Did car maintenance things!

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
07/13/2018 at 20:45 • Filed to: None

Fir st time I have parked all three cars in one place; my girlfriend’s Civic next to my Miata and STi. Just time for some basic maintenance while she was still out of town in Amsterdam for work.

I brought her car over to do an oil change. It took her well over a year to drive ~4 000 miles! Her oil change was more based on time rather than mileage but it fits within a reasonable mileage window anyways . I also discovered one tire was at ~20 PSI and I had filled that same tire a month ago, so off to the tire shop with the car after that! While at the tire shop, it ended up needing 2 tires and I had the AC serviced so that it would work again. Considering the sweltering summer heat right now, its surely needed. Oil change cost me about $20 and took 15 minutes. Tire shop was $300 for two tires and AC refill, not bad.

On the Subaru, I also did an oil change but that is of course full synthetic and a better filter. That also requires removing the damn undertray which has many bolts/clips in the way. So that took about 30 minutes and cost about $40 ($60 if you include the extra gallon of oil I buy to fill in between oil changes because Subaru). In the ~5000 miles between the last oil change I went through 3 quarts of extra oil. That is 1 quart per 1600 miles so perfectly healthy for an ‘06 with 145k on it. While under there I did discover a small oil spot indicating where some of it may be leaking from so I can do something to improve it still, although most of it is likely just blowby. Also while in the air, I rotated the tires and determined I definitely need brakes soon. I had already observed that heavy braking at high speeds downhill will bring up some rotor vibration so its certainly due next on the maintenance list!

For the Miata, I had only gotten around to purchasing my second set of jack stands and ordering a new rear O2 sensor. No work complete but I might start my midpipe swap tonight or in the morning if I get lazy. The car will finally be halfway to Cali legal! Next up will be sourcing a stock header and fixing my check engine light woes so that I can pass smog.

Side note, this gen Civic is quite nice to cruise around in honestly. It is rather comfortable, gets decent gas mileage, and is just really smooth. It is impossible to make it go moderately quick due to the slushbox but it really does well at just cruising around effortlessly. If you get on it, it will go pretty fast but I don’t ever abuse her car like I would my own. Plus I think the tints look pretty good and its a relatively clean car aside from the door dings. Her first choice when car shopping was a Mini cooper but I am very glad we went with this car instead. That would have been a maintenance nightmare, regardless of how much more fun I would have found it. But an automatic Mini is a sacrilege as fa r as I am concerned so that would have always angered me anyways.

DISCUSSION (15)

J_P_Cars10s > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/13/2018 at 21:54

Glad I’m not the only one with a quart of oil under my driver’s seat at all times. 2 quarts in 6k, FB25 with <70k on it. I’m s till deciding if getting a fresh shortblock right before my warranty expires is worth it.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/13/2018 at 21:55

Just changed my girlfriend’s corolla’s oil the other day. The asshats who changed it last tightened it so much I ended up needing a special tool and a lot of leaverage.

As for the Miata... Why not throw on some aftermarket headers?

AestheticsInMotion > mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
07/13/2018 at 22:35

California :(

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
07/13/2018 at 23:09

I have an aftermarket header on the car now. It will “ALLEGEDLY” be going right back on after it passes smog lol.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > J_P_Cars10s
07/13/2018 at 23:12

Haha its my favorite “it’s a subaru thing, you wouldnt get it” thing to say to people. Honestly, the Miata is way worse though. But with 200k on that car and how I drive it , I am not surprised to have that sort of issue. I am meaning to fix the Miata eventually but im stuck thinking its a head gasket issue so its sort of the ignore it until it breaks kind of thing. So I am always carrying a 4-5 quart supply with me in both cars.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AestheticsInMotion
07/13/2018 at 23:14

Stupid CARB, but I will at least finally get around to doing a comparison of with vs without the header. I want to see how much of a difference it really makes. I am thinking the midpipe and tailpipe make more of a difference since the NB2 header is acceptable stock. Its not the iron giant in the NB1 nor the useless NA one.

AestheticsInMotion > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/13/2018 at 23:23

Let me know, I am quite curious. Just had a neighbor approach me and say that my car has a unique sound, “like a cat purring, with a bit of growl”. Hmm. Just sounds loud from inside...

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > AestheticsInMotion
07/13/2018 at 23:32

Ahh. Didn’t realize that would matter in a negative way with emissions

wafflesnfalafel > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/13/2018 at 23:36

D oing our cars tomorrow morning - NAPA had a great sale on their yummy full synth last week... Get it done now and won’t have to worry about it all the rest of summer.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/13/2018 at 23:47

Oh haha ok. The only stock part of my exhaust is the header. I want one at some point, but haven’t heard they make a whole lot of difference and I have other priorities lol. Maybe it would be lighter at least?

Why would a header negatively affect smog??

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
07/14/2018 at 00:04

I mean in reality it doesn't but the great state of California considers that it does. There's something about the heat conduction of different metals changing exhaust gas temperatures which changes the pollutant levels blah blah blah. I'm sure my header is murdering polar bears somewhere. Good thing the mountains are pretty enough to make me put up with this shit lol

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AestheticsInMotion
07/14/2018 at 00:06

Yeah I'm thinking sound is the one area it's bound to make a difference even if performance doesn't change much. I doubt the roadstersport stuff contributes much to the raspy sound at the very high end, I'm thinking that's all header. I've come to love that tone in tunnels so I'd hate to lose that.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/14/2018 at 09:51

Yeah dude that’s dumb. Mountains are worth putting up with lots of dumb things haha! Like all these damn tourists here in Asheville.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
07/14/2018 at 10:36

I think the locals are worse there haha. At least on the dragon, it’s guaranteed the local yokels will intentionally drive slow as hell, not stay within the double yellow, and never pull over. It’s as if they just troll the people who are there to enjoy the road. It's always a couple of fishermen in a ratty old pickup. Funny, the same thing happens in LA except it's an older lady in a Prius. The people who live in the mountains here are insanely entitled and drive like shit.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
07/14/2018 at 16:04

Lol well Asheville drivers are slow usually. N ot been to the dragon yet, but I do know that outside city limits in North Carolina and in the south in general, people seemed to be stuck in simpler times. Some things good about that, some bad. Less locals in city limits. Tourists are always the most irritating.