight and the metal surfaces were clean and shiny, not all covered in brown sludge. 95% of her driving is on the highway so I am sure that helped. I suggested she might want a better oil if she wasn’t going to take great care about keeping up on it. She said she had always used Supertech and never had a problem, plus it was the cheapest oil she could find in her town and she wanted to save money.
She did get a Motorcraft filter as that was the first thing she found specified for her Focus. I changed the oil and filter in her car and we broke up soon after so she will hopefully be ok for another 12k until she ends up with another somewhat mechanically inclined boyfriend. I certainly wouldn’t maintain my car in this manner or simply use the cheapest oil possible but I cannot say this was doing her car too much harm, all things considered. The Wal-Mart oil meets all the modern certifications so it isn’t too bad and is probably just relabeled oil that is sold by someone else for a higher price. The oil was obviously still doing its job at the time of change although it was definitely due to be changed. I do not believe going cheap on the oil is probably not going to be an issue with this car. The owner simply needs to do a better job of keeping up with maintenance.
Sorry for the confusion Docnick, In my not always humorous way I was referring to the most common questions asked here in order to keep this thread going.
@JoeGuy We get many questions to which the answer is in the owner’s manual. However we can’t always assume the owner can actually read the manual and comprehend it. We now know that you likely can! There is a lady down the street with a $45,000 car and she actually does not know how to open the hood and can’t read English!.
I kind of have to disagree with docnick on one point. I don’t agree with getting rid of a car because the repair cost exceeds some percentage of the cars resale value. The best consideration here is the ROI or Return On Investment.
A car may have a low market value, but still have a lot of useful life in it. If you applied your resale value only, some cars would not even justify a new set of tires. Lets say you have a car that has a resale value of $1000, but it needs new tires that cost $550, do you scrap the car even though its maintenance is up to date, no high cost maintenances due for the next two years, there are no performance issues (burning oil, rough idle etc) and the car has a reputation for reliability for lasting at least two more years without major repairs.
You can reasonably expect to get a good ROI on the investment in the tires even though it exceeds the 50% resale value of the car. On a cost per mile basis, the ROI is far less than buying a new car.
I have an old firewood truck/winter 4WD vehicle that this would apply to. It is a 1997 Ford F-250 Light Duty. I got it in running order and could tell that the engine and transmission were solid but quickly found MANY things wrong that HAD to be addressed for safety and other reasons. I am sure the cost of the repairs easily exceeded the value of the vehicle but most of the problems were small and cropped up over a period of several months so it was cumulative over time. The worst of these was the requirement of needing a new clutch. Had I known all the things that were wrong with it, I would have been better off to pass on the truck. Had I known early on after buying it, I would have been best off selling it as is or scrapping it out.
Either way, by the time I was done with it, it had become a reliable vehicle with most of the parts besides the engine and transmission replaced. This included the alternator, steering wheel and column (do to improper prior repair), ignition coils, clutch set, power steering pump, cam and crank sensors, EGR and related components, rear axle seals and brakes, basically rebuilding the entire front-end, among several others I am sure I have forgotten about at this time. I decided to change all the fluids after all this other work as I figured I would have this truck a while.
Yes, the final “repair” if you want to call it that was a $1200 set of AT tires. I am happy with the truck now but realize I would have been better off financially buying a different vehicle for more money with fewer problems. The truck is pretty rough but serves my need as a vehicle I can drive through the woods to load up wood and such without being overly concerned about beating it up. I would also not suggest purchasing a 1997 F-250 Light Duty as this uses all kinds of all parts that do not interchange with other years so finding parts can be very hard. One example are the 7 lug wheels that were used for 2-3 years on these trucks. I have been told people commonly swap out spindles and hubs with other more common Ford parts if something needs to be replaced in this department.
Cwatkin, I’d like to comment on your earlier post of “The one thing I think is funny is that most of use who change our oil regularly with synthetic and spend the extra money on something other than a Fram filter will likely end up selling the car or junking it due to rust before the engine shows any signs of major trouble.”
My version would be that those of us who change our oil and filter regularly with ANY oil and filter that meets the manufacturers’ recommendations and do it ourselves will likely end up selling or junking the car for some other reason before the engine shows any signs of being worn out internally.
I was in a Pepboys recently looking for something and someone else that was hanging out there was bragging the counter guy that he had a truck outside with over 100,000 miles without any serious engine problems. I laughed and commented that “most of us that hang out in auto parts stores have no problem getting 100,000 miles out of en engine.” He laughed and agreed.
For the record, I have over 208,000 on my current vehicle and it still runs like new. And this isn’t even unusual for me.
Yeah, this goes along with my other comment about the woman not really paying attention to oil changes and driving 12,000 miles on a change of Wal-Mart Supertech oil. The engine seemed like it hadn’t suffered from this much although the oil was ready to be changed for sure. There was no sludge in the part of the valve cover I could see through the oil cap. The thing that saved her was that she mostly did highway driving to and from work each day.
I think you almost have to try to not get 100,000 miles out of a modern engine. As long as you change the oil, whether it be expensive synthetic or Wal-Mart Supertech, you should get that many miles.
One exception was someone that only took short trips. They literally drove the car like 1/2 mile one way somewhere each day so it never warmed up. They changed the oil at 3k (severe schedule) but the engine was so sludged up and nasty that it was dead in like 3 years and barely ANY miles at all. This was also some type of European car. I seem to recall either BMW or Mercedes.
Recently I have a few friends “blowing” engines, actually two of them were Lexii, all cooling system related along with operator “error” (choosing to drive while the gauge was going up). I have not heard of any with oil issues, other than the obvious Iffy lube forgetting to put oil back in.
Most of my friends who “blow” engines are just driving along normally in some kind of Chrysler product. The engine just goes boom! I think I am jaded against MOPAR products but these were all models known to have issues such as the 2.7L V6.
@cwatkin: I’d agree that the 2.7L was not Chrysler’s best effort. All manufacturers seem to have at least one engine that is kind of a lemon. I have over 260K on a Chrysler 3.5L and it runs like new. I haven’t driven the car much in the last year or so, but am confident that the motor would double that mileage if I wanted it to. I have driven Chrysler vehicles for the last 2 decades and have never had a mechanical problem with an engine. My 1994 did require a tranny rebuild when I first got it, but has over 150K on the rebuild. For me, I’ve had far fewer problems with Chrysler vehicles than with Fords I used to own, but I still maintain that one person will have different luck with a brand than others.
True. That 3.5L is actually a good engine. The funny thing is that I understand that the 2.7L and it are based on the same basic design. Something went wrong somewhere with that 2.7L.
One friend has been through his share of Chrysler products. The first one was a Dokota with the 3.9L V6. They designed this engine without a tensioner on the timing chain and the chain jumped time or broke on him one day. The next one was an Intrepid with the 2.7L engine. I told him these engines were known for issues and to always keep up on the oil changes. He switched to synthetic but it was already starting to burn oil and smoke by this time. The next issue he had was when a rod came flying through the block. He then sold the otherwise decent condition car for $500 and applied it to the purchase of a Grand Cherokee with the 3.7L V6. The engine never blew on this one but he said he spent more on repairs each month than the monthly payment so he ditched that one for a Nissan Pathfinder that has served him quite well. After 3 duds, he swore he would never drive another MOPAR.
Well, he is a cop and they issued him a Charger with the 5.7L HEMI. He thought this was great at first and said it drove better and got better mileage than his old Crown Vic. He was driving normally down the road with 4600 miles on the odometer of the new car when he heard a loud bang and the engine died. He said he knew exactly what it was based on the Intrepid experience. The teardown of the engine indicated that the head had lost a valve seat. This wedged a valve open and caused the piston to crash into it, resulting in a chain reaction that destroyed the engine. I know others who had had issues with MOPAR products but others who swear by them and wouldn’t drive anything else. As for any I have messed with, it just seems that repairs are more difficult. This is simple stuff like changing the thermostat and such.