What Do You Think About This Article Regarding Maintenance?

[Dust N Bones]

This article talks about certain maintenance items and gives what I think are long intervals for maintenance. I'm especially wondering what you all think of their recommendations on oil changes and transmission fluid changes.

http://www.bankrate.com/nsc/ne...1.asp

[redmanfx]

You know, if I had a Honda Civic I would change the oil every 7,000 miles or so and I do believe many cars can be over maintained. We've had many dicussions on motor oil here and maint scheds and I love everyones point of view.

I happen to have a Q45 that I want to last a long, long time and given the fact of my high mileage, I will change my oil every 3 to 3500 miles. I run hard, I stop hard, I'm simply an aggressive driver who uses my NC roads as my own personal road course. If you lived here you would most likely be pissed that some green blur just went by you at 90 MPH..Can't help it, I don't have a pilots license, so I bought this Q..

I need the frequent maint.

red

[Jesda]

Theyre dead wrong about fuel.

Theyre mostly right about the transmission in most cases, on most modern cars. I would say the Taurus/Sable, Windstar, Venture/Montana, some Mazdas, and the Malibu are the exception. Its a tough call, but I'd play it safe and flush every 30k on every car to avoid a $2000-$3000 replacement.

Theyre right about the warranty.

All of their tips will definitely save you money, but none of them will give you like-new performance in ten years.

[gniknave]

With oil and coolant being the most important fluids to a cars life, I take no chances. That oil is changed at no more than 3000 miles and 2900 if I can. Coolant is checked consistently and changed at the same time I do transmission fluid (15k). I don't mind spending the extra money to make sure I don't have to spend extra money if that makes sense. I'd be damned if I had a car die because I failed to do a regular maintenance item.

I've taken care of the Civic like it's my child. I DARE somebody to see that car and find something wrong with it. I go and replace things I think MIGHT go out soon. A Civic is so easy to work on and cheap with parts that there's just no excuse not to maintain it. The Q is a true PITA. I haven't owned it for very long but I still make sure to do the oil changes every 3k.

The guy said that shops are trying to make extra $ by saying oil needs to be changed every 3k. But the same arguement can be made with manufacturers saying to change oil every 7500 or 10k. How do we know that's been proven? How do we know that manufacturers aren't saying this to get people to change the oil less often to lead to more problems and have higher repair bills in the long run?

[elwesso]

Exactly

The point of this is for new car owners..... They want the car to last 60k, and "well beyond the warranty" is 100k...

7500 mile OCI on dino oil is absurd... Sure everything will last 60k with minimal service... No problem.. Most Q last 100k with this amount of service as well...

Consider that the average household has two vehicles and drives each 15,000 miles a year. Following the advice of the local change-a-lot fast lube outlet -- to change oil and filter every 3,000 miles -- the average family would pay for 10 oil and filter changes every year. At, say, $30 a pop, that's $300.

Whoever wrote that doesnt know how to do math...

15,000 miles/3000 miles a year. 5 oil changes @ $30 (easily done with M1) ,$150...

THey have them basically changing the oil every 1.2 months, which i dont think anyone (except Jeff) does that.....

[Rex]

Wes, uh, they were refrring to 2 vehicles, so the math you did is missing a "x 2" and thus their math is a little closer to being accurate .

[Jesda]

OWNED! You are SO not getting into engineering school!

The article also doesnt take into account a lot of harsh operating environments on today's engines. If you have a 2.7 V6 in yourChrysler 300 or Dodge Intrepid, especially in climates with extreme temps, you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to extend the OCI.

[elwesso]

blah... what can i say

However, hte bottom line is, for someone who drives 15,000 miles a year, 5000 mi OCI on a dino oil is about the absolute longest you can go... If i were to drive more like 1500 miles a month, and less short trips, id be more likely to run my M1 or whatever synthetic for 5000 miles.....

Still, you can get away with it for 60k... Thats why a lot of us are paying the penalty NOW because the first owners had this philosophy.....