So what type of mechanic are you? Do you do preventive maintenance or do your simply fix it when it fails? Rocketman
Preventative. It’s much cheaper and less work in the long run.
Some of each, don’t replace belts or hoses unless I see signs of impending failure, except for timing belts on interference engines which I change on schedule. Change oil and filter at 3000 miles, antifreeze when due and trans fluid and filter at 60000 mile intervals. Used to grease car every other oil change, but alas, no grease fittings anymore.
I am not much of a mechanic, but as a car owner, I follow the “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” philosophy. For example, my brake pistons are seeping brake fluid, not yet leaking, but I am getting them replaced this Friday before they start to leak. Other than cleaning, and replacing pads, rotors, shoes, and drums, most brake work is over my head.
As a 35 year parts man, I’ve seen crap in this shop that’ll make you RACE to your local shop for preventive maintainence.
So many times we shake our heads " if only they had…"
Hence, I 'm a preventive kind of guy.
Fix it when it fails.
Of course you must use intelligence behind each decision. Would a particular failure leave you stranded or would you still be able to continue the trip and make it back home? Would you be able to limp into an auto parts store, make a replacement there in the parking lot, and carry on?
Certainly you should inspect and replace known wear items before they fail completely. But I am not about to replace components that are working perfectly just because they are original equipment and getting old. Let 'em live.
Depends. I keep on top of timing belts, fluid changes, and spark plugs at factory recommended intervals. But, I do have an original battery in an '03 Civic and I’ll wait for it to fail then I’ll replace it.
A mixture.
If a bulb goes out, I replace all of that type of bulb. But if noone goes out I don’t replace any preemptively.
The serpentine is done as scheduled maintenance. The radiator hoses are checked and all done if there’s any sign on one of them of impending failure, such as surface cracks when squeezed.
I change the oil filter with every change, but check the air filter and change it when it starts to show dirt.
Tires get chenced when the wear bars become obvious.
Wipers get changed when they begin to deteriorate.
Fluids (other than oil) whenever it’s due and convenient.
Struts…I got the rears done last spring 'cause I didn’t like the way the rear tires were wearing. The guys thought I was being overly preemptive, but had to admit after the change that the difference could be felt. The fronts I’m having done after the holidays…even though they really don;t need changing. I think new struts on a vehicle with 168,000 will always help it feel new again.
I always carry a tube of tuoch up paint, and if I get a scratch it gets touched up immediately. Not tomorrow, not an hour later, immediately.
I wax the car at least 4 times a year. A car should be waxed before it stops beading, not when it stops beading.
Perhaps I’m obsessive.
I do all the maintenance on the car the owner’s manual calls for when it calls for it or sooner. One example is transmission service every 30,000 miles and oil changes every 4,000 miles.Otherwise, fix it as it breaks. There is no real maintenance for fuel pumps, door handles or suspension springs. But, they do fail after so much use and let you know when to fix them.
In ascending order we have:
- Run-to-failure
- Normal recommended preventive maintenance
- Predictive maintenance or condition monitoring, such as oil analysis, borescope, compression tests
- Proactive maintenance, including re-design or upgrading components and lubricants, performing some tasks more often.
- Maintenance REDUCTION or elimination through better design. Industry in Japan practices all these with the resultant very low maintenance costs of their equipment. US car companies spend 3-4 times as much on plant maintenance as Japanese.
Items 4 and 5 are not in contradiction. Maintenance reduction can be achieved, for instance, by better brake linings and pads, long life coolant, and better materials.
I practice all these where they show a payoff in longer life, lower maintenance costs, lower life cycle cost, and increased reliability. All those expensive “inspections” the dealer wants to do, I ignore and do some myself. At the same time I change coolant twice as often, and transmission fluid and filter every 30,000 miles. I use top quality tires and change them out when the tread reaches a danger point or traction is too low.
The overall approach has been succesful, in that my lifetime outlay for reliable transportation has been minimal, and we have never gotten rid of a car because the engine or transmission packed it in.
Doing everything the dealer wants you to do will not necessarily result in reliable transportation or long life, but will surely result in very high life cycle ownership cost.
Here’s my answer. Spill a little hot chocolate on the kitchen counter and leave it for a week, then clean it up. Then you will know why it is better to take care of it early.
Borescope and compression Doc? Routinely? I tip my hat to you. You’re actually more OCD than I am.
Your point about doing maintenance with better than OEM parts whenever possible is a good one. And it really does make a difference.
I have to admit too that I do a bit of “fixing up” intended to stroke my sense of feeling young rather than for longevity. But when I do, it’s carefully considered and thought out. I currently have an upgraded rear antisway bar and mildly modified induction system. The antisway bar takes some body roll and understeer out, and the induction system modifications add definite and noticable “punch”, especially on the highway…at the cost of 2 mpg when I drive aggressively. Oh, and I’ve gutted it and sound insulated it as well. That made a big difference in the road noise.
In short, not everything i do is aimed at longevity of the car. Some of it is aimed at longevity of the driver’s illusion of youth.
Preventative is my policy. Spark plugs out every 30k miles and examined. trans fluid every 30k, fuel filters every 15k, occasional connection of a vacuum gauge to see what’s happenin’, and even nitpicking things like removing serpentine belts to check for any ticking feeling in a tensioner bearing and lubing door latches every year or so.
Once a car gets well up in the 6 digit mileage range I often head any fuel pump issue off by replacing it even it’s not a problem. My opinion is that it will likely soon be a problem (maybe far from home) so I kill that potential problem then and there. For what it’s worth, every high mileage, operating pump I’ve cut open had significant wear on the commutator and varying degrees of wear on the armature shaft at the impeller end. It’s days were numbered.
Preventative for the most part, until the car gets really old and beat up or I start sensing major components are on the way out. Then I still do Basic stuff, but skip certain things.
There is preventative, fluids, filters plugs etc, then there is wait till it happens, wheel bearings ujoints, shocks or struts. There is not a short perfect answer.
Preventive period. I don’t like problems when I need or want to go somewhere and I prefer to choose the time and place of the repair, like in a warm garage instead on out in the cold.
Generally I try to replace before it fails. Some times it is safety related (I like living injury free) and other times it is convenience. I like to avoid those dark and stormy nights standing beside my car that should have had this or that maintenance done three months ago.
mountainbike; I mention the various types of maintenance since because those are practiced in industry and transportation, especially the airlines. They call it “equipment health monitoring”, and has many parallels in the medical field.
When it’s time to change the plugs at 60,000 miles or so, I have a compression test and a borescope performed, at little extra cost.
Once every 3 years or so I do an oil analysis, mostly to confirm whether my oil change interval is too long, too short or just right. If I change my driving patterns significantly, then, like irlandes, I analyze the oil after the normal 5000 miles.
Brakes, tires, ball joints, tie rods, hoses, thermostat, belts, and fluids are done on a preventive maintenance schedule, but things such as water pump, fuel pump, alternator, starters etc. are done when they either wear out or show signs of problems. In 35 years and about 1 million lifetime miles this has worked out well. I’ve had probably about 5 break downs using this method in 35 years with approximately 1 break down per 200,000 miles on average.
I often push my luck on such things as starters and alternators on the vehicles that I drive but keep maintenance up do date. On family members and friends vehicles I try to stay ahead of the curve and replace them at the slightest hint of a problem.