Overkill fluid changes

[subquark]

You aren't going convince people that their lucky charm change intervals don't work, don't bother trying. Humans suck at separating correlation from causality, and if they change their oil every 500 miles and their engine works, they'll be convinced it only works because of the oil changes. ?‍

Ha, little you know about those relationships.

Here's a set of correlatable facts:

• global temp increase
• number of pirates down

=D

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[LB'sTremor]

what about age? 12K but 3 years old here. Oil change when the oil minder gets to 20% but thinking of dif's T-case at least, maybe trans pan suck and refill. Then there is brake fluid...

Yeah I fall into that category LOL

LB

 

[dstig1]

On lightly driven vehicles, you should aim for annual oil changes at least. That part is not overkill, even if it only has 2-3k on it. But that is a very different thing than doing them every 2 months at 2-3k...

 

[BassRanger]

TBH, I've been down this rabbit hole before. I think our obsession with vehicle maintenance is a mix cultural and psychological. America is unique in our car culture. We drive everywhere, much of our infrastructure is built around cars. Consequently, there is an entire industry build around maintaining there cars. Quick lubes, tire shops, mechanic shops, and parts stores scattered all over the place.

Advancements over time in vehicle, parts, lubricant, and filter technology means that modern vehicles just don't need to be maintained as thoroughly, and as frequently as older vehicles did. We are seeing this as big box parts stores, and mom/pop mechanics are starting to close up shop all over the country. I think frequent oil change fear mongering is the last grasp of a antiquated and dying maintenance industry that doesn't need to exist in the capacity that it currently does.

On the psychological side, many of us grew up with ourselves, dads, grandfathers maintaining the family vehicle. Weekly maintenance schedules/checks were not out of the ordinary on older high use vehicles. As a result of this, I think many guys have this sense of duty and pride to maintain their vehicle. But again, modern vehicles don't need bearings greased, carburetors adjusted, distributer caps adjusted, etc. So what's left?........................... oil changes. And, IMO these unreasonably truncated oil change intervals are a way many guys fulfill that missing sense of duty to maintain their machine.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

OMG! None of you amateurs are doing a drain and fill on the air in your tires (don't forget the spare!). Every 2 years or full solar eclipse, MINIMUM!!! And use the dry Nitrogen too.
?

And make sure you use the AMSAIR dry nitrogen. It’s so much better despite the ridiculous price

 

[Grumpaw]

And make sure you use the AMSAIR dry nitrogen. It’s so much better despite the ridiculous price

I've always used free nitrogen right out of my garage compressor....
Regular ole air is 78% nitrogen so I fill my tires, full up, and bleed off 22%, and fill back up !!!!
WALLA.....FREE NITROGEN !!!

 

[GhostStrykre]

TBH, I've been down this rabbit hole before. I think our obsession with vehicle maintenance is a mix cultural and psychological. America is unique in our car culture. We drive everywhere, much of our infrastructure is built around cars. Consequently, there is an entire industry build around maintaining there cars. Quick lubes, tire shops, mechanic shops, and parts stores scattered all over the place.

Advancements over time in vehicle, parts, lubricant, and filter technology means that modern vehicles just don't need to be maintained as thoroughly, and as frequently as older vehicles did. We are seeing this as big box parts stores, and mom/pop mechanics are starting to close up shop all over the country. I think frequent oil change fear mongering is the last grasp of a antiquated and dying maintenance industry that doesn't need to exist in the capacity that it currently does.

On the psychological side, many of us grew up with ourselves, dads, grandfathers maintaining the family vehicle. Weekly maintenance schedules/checks were not out of the ordinary on older high use vehicles. As a result of this, I think many guys have this sense of duty and pride to maintain their vehicle. But again, modern vehicles don't need bearings greased, carburetors adjusted, distributer caps adjusted, etc. So what's left?........................... oil changes. And, IMO these unreasonably truncated oil change intervals are a way many guys fulfill that missing sense of duty to maintain their machine.

for me, you nailed several reasons why i probably over maintain. some added things (again, for me):
- as earlier discussed here, TCO stuff from the manufacturers is this battle between engineers and marketing. extremely difficult for someone outside the company to decipher the truth, so we have to fall back on the above.
- everything is expensive. as much as i like new vehicles, i'd rather not have a new vehicle loan. i'd rather spend some shekels on bogus oils and waste my time than have a new loan.
- i don't have kids and am sometimes bored on weekends... so i like practicing maintenance tasks periodically.
- this is probably the biggest one: if i over maintain my vehicle and it grenades itself i feel no guilt as opposed to under maintaining it (under maintaining as defined by many of the psychological influences discussed by BassRanger) and then it grenading itself.

so yeah.. the psychology of home vehicle maintenance cannot be dismissed. it may be silly to some, but it is undoubtedly deep rooted. i get the OPs point and feistiness (this has been a fun thread to read), but everyone is truly coming from a different place imo.

 

[5thranger]

I've always used free nitrogen right out of my garage compressor....
Regular ole air is 78% nitrogen so I fill my tires, full up, and bleed off 22%, and fill back up !!!!
WALLA.....FREE NITROGEN !!!

Brilliant just absolutely brilliant.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

I've always used free nitrogen right out of my garage compressor....
Regular ole air is 78% nitrogen so I fill my tires, full up, and bleed off 22%, and fill back up !!!!
WALLA.....FREE NITROGEN !!!

Or just get the valve stem adapter that just lets the nitrogen into the tire and disperses the rest to atmosphere ?

 

[Grumpaw]

Brilliant just absolutely brilliant.

Thanks....sometimes these ideas just pop from my widdle bwain...just POPS OUT !!!

 

[VAMike]

10k is the max under ideal driving conditions. Let's make some assumptions.

• An oil change is $75
• You will keep your truck for 200k miles

If a 5000 mile oil change extends the life of the truck by 3.75%, or 7500 miles, the *20* extra oil changes paid for themselves.

"If" is doing most of the work in this claim. Let's say a 500 mile oil change extends the life of the truck by 3000%. Over the course of ten million miles, you save the cost of quite a few new trucks, so obviously 500 miles is the most you should ever go on a new fill of oil because it will pay for itself in the long run. "If" 500 mile oil changes extend the life of the truck by 3000%, of course. "If". If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. If you skip the extra oil changes and invest the money wisely, you've got a decent emergency fund ($1500) to deal with whatever comes up (which will happen regardless of whether you've done unnecessary oil changes). I do question whether a 200k mile ranger is going to be worth the $40k it has to be to make your math work, but that doesn't matter much since all the other numbers are also fictional. (You're also skipping some other obvious strategies to save even more--if you're happy driving some clapped-out 200k mile ranger trying to squeeze an extra 4% out of it, why not just start with an old ranger and replace it when it dies? You'll save way more, even buying a series of disposable trucks, than you will starting out with a new ranger and changing the oil every week--"if" you get 5 $4k trucks and squeeze another 50k miles out of each you've hit 250k miles for $20k! That's $13k less than the cost of one new base model ranger!)

You can fiddle with imaginary numbers to justify any silliness, but all the extra oil changes are doing is giving you a warm fuzzy feeling. If that's worth $1500 to you that's fine, but please don't try to convince people it's based on data or that it actually makes financial sense.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

"If" is doing most of the work in this claim. Let's say a 500 mile oil change extends the life of the truck by 3000%. Over the course of ten million miles, you save the cost of quite a few new trucks, so obviously 500 miles is the most you should ever go on a new fill of oil because it will pay for itself in the long run. "If" 500 mile oil changes extend the life of the truck by 3000%, of course. "If". If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. If you skip the extra oil changes and invest the money wisely, you've got a decent emergency fund ($1500) to deal with whatever comes up (which will happen regardless of whether you've done unnecessary oil changes). I do question whether a 200k mile ranger is going to be worth the $40k it has to be to make your math work, but that doesn't matter much since all the other numbers are also fictional. (You're also skipping some other obvious strategies to save even more--if you're happy driving some clapped-out 200k mile ranger trying to squeeze an extra 4% out of it, why not just start with an old ranger and replace it when it dies? You'll save way more, even buying a series of disposable trucks, than you will starting out with a new ranger and changing the oil every week--"if" you get 5 $4k trucks and squeeze another 50k miles out of each you've hit 250k miles for $20k! That's $13k less than the cost of one new base model ranger!)

You can fiddle with imaginary numbers to justify any silliness, but all the extra oil changes are doing is giving you a warm fuzzy feeling. If that's worth $1500 to you that's fine, but please don't try to convince people it's based on data or that it actually makes financial sense.

But if he buys older generation Rangers for $4000 then he would have to switch forums.

 

[dtech]

I thoroughly enjoy the pics of used fluids in a jug generally posted by the over maintainer crowd to justify their actions. My apologies for not taking the time to post a pic of the diff fluid I changed yesterday to show it's darkness in a jug, without thinking I just added it to my used oil collection.

 

[ranger 2020]

I have seen a lot of issues over the years with cars & trucks. turned my 1st wrench for a living in 1973. Last in 2020 due to health problems. Never saw a problem because the vehicle was serviced too much. I once had a Crown Vic come in with engine noise tho. Pulled the drain plug to drain the oil, nothing would come out. Oil was like road tar. 28K miles, serviced one time. Long story short, proper service would have been a whole lot cheaper than the replacement engine they had to buy.

 

[bmidd]

Added new wiper blades to our Focus ST last month. Picked up another 15 HP easy.

I have a new rear wiper for the Explorer ST, I need to swap it on and grab some E85.

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