How much do you take care of your car/truck?

[APX808]

Today I was re pasting the side moldings of my car that got loose and was thinking that since I bought it a year ago, I just washed it once! And it was 6 months ago LOL

My car has so many spider webs it looks like the fucking "Creepy Coupe" from Wacky races, although I would never be able to overcome my old man's record, who had a bird nest with little eggs and everything inside the motor compartment 

Who often do you wash your car?

[JohnyMac]

I have a 2009 Ford F-150 Lariat AKA Turkey Slayer. It has 112,000 miles on it - Yup I drive it a lot.

Scheduled maintenance consists of new oil change every 5,000 miles using "high mileage" oil. I flush the cooling system in the fall and obviously replace the anti-freeze when I do that. The air filter gets changed every other oil change. I have never washed my truck but have washed out the bed in the back with a hose after carrying something like dirt, sand and freshly harvested deer, hog's, goats. My neighbor in RI always washes it after he borrows it so it has been washed - He is so proud of my truck!

I am getting ready to replace the sneakers on her and am deliberating what to put on as I didn't like the Pirelli's she came with or the Generals that I put on her about 15 months ago. The Generals are great for the road, especially a wet road. Didn't fair as well on dirt, muddy, icy and snowy roads though.

The nickname Turkey Slayer comes from when I hit a turkey at 75 mph with less than 900 miles on her in the spring of '09. She received about $3K in damage and the Prius behind me got the worst of the deal as the turkey was slung back into it off my truck. That white Prius had a broken windshield, yellow & green goo all over the crumpled engine hood and roof.  The lady was so shook up I waited till the NY State police arrived and then I skedaddled once I made sure they had taken control of the sitch. I was packing some serious hardware in the truck that would not be approved in NY State...Well in truthfulness in most states.

My wife has a 2004 Mini Cooper S. It has about 75,000 miles on it. The car has been in about a half a dozen accidents with my wife at the helm. Our insurance is ridiculous! The oil gets changed every 10,000 miles or so.

My wife use to take it to a BMW dealership an hour away in Boston that use to charge her a fortune. I stopped that back when I was laid off in 2010 which she was not very happy with me about.

She loved the BMW dealership as she got free fancy coffee, a car wash and they treated her like a rock star (Well daaaah, they were making a shit-ton of money off of her and our insurance company). She now takes it to the local motor-head garage in town - Much more reasonable. It's also across the road from a Dunkin Donuts. She can get her fancy coffee there! 

I will never tell her this but the Mini is pretty cool. I HAVE NEVER DRIVEN A CAR that was as fast or handled as well as that car. I would not hesitate putting the petal to the metal to out-run a cop in that car. 

Hope that helps APX...     
   

[APX808]

Nice stories JM

My mother crashed with everything she could find when she bought her first car, thank god always were fender benders, it seems that's the way women learn to drive hehehe

I'm just interested in listening to your crazy car related stories, I'll need to take mine to its first programmed service in 2 months.

[special-k]

True story:

I moved across country a few years ago.  Before I left, I gave my '92 ford taurus to my cousin.  As with all older vehicles, it had many quirks.  So I explained to my cousin all its quirks... one of which was of a superstitious nature... "Never use soap or wax when washing the car - rinsing with water is okay - window cleaner is okay for glass - never detail the interior - vacuuming the floor once or twice a year is okay" 

About a week later he called to tell me about an odd chain of events that led to the engine breaking loose from its mounts with so much force as to leave an imprint in the hood... the damage was extensive.   He added that it was a shame because he had just spent all day washing, waxing and detailing the interior.

   Don't ya' hate it when you try to tell somebody something.

[thatGuy]

My little Ranger gets fixed when it breaks, oil changes every 10K and never washed.

320,000 miles and its still on the factroy motor, tranny and rear end.

I've done two water pumps, two batteries, two fuel pumps, one stick shift assembly, the clutch, both door latches and countless belts, hoses and wiper.

[Currahee]

I'm one of those guys who's shit just looks like crap.  I was and vacuum my car maybe once a year.  I have an 8 year old who's the primary occupant of the back seat and he has it a pig sty.  The headliner is falling, which pisses me off.  It has a bunch of thumbtacks in it and for some reason reminds me of a Cheech and Chong movie. 

I do keep the engine maintained and, oil changed battery terminals cleaned and parts changed when needed.  That is part of being a prepper.

Kind of the same with my house.... I don't landscape the yard or anything but I keep it mowed enough for the Weiner dog to be able to pee and poop.  I just got done spending an hour trimming the branches around it - a regular "beginning of hurricane season activity."

[Reaver]

As much as I can.

[USMC0331]

Before I was married I had a 1990 Toyota Truck that never got washed and only worked on (by a mechanic) when something broke. 

Now my 2001 F250 7.3L Crew Longbed is the only rig we have and it is kept clean and all work is done by me and youtube vids.  I've changed out fuel injection harnesses, rotor & pads and saved $1200.00 in mech fees alone by doing so.  I change my own oil now also which saves $50.00 every 5K miles.

Besides saving money, I' learn something each time I have to work on it, which was the real reason for starting to do my own work... learning to be self-sufficient.