PolishPete

What is regular maintenance for cars. For example at 15K miles do this. Or at 50K miles do this. Just general stuff I should do or think about doing.

I ask becuase my other car is a 2002 Mustang. I didn't get the brakes done when I was supposed to, and figured since they weren't squealing, and working fine, then they were ok. Well last summer I had to pay $500 for new brakes and rotors because all of a sudden the just went bad and sounded crazy loud, like metal on metal. Other than this and oil changes, I haven't done anything to the Mustang and I just crossed 60K miles.

For cars in general, what are some important things to do just as regual upkeep. Thanks for any help in advance.

SpeedyV6

These are rough approximations:

oil change 7,500 miles
air filter 15,000 miles
Timing belt 105,000 miles
Spark plugs 100,000 miles
coolant ~ 75,000 miles
battery 3 - 5 years
wiper blade - as needed

BTW: changing brake pads and rotors isn't that hard to do yourself. It's only slightly harder than changing a spare tire. For what it costs to have someone else replace these you can buy a hydraulic jack , jack stands, c-clamp, torque wrench, and necessary socket wrenches as well as the brake rotors and pads and you'll still save ~ $200 easily.

Crazy Bimmer

Depends on the car. It also should be in your owners manual on what needs to be done.

I did a search for a 2002 mustang
http://media.ford.com/article_text/02_maint.pdf

PolishPete

Wow, wish I knew that earlier...would've had some more tools...did it myself, and not felt bad for giving all that money to someone else.



Is that the right smiley?

Crazy Bimmer

Those would be better.

PolishPete

Haha, ya I guess those are good too!

ilitig8

You can also look it up at Edmunds for most any car:

http://www.edmunds.com/maintenance/maintenance.do

PolishPete

Thank you guys.

SodaLuvr

Worst place you could possibly go, the guides are horribly inaccurate and do not depict the differences between severe and normal schedules.

Their guides for GM vehicles are probably 3+ years outdated since nearly all models went to the "Simplified Maintenance" schedules.

But to answer your question, this is the schedule I generally use, quite conservative:

Engine Oil- 5k
Engine Air/Cabin Air Filters- 20-30k
Coolant- Every 5 years if equipped with extended life
Brake Fluid- Flush every 3 years
Power Steering- Flush/Fill every 30-50k
Transmission- Flush (or several drain and fills) every 30-50k, filter change every 100k if equipped. For manuals, every 30-50k drain and fill.
Hoses- When they fail or when the radiator is replaced.
Timing Belt- 100k
Other Belts- 60-100k

ilitig8

Odd, they have been spot on compared to manuals for my cars that do not "tell" you when they want maintenance, but I would agree any online source should be balanced against the manual and official recomendations. I agree they do not provide severe service recomendations.

Not to be contentious but I wouldn't call your service intervals conservative, resonable yes, but not conservative. Several of them are beyond even modern car standards.

SodaLuvr

Interesting. Which ones?

ilitig8

Brake flush for many cars is 2 years
Lots of timing belts are well under 100k and if you have a interference engine it could result in EXPENSIVE repairs
Hoses and belts should be replaced based on time in use as well as milage since they degrade just sitting as well as hoses "when they fail" can't be considered conservative by any means.

Bottom line most of the recommendations are resonable for most cars in most situations but most are not conservative and at least one might result in catastrophic failure and the waiting until it fails for hoses seems quite the opposite of conservative, waiting until it fails is about as liberal as you can get!

SodaLuvr

Many cars do not even call for Brake Fluid replacements. GM, Ford, DC, and Toyota are just an example.

Most Timing Belts are replaced at either 90 or 105,000 miles, not sure which ones need to be replaced well before that?

Dad's van has 15 years on the original hoses, no problem. My GM has 10 years and almost 100k on the original hoses, no problems either. Many of the newer belts and hoses last a lot longer and often, the life of the vehicle.

But I agree, if you want to be conservative, change out the hoses at 10yrs/100k but its really on an as needed basis anyway.

ilitig8

When you go to specific cars it gets much different.

BMW for instance calls for brake flush at 2 years for example (actually not sure about the current line up but up to the last generation E46 et al this was true), just because some cars don't require brake fluid maintenance doesn't mean all do not!

Isuzu has 60k intervals on some engines for timing belts, some Volvos and some Nissans and even the last gen Accord had a 60k interval, that accounts for a TON of cars on the road just off the top of my head!

Toyota has lifetime tranny fluid, some cars have lifetime coolant but again it doesn't mean all cars can go longer.

Toyota's "sludge engines" recommend 3k oil changes.

As for the anecdotal, I have a GM tranny with the original fluid in it for 250k and it is still cherry, but have seen fluid from the same car/tranny with 60k that looked like it came from the bottom of a cracking tower so you have to be careful saying 10 years/100K for hoses based on anecdotal evidence.



My point is if you are going to make blanket statements regarding maintenance and call it conservative you need to take into consideration the wide variety of service recommendations. Again most of your intervals were resonable the timimg belt was just your most significant faux pas since recommending a service interval almost 70% longer than millions of cars on the road recommend is pretty irresponsible particularly considering the massive failure and costs which can result from a timimg belt failure.

SodaLuvr

True, and I probably should've added YMMV to the end as well, and consult your own owner's manual.

But I do know that the 6th gen Accord has a 105k service interval for the timing belt, at least for the V6.

Toyota, GM, and Ford, just to name a few, have not required an ATF service under most driving conditions for the life of the unit, or at least until 150k for years now. (Applies to cars btw)

The OAT coolants used in most new cars on the road today do not contain components that serve with a sacrificial purpose (i.e. phosphates/silicates) so the coolants last virtually forever. The intervals are really picked for the purpose of overall cooling system maintenance so one may have the system inspected/pressure tested, etc.

Toyota "sludge" engines required a 6-mo/5k service interval FYI. There were rarely any sludge problems, if any, if the oil/filter was changed at least every 5k.

ATF color means little or nothing nowadays unless the fluid was severely burnt. Units run hotter than ever and the red dye will wane at a more rapid rate, and the new fluids are built much better and will definitely outlast the dye in nearly all cases. Common sense prevails: hoses/belts are checked and replaced sooner if needed, but these newer hoses are lasting longer, and longer.

Lastly, the brake fluid topic is quite controversial...there are many cars on the road today with no brake fluid changes that work just fine. I don't support it, but it doesn't mean that one must bleed their brakes if it isn't required by the OM either, but I think its a good idea.

sidearm17

Anyone looking for service and maintenance schedules, please feel free to see my project at:

Servassist Online