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Scheduled Maintenance
What maintenance items are necessary to keep
your car running reliably and when should those items be done? This is likely
one of the most disagreed about questions in the automotive repair industry.
Unfortunately for you ,the consumer, there is not a quick and easy "right"
answer. If you hope to achieve adequate longevity and reliability from your
car at the lowest possible cost, you must either educate yourself on the many
facets of your car's maintenance requirements and make the decisions for yourself,
or you must hope the mechanic you have chosen has not only the requisite knowledge
to maintain your particular vehicle, but also a willingness to learn what
YOU expect from your car. The maintenance needs of a person who trades in
every few years are far less that a person who wants to drive their car 200,000
miles or beyond. At Art's, we aspire to be a knowledgeable and caring shop
you can trust to look out for your interests (and to find out what those interests
are). This page is designed to help those of you who are interested in finding
out more about automotive maintenance so that you can make informed decisions
on your own.
Ignition System Maintenance:
This is what many people think of when they think of a "tune-up". The ignition system has parts like spark plugs, distributor caps, distributor rotors, ignition wires. While these parts are an important part of a maintenance program, they are far from the most important part. If an ignition part fails, the car will run poorly. In the worst case, an ignition problem left un-addressed may damage the catalytic converter. When you compare this to the damage that might be caused by not adjusting the valves (engine damage), or neglecting the transmission fluid (transmission damage), the "tune-up" takes a step down on the maintenance list. However, this is not to say you shouldn't replace worn ignition parts. As they wear fuel economy and performance suffer and emissions go up. Here are our recommendations:
Conventional Spark Plugs - every 15,000 mi. (city/fwy mix) to 30,000 mi. (mostly fwy)
Dual Ground Conventional Spark Plugs - same
as regular conventional spark plugs
Platinum Spark Plugs - every 60,000 miles
Dual Ground Platinum Spark Plugs - same as regular
platinum spark plugs
Iridium & Some NGK Platinum Plugs - the plugs should last 105,000 miles easily, but you should consider time as well. Our worry is that the spark plugs may end up seizing in the cylinder head, although we have not yet had this problem (iridium plug use started in 2000 and this was written in 2004). Your guess as to whether the plugs get stuck is as good as ours at this point.
Distributor Cap - This is not part of any scheduled service. We recommend inspecting it every 15,000 miles and start considering replacing it at 60,000 miles.
Distributor Rotor - This is not part of any scheduled service. We recommend inspecting it every 15,000 miles and replacing as necessary. The rotor is more likely to fail than the cap and is usually much cheaper. We usually end up replacing them every 30,000 to 60,000 miles.
Ignition Wires / Spark Plug Wires - This is not part of any scheduled service. We recommend inspecting them every 15,000 miles and start considering replacing them at 60,000 miles.
Points and Condensor - These parts have not been used since the late 70s, yet they still appear on may "tune-up" check lists. Usually they are just there to make the list look longer.
Ignition Coil - this is not technically a maintenance item, but it should be periodically checked for leaks and carbon tracking.
Many cars are now using DIS (distributorless ignition system / direct ignition system) in which all but the spark plug and the coil are eliminated. This type of system is more expensive to manufacture and repair, but less expensive to maintain and more reliable in general.
Everyone has their own opinion on how often the oil should be changed and there is more than one right answer. Many mechanics say to change the oil every 3,000 miles. Consumer reports says this is a waste of money and the oil does not need to be changed this frequently; their recommendation was 6,000 miles. Your owner's manual may have an interval of 7,500 miles. Who is right? I'd say all of them are right in their own way. How can this be?
Let's start with the 7,500 mile recommendation. If you have a brand new car with a tight engine (meaning no blow-by getting into the crankcase and contaminating the oil) and you do not plan on keeping the car past the warranty period, then changing the oil every 7,500 mile is fine. (I just hope I don't buy it second hand :O)
Next the 6,000 mile recommendation. The Consumer
Reports study was based on 2 groups of identical new cars driven for 60,000
miles. One group of cars had a 3,000 mile oil change interval, and the other
a 6,000 mile oil change interval. When they disassembled the engines, they
found that there was no difference in measurable wear between the two groups.
Before you decide the 6,000 mile interval is for you, I have two arguments
I'd like to make.
First, the test was done on new cars with new engines. As engines wear a couple
things happen that affect the useable life of motor oil. 1) Blow-by (the amount
of combustion gas that seeps past the piston rings) increases. Blow-by gas
is partly unburned gasoline, which is a solvent and will dilute the motor
oil and reduce its ability to lubricate. 2) the amount of debris generated
by the engine increases as it gets older. All engines lose bits of metal from
bearings. These bits of metal are suspended by the motor oil until the motor
oil can absorb no more. Once this happens the motor oil will become gritty
and abrasive. Because older engines will ruin motor oil faster than new engines,
oil should be changed more frequently than every 6,000 miles on older engines.
My second argument is that many drivers do not check their oil between oil
changes and therefore may run out of motor oil in between oil changes. Many
manufactures state that oil loss of 1 quart per 1,000 miles is acceptable.
Most engines hold 4 quarts. If your engine loses 1 qt/1,000 miles, you will
run out of oil at 3,500 miles or so. So, if you are going to use the 6,000
mile interval, it's very important you check you oil level as frequently as
necessary between oil changes. However, I am not saying that if you change
your oil every 3,000 miles you do not need to check your oil level regularly;
there is just a less chance of a catastrophe if you don't check your oil as
often as you should.
If Consumer Report redoes the study and runs the cars 200,000 miles, I'll
be a convert. Until then, I'll say this:
6,000 mile oil changes are fine if you only plan to drive the your car for 60,000 miles. However, many of our customers drive their cars well over 200,000 miles. One of our customers went 400,000 miles on the original engine without any major engine work. This would not have been possible if she had not religiously changed the oil every 3,000 miles.
Changing the oil every 3,000 miles instead of every 6,000 miles costs on average $70 extra per year. The average car costs $25,000. I'd call the 3,000 mile oil change cheap insurance.
Automatic Transmission maintenance:
This is a fluid that can save you big bucks with a small investment. We recommend changing the ATF (automatic transmission fluid) every 15,000 miles and many of our mechanics (including me) do it more frequently on our own cars. Transmission fluid is a fluid where its condition can be easily judged by its color. New/Good transmission fluid is a bright red color. As the transmission fluid goes bad, it changes in color, first darkening to a dark red, then to a purple, then to a light brown, finally to a dark brown / black color. When a mechanic drains and fills the transmission only a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the fluid can be replaced. This is because, unlike the engine, most of the fluid does not sit in the sump. Instead it sits in the torque converter, valve body, behind clutch pack pistons, and in many of the passages throughout the transmission. Because all the of the transmission fluid is not normally replaced, it's important to change the fluid as soon as it starts to turn. Otherwise the bright red color can not be restored with only one drain and fill. If the transmission fluid does go too long between changes, the transmission fluid can be flushed (all of the fluid is replaced with one visit using a flushing machining). However, this is 5 times the cost of a drain and fill and the transmission may be damaged from the time spent driving around with the bad fluid. So the best policy is to keep the ATF changes on a regular schedule.
Manual Transmission Maintenance:
Manual transmissions are much simpler than automatics. We recommend replacing the fluid every 30,000 miles, even when the manual says you should do it at 60,000. A transmission drain and fill is about $30, that's about $1.00 per 1,000 miles. It just doesn't make sense to wait until 60,000.
Transfer cases and differentials have the same maintenance requirements as the manual transmission (30,000 mile drain and fill). On trucks with on demand 4WD, it would not be unreasonable to change the front differential oil and the transfer case oil at 60,000 miles instead of 30,000 miles.
Brake Hydraulic System Maintenance:
Until 1994, Acura, Honda, Mazda, and Nissan all recommended flushing the brake fluid every 30,000 miles. Toyota for some reason has never recommended it. After 1994 many manufacturers dropped the 30,000 mile recommendation for the brake fluid, which is sort of ironic since 1994 is when moisture and grit sensitive ABS (anti-lock brake systems) really started to become common. We believe that brake fluid flushing and ABS system flushing (when ABS does not share common fluid) is a service that will save money and provide added brakes system reliability whether the service manual calls for it or not. Brake fluid is testable with several commercially available systems. We use an electric moisture content meter. Brake fluid's main weakness is that it absorbs water. When brake fluid is water saturated three things happen: the brake fluid becomes more compressible (a bad quality in a hydraulic fluid), the boiling point decreases (boiling brake fluid can cause a spongy pedal after a long downhill drive), and the moisture in the brake fluid is corrosive to the metal parts in the brake system. The corrosiveness of "wet" brake fluid is in my mind the primary reason for periodic flushing. Especially on cars with ABS. Some ABS modulators cost $2500 just for the part.
We recommend flushing the clutch fluid every 15,000 miles. The clutch master and slave cylinders use brake fluid. Moisture will cause corrosion of the clutch hydraulic parts the same as with the brake system, although boiling point and compressibility are not much of a problem as clutch hydraulic pressures and temperature are much lower than those found in the brake system. The reason we recommend the clutch flush more frequently than the brake flush is the system volume is much lower in the clutch system and the fluid seems to become saturated more quickly.
This is a very important part of a maintenance program. Just because the car drives OK does not mean it is OK. Scheduled replacement of parts, oils, and fluids is only one part of avoiding breakdown, the other is routine checking for early signs of trouble. Unfortunately, not all breakdowns can be predicted. Sometimes a part like an igniter might go out unexpectedly, and there would be no way of knowing that it was going to go out ahead of time. There's nothing that can be done about these type of breakdowns; however, you can substantially reduce your chances of having a breakdown by inspecting those things that can be inspected. As part of the all of the 15K interval services (15k/30k/45k/60k etc..) we perform a 131 item inspection looking for any problems and early signs of trouble.
Timing belt maintenance deserves it's own page. I'll be getting around to it soon. Meantime, if you have a timing belt question and you are local, call or come in. If you don't live in the area go to our Ask the Mechanic page.
The air filter can be inspected by holding it up to a very bright light (skylight works well) and looking into the creases. When the light can not be seen evenly across the creases, it's time to replace the filter. Frequently the air filter will look dirty, but when checked with this method will turn out to be fine. Loose dirt and debris can be removed from the filter by tapping it on a workbench. We always do this check before replacing an air filter. Frequently quick lube shops will sell air filter during an oil change, so we frequently find a clean air filters on cars in for service. We include the air filter on all of the 15K interval services (15k/30k/45/60k etc..) and remove it from the bill whenever we find that it is clean.
On older carbureted cars, the fuel filters were cheap, and needed to be replaced frequently (every 15,000 miles). Most 1988 and newer cars are fuel injected and have more expensive, longer lasting fuel filters, often mounted in hard to reach locations. There is no way to gauge the condition of fuel injection fuel filter other than a fuel volume test, which will only let you know that the fuel filter is restricted or the fuel pump is bad. This test isn't much help in determining what to do preventatively. In general we recommend following the manufacturers recommended interval with a few exceptions. Toyota, for instance, has no recommended interval. I guess they figure their filters will last forever. To be fair, I will say that their filters do last for a very long time. We have not seen a restricted fuel filter on any Toyota with less than 100,000 miles. We recommend replacing Toyota at 90,000 miles, even though there is in no set manufacturers interval.
If you were only going to do 3 maintenance items and ignore all the others, this would be one of my picks. Not all cars have adjustable valves, but for the ones that do, periodic adjustment is a critical maintenance item. Over time the valve faces and valve seats wear, causing the valve tip to get closer to the rocker arm or cam. Eventually the valve will run out of clearance and will be held open all the time. When the valve is held away from the seat, it will not be able to dissipate the heat from the 2000 deg.+ Combustion chamber environment and the high strength steel will literally melt. This can cost you anywhere between $1200 and $5000, depending on what type of car you own. Unfortunately, more and more manufacturers are removing the valve adjustment recommendation from their maintenance schedules or increasing the interval to ridiculous levels. For example, Honda 2000 and newer cars have a recommendation of 105,000 miles or "when noisy". The problem with the mileage is we know for certain that every 105,000 miles is not frequently enough. We had a CRV with a burned valve and a $2500 repair bill at 45,000 miles. The problem with "when noisy" is that only loose valves make noise. When valves are tight, they do not make noise. Tight valves are what cause engine damage. Toyota used to have a recommendation of 60,000 miles for their shim type engines, which I think was wise. Now their recommendation is to adjust the valves "when noisy" or "when the engine is running rough". You already know the problem with the "when noisy" recommendation. The problem with "when the engine is running rough" is that with every second the engine is running rough because of a tight valve, that valve is becoming more and more damaged. My opinion is that the manufacturers are sacrificing "after-warranty" longevity by reducing recommended maintenance. My guess is that they are doing this to reduce the perceived Total Cost of Ownership, making their product more attractive for rental and fleet and other bulk buyers. In any case, here are our recommendations:
Honda Civics 1984-1987, every 15,000 miles
Honda Civics 1988-1991, every 15,000 miles
Honda Civics 1992-1995, every 15,000 miles
Honda Civics 1996-2000, every 30,000 miles at least
Honda Civics 2001-2003, every 30,000 miles
Honda Accords 1984-1985, every 15,000 miles
Honda Accords 1986-1989, every 15,000 miles
Honda Accords 1990-1993, every 15,000 miles
Honda Accords 1994-1997, every 30,000 miles at least
Honda Accords 4CYL 1998-2002, every 30,000 miles
Honda Accords V6 1998-2002, manual says every 105,000 miles. Jury's out
Honda Odyssey V6 2000-2003, manual says every 105,000 miles. Jury's out
Toyota with jam nut type valves, every 15,000 miles
Toyota with shim type valves, every time the valve cover comes off for leak
repair
Mazda pre 1987, every 15,000 miles
Mazda post 1987, most are hydraulic
Mazda Protege 1995-1998 w/ shim, every 60,000 miles at least
Nissan pre 1988, every 15,000 miles
Nissan post 1988, most are hydraulic