Car care....how much is too much?
I'm looking at buying a new car (or a nice used one) within the next few months. I'd like to drive it for as long as possible, get my money's worth out of it.
I see every thing from synthetic oil, gas additives, oil additives, ect.....
What do I actually need, and what is simply more expensive than its worth?
I see every thing from synthetic oil, gas additives, oil additives, ect.....
What do I actually need, and what is simply more expensive than its worth?
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I run synthetic. For no ohter reason than it gets very cold here and it sythetic doesnt congeal like standard oil, preventing dry starts. 0 -
Most oil additives are not worth the money they cost, especially if you run synthectic oil. Gas additives are often useless, excepting the ones which cost more money than most folks want to spend. Chevron offers a good line of additives (there are many others as well). I wrote about two pages of information several months ago about motor oils (I worked in petroleum industry for the first ten years of my engineering career) so it is around here somewhere. Depending on the type of driving you do I will say that you simply cannot spend too much money on fluid changes: Oil, coolant, transmission (automatic or stick) or other fluids like brake and power steering fluids. Most component failures can be traced directly to neglected fluid changes and the price of a rebuilt transmission far excedes the cost of regular service for the life of the vehicle. 0 -
I ran Lucas Fluids in my Miata. In the tranny, rear end, you name it. The best fluids available. Now, both of our vehicles were purchased brand new. We use factory fluids and have the dealerships do the work. 5w-20 Valvoline I believe is used in both. Just keep up on your oil changes, and check your fluids often. Use a name brand oil - Pennziol, Valvoline, Qstate, and you'll get plenty of mileage out of a good quality, well maintained car.
Good luck.0 -
kristov: thanks for the link 0 -
I'm getting ready to give my Dodge a new batch of oil; four gallons cost me $128.00 last week. I'll change it in another 19,000 miles. The truck will then have 200,000 on it. The oil will have 80,000 on it. A bypass oil filter system gets the small dirt out. My motor has no wear. It will outlast the truck itself.
Heat kills transmissions. Using modified synthetics can help get rid of the heat. I just re-did my tranny at 180,000 miles. I had it done at 25,000 changing to synthetics at that time.
Differentials and transfer case all have synthetics in them.0 -
...We've run this topic to death, but it's still interesting. What is your opinion of using "Slick 50"?
...I use Castrol and change at 3,000. Sometime after break-in, I'll add a quart of Slick 50. Probably throwing money away, but I'd like Kristov's opinion. Also, at oil changes, I replace one quart of oil with one of Marvel Mystery Oil. I know, it sounds like Voodoo, but I can document a slight increase in MPG, especially if I toss a quart in the gas tank also. Kristov...I'd respect your take on the Slick 50 thing.0 -
Castrol Syntec full synthetic in all the vehicles.
I have found that gear lube changes in anything other than a 4X4 Xfer case - if the 4WD is used a lot - is a waste of $ in sticks - and necessary in autos. Intervals depend on useage.0 -
Don't forget, the type of car, the conditions it is being driven in (99 degree heat with A/C blasting or below freezing temps), and how you drive it. I drove the crap out of the Miata. It never missed a beat so I thought I'd treat it to good fluids. 0 -
The FTC forced Slick 50 to stop making their claims after independent labs could not find any measureable improvement in fuel milegage or any decrease in the wear of the critical engine components that the use of Slick 50 was supposed to be protecting. There is nothing harmful in Slick 50 and while a few people claimed that their engines were damaged by the product this was as a result of using so much of the additive that there was simply not enough oil in the crankcase to properly lubricate the engine. Slick 50 fought and won these cases by pointing out that the directions on the product stated very clearly how much to add to the engine oil and while excededing this level by a pint or even a quart would do no harm, running a 50-50 (in a few cases eve higher concentrations) mix of motor oil and Slick 50 was just looking for trouble. Poeple often have the misguided idea that extremely high (over 70%) concentrations of engine coolant provide better protection against freeze or boil over, but in fact you still need some plain old water mixed with the coolant in order for it to perform properly. My opinion on Slick 50? You wasted your money. 0 -
It is not about what brand or type of oil you use just that you change the oil.
My 3 cylinder Geo Metro is over 200,000 on Wal-Mart oil and filters with no problems and still get 52mpg.
My wifes Chevy is at 190,000 on Wal-Mart oil with no problems.
Change your oil!0 -
A good quality 10W-30 engine oil is already 25% additives. With all their testing, if the oil companies felt their product needed something, they would add it. So just keep changing with a good quality oil and save your money. 0 -
A mechanic I once talked to runs his synthetic oil (Royal Purple) through a dialysis type machine to filter out all the contaminants and then pours it right back in after changing the oil filter.
Mobile-1 5W20 Synthetic and a Napa Gold oil filter (highest level of filtration on the market) is what I put on my car. You can squeeze more mileage out of a high quality synthetic when combined with a high-end oil filter. It's butt-cold up here in New York (next to the Canadian border). The fully synthetic oil gets to where it has to lubricate faster on those cold-starts which is where a lot of engine wear occurs.
Mobile-1 is hard to find in 5W20 up here. I switched to Castrol fully synthetic for my last oil change but i'll buy a case of Mobile-1 once I find it again.
After leaving my car sit for a year while I was deployed, I changed the battery and had ALL "BG Services" done to my car. I think I spent around $1,000. www.bgfindashop.com0
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