"Dann" (ammerty)
01/23/2014 at 05:03 • Filed to: Oil Change Wednesday
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"Dann" (ammerty)
01/23/2014 at 05:03 • Filed to: Oil Change Wednesday | 1
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Yesterday was oil-change and maintenance day for my Magna. 244,000km (or 151,000 miles) which saw throttle and inlet mainfold clean treatment, engine oil flush, new oil and oil additive, oil filter, air filter, and fuel treatment.
Makes me wonder, how many Oppos do their own maintenance on their cars? I bet the majority of us do - maybe because its cheaper or maybe you, like myself, just enjoy doing it.
What kind of maintenance do you do?
What do you leave to the professionals?
What items or techniques do you swear by?
zmf2112
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 05:10 |
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I used to do it all on my old 740s, but then I got married, and had kids and have taken them (S60, XC70) to the dealer for the past 10 years. I'm starting to get back into the shade tree mechanic stuff, since oil, filters, brakes are so easy and so much cheaper when I do it compared to the dealer. I don't really have more time, or less money - it's just that it makes sense. I'd probably bring them in for anything more than that.
I'm curious how far you go with the intake/throttle cleaning. I haven't done anything like that since I drove something with a carburetor. Maybe I should. And I also thought oil/fuel additives were snake oil - any comments to the contrary?
erspimp03
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 05:17 |
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Here's my regular upkeep schedule:
1. Drive until something breaks
2. Panic
This is the correct method of preventative maintenance, right?
Once_upon_a_pvt
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 05:44 |
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I've done everything on my e90 so far, with the exception of a rear axle seal and oil filter housing gasket, both fixed under warranty by a dealer. Oil, all fluids, tire rotations and brakes are all fairly easy. Contrary to popular belief , this BMW has been the easiest thing I've ever changed the oil on, minus the 7 damn quarts for only a 6 cylander motor. Damn Germans.
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Dann
> zmf2112
01/23/2014 at 06:04 |
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In this instance, the treatment is something akin to Seafoam (something we don't have here), sold by Subaru. It is sprayed into the inlet manifold through a vacuum line connector, and in through the throttle plate and dissolves carbon deposits in the intake and upper cylinder head.
The process isn't especially involved or labour intensive, but I'm convinced that this product makes a difference.
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Dann
> erspimp03
01/23/2014 at 06:07 |
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lol, its
a
method...
Sound's like my sister's preventative maintenance schedule for what was her Elantra!
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Dann
> Once_upon_a_pvt
01/23/2014 at 06:17 |
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Do you have concerns about maintaining warranty, doing the work yourself, or is it now out of warranty?
I've heard similar, the Germans have designed their engines to make maintenance a relatively painless exercise (in comparison to my Magna where you have to take the inlet manifold off to replace the rear bank plugs...)
I try to avoid doing brake work where I can (more of a confidence issue than anything else), and stuff like timing belts... those kinds of jobs I am happy to have my mechanic do!
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Once_upon_a_pvt
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 06:28 |
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My warranty has been up for a bit now, which is a little scary with it being a newer BMW, but I'm now in Germany for a fee years so I'm breathing a little easier.
The biggest thing I've learned is to not be scared, a car is still a car, even an over engineered one. Dont get my wrong, you have to remove 4 to 7 different plastic covers to do anything, but I've learned quick. A full oil change, plug swap, coilpack cleaning, airfilter cleaning, and fluid check only took about 2 hours last time.
Side note, I learned braked the hard way. Don't start drinking till after the jobs done, or calipers rend to not go back on correctly :)
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Once_upon_a_pvt
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 06:28 |
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My warranty has been up for a bit now, which is a little scary with it being a newer BMW, but I'm now in Germany for a few years so I'm breathing a little easier.
The biggest thing I've learned is to not be scared, a car is still a car, even an over engineered one. Dont get my wrong, you have to remove 4 to 7 different plastic covers to do anything, but I've learned quick. A full oil change, plug swap, coilpack cleaning, airfilter cleaning, and fluid check only took about 2 hours last time.
Side note, I learned brakes the hard way. Don't start drinking till after the jobs done, or calipers tend to not go back on correctly :)
Alex87f
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 06:55 |
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I used to do the maintenance myself on my Alfa.
The Suzuki is still within its five years warranty so I have to take it to a Suzuki dealership in order for the warranty to remain valid.
Plus, I have found a great Suzuki dealership, which seems rather honest and which charges less than 50€ in labor for test drive, oil and gearbox flush and various computer and filters checks. Makes me wonder if it's worth doing the maintenance by myself..
AeroEagle333
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 07:00 |
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My Dad and I do all of the maintenance on my 2009 Elantra, which is still on its power train warranty. It's due for a timing belt/water pump job soon though (just got up over the 80K miles), which we'll probably have a friend of ours do. He has a really nice shop setup, which neither my dad nor myself have. When it needs brakes, and I imagine it will soon, we'll do those ourselves.
Mathias Rios
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 07:27 |
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Here, here! Only thing I haven't done on my ML is tires :)
Korea Miéville
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 08:00 |
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I would do most maintenance myself, the exceptions being anything where it would be fiendishly difficult unless it were on a lift, or requiring specialized tools or expensive equipment I don't have. There's also stuff like replacing the timing belt or fuel pump that I just really don't want to deal with. If it's something that would take me 6 hours that I have a fair chance of screwing up, that a mechanic could do in 3 hours correctly, I'll leave it to the pros.
Mattbob
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 08:13 |
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I'm so jealous of your weather! I need to change a track bar, but have to wait till the weekend to get into a garage to work on it. Dang polar vortex!
thebigbossyboss
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 08:17 |
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In the summer I am trying to do my own maintenance, and learn slowly. I am a wrenching novice, and a mechanical idiot. Last year I did my spark plugs. See!
http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/omg-i-changed-…
I`ve worked on my headlights before. One thing I really really suck at is electricity. and wiring and such.
In the winter I don`t wrench. It`s too damn cold and too damn dark, and I don`t have a garage. Right now it`s -24 C The high temp is only - 20C today. Working on something, when you don`t know what your doing in -24C in the dark pretty much sucks.
OtherBarry
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 08:46 |
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The only thing that i normally sub out is alignments. This year I sent my wife's sonata to the garage for a flexplate replacement because I just couldnt get the damn thing out and we were going on vacation.
Nibbles
> Dann
01/23/2014 at 09:11 |
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I do all my maintenance. Fluids all around, grease, joints, electrical, brakes, etc. Everything but body work. Since none of my vehicles qualify for anything remotely close to a warranty, it doesn't worry me at all.
What do I swear by? Seafoam. It's the best at cleaning gunk out of old ratty motors.
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Dann
> Mattbob
01/24/2014 at 07:44 |
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Funny you mention that, believe it or not, there was a storm looming in the background which reared its head just as I finished working on the car. The following day (yesterday) we received 100mm (4'') rain. At the moment we're bouncing between 95-105 degree days and rain!
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Dann
> Korea Miéville
01/24/2014 at 07:46 |
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I'm in the same boat!
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Mattbob
> Dann
01/24/2014 at 08:10 |
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oh, wow! What part of the world is that?
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Dann
> Mattbob
01/24/2014 at 18:13 |
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Australia, in south-east Queensland