Keeping it on the road: Vehicle maintenance for fun and profit
Economic doom and gloom might have you thinking differently about the vehicle sitting in your driveway. Keeping it alive a few extra years will head off increased expense, and cars are easily able to reach beyond 100,000 miles these days. Inveterate wrench-turners have long relished stretching their dollar by breaking out the tools. When you spend less than ten bucks to solder in a new set of regulator brushes in your alternator, you feel like you've won something; you've certainly saved a fistful of cash. So what do you spend time on repairing yourself versus going with remanufactured or new parts? Popular Mechanics has a quick guide that makes some good points about the repair versus replace conundrum. The general gist is that you'll be spending more time rebuilding calipers and rodding out radiator cores on your Fury III than you might on a Chevy Lumina, though both vehicles can be kept roadworthy for as long as you please with some savvy maintenance and repair without breaking the bank.
[Source: Popular Mechanics]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
CarBroker.org 3:39PM (11/01/2008)
With economic recession ahead we really needed some post like this to save some bucks on car maintainence
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RJ 3:08PM (11/02/2008)
The only problem with this article is that it seems quite out dated.
This is 2008, and who really need to know how to solder up a copper radiator? Or know about 12V VW buggy conversions and 68 Mustang alternators?
A better article would be to simply teach people how to propersly maintain the cars: cooling system flushes, transmission flushes (you can do it BETTER than the dealer, believe it or not), brake replacements, rubber belts, brake flushes, oil changes, etc.
Gianni 4:06PM (11/01/2008)
Are you interesting an italian version ?
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John 3:53PM (11/01/2008)
it goes to show how lazy society has become when they go out and buy a whole new car when their old car has a simple problem and they think it's falling apart.......
I paid $4000 for my Jeep that is 13 years old.....still going strong, all I've ever done was regular maintanence.
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Tim 4:55PM (11/01/2008)
Is it true that GM cars used to only have 5 digit odometers?
If it is would the odometer just reset when went over 99,999?
I just had a thought. What about the Canadian cars? Would they only show 99999 kilometers?
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Jason 4:51PM (11/02/2008)
No, they would go back to 00000. My old 92 metro only had 5 digits and I rolled it over.
Derek 8:58PM (11/01/2008)
ALL cars used to have 5 digit odometers. I have a '71 Mercedes diesel with a 5 digit unit (that has rolled over a few times)
Lee 4:54PM (11/01/2008)
The amount of money people spend on doing the brakes on their car is staggering to me. The cost seems to be based on the importance of brakes, rather than the actual costs in doing the job, which with some research can be done by pretty much anyone.
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tankd0g 9:57PM (11/01/2008)
And remember, it's double price for ABS equipped cars. lol, what a scam.
akboss302 5:10PM (11/01/2008)
I would love to know more about fixing my own car, because it does save tons of money - especially on the common stuff like brakes, tires (winter/summer) and spark plugs. A set of good brake pads will cost you $20, the shop will charge you $250 to install. But if you live in an urban setting, its tough to find a place to do it! And if you do find a place but something goes wrong or you get past your experience level and you're half-way through the job, what then? You have to get to work and your car is sitting in a friends driveway without any brakes.
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Alex 10:23AM (11/03/2008)
Get a Haynes Rapair Manual. Read the instructions BEFORE you touch your car. If any of it doesn't make sense or beyond your ability, don't do the work. If you are going to do the work, get started in the morning. That way parts stores are open should you need anything.
akboss302 2:04PM (11/03/2008)
good advice - is Haynes the best?
Smegley 5:16PM (11/01/2008)
Outside of occasional long term service (and even then only selected items on the maintenance list) I do all my service myself. Routine stuff like oil, brakes, belts, filters, some fluids are easy. Also major nonroutine elements that I know well I will take care, not just to save money, but also because I often end up with more issues the few times I take it in than I had before I went (scratches, dings, and even once a melted dash component to to some chemical). Also when I do it myself I know the service is done right, and invariably it is done MUCH faster than [making an appointment, driving there, doing paperwork, driving back, waiting to pay, picking it up, arranging rides with friends, etc].
But when it comes to cash, when I add all my service costs (done by me or by a service dept) plus tires costs and anything else but gas/insurance/depreciation, my average cost is less than $250/year total - closer to $220. Including rubber. Not bad. Most people blow twice that at a minimum just for a 15k checkup with some minor tweak, plus when they add tires and other crap they're at $1500/year or more. Add that up over a lifetime and you're at $100k. Thank God my daddy raised me right.
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Judy Zik 12:36AM (11/02/2008)
My first car I didn't know a thing and I got fleeced and eventually had the car blow up on me because of poor workmanship. That did it for me. I learned to do as much as I could myself right up to rebuilding a carb. When I met my husband I taught him how to change his own oil. Now we tend to tackle large jobs together. It pays off. Even when the job is big enough that we want to pay someone else to do it at least I know what I am talking about and can avoid the bimbo tax.
happy_penguin 2:11AM (11/02/2008)
You taught your husband how to work on cars? That's hot. Lucky man.
verdegrrl 5:43PM (11/01/2008)
A lot of community colleges offer basic auto shop classes. It's a great way to learn the theory behind the systems. A number of brand/model specific forums also have tech articles with step by step instructions. If that doesn't make you brave enough to tackle things on your own, then offer up your assistance as a tool gopher to your more car savvy friends and learn from them.
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Edsel 6:45PM (11/01/2008)
I own a BMW 7 series and the dealer wants an amazing $500.00 to change 8 spark plugs.
A neighbor owns a 1967 Chevy Impala. It has been his daily driver for 41 years. He can replace 8 spark plugs in twenty minutes for $20 and not have to "reprogram the on board computer".
I feel like the biggest sucker on the East coast.
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Digitalrailroader 7:13PM (11/01/2008)
I Do this stuff already, and right now, I have access to a Full shop with Tire Changer, Balancer, Alignment Machine, and 2 4 Post lifts.
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Derek 8:58PM (11/01/2008)
100K? Geez, any car built in the past 20 years should be able to roll past that even with heaps of neglect. If you take reasonable care of a car, I would expect 200K minimum.
My '92 Chrysler is past 175K now with little more than routine maintenance.
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happy_penguin 2:15AM (11/02/2008)
Oh that's impossible. Everybody knows that American cars blow up within the first 50,000 miles. :rolleyes:
I had a 93 Lumina that made it past 300k before being retired by it's third owner. Yes, you can get damn good reliability out of any car if you take care of it.