question for hachiroku

LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:

I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green' enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't change it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4 more years after that.

The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That one currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.

Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.

Now, this is what *I* do myself. I am not religious about Dealer Service, but occasionally I do bring the car to the Dealer and usually follow their recommendations, because we (used to) have decent dealers here who weren't trying to make all they could on service. They did what needed to be done and advised you before doing anything else. Did they change the coolant and the brake fluid? Maybe. I don't question. We had exceptional service managers here, and if they said do it, then it needed doing.

Those days are gone. The nearest service manager I trust is 50 miles away, the one the next town over is still there, but the company that bought the dealership is pushing for revenue. The other two? I wouldn't go near them if there was blue and white smoke pouring out of the tailpipe, the wiring was in flames and I was driving right in front of the place. And I used to work for one of them...

so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.

would you fly an airline that disregarded the airplane service manuals?

what would it take to get you with the factory vehicle service program?

Toyota does not have a recommended brake fluid change.

Yes, but they should. Brake fluid is hygroscopic and will absorb moisture out of the air over time, and you still want to deep bleed the brakes with fresh fluid to effectively change it occasionally.

Though I would never stretch it to 150K, do it every time the calipers are rebuilt or other major brake work is done to the car, in the 30K to 60K range.

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Too frequent coolant changes? Toyota recommends 60,000 miles to replace coolant. If you read waht I wrote, I go double that. I wait until it starts to look cloudy or the temp guage doesn't sit in one position anymore. Toyotas have very good cooling systems and will almost always be just below the center of the guage. If it fluctuates from that, it's time for a change, 120~150,000 miles.

There is no recommendation for brake fluid. I figured, like I said, you would be baiting me, so I checked all the Toyota maintenance schedules I could find, and none of them had a brake fluid flush or change. The best mention was, "Top off all fliud levels."

So, according to you, my changing the brake fluid occasionally goes

However, I did learn something else: differential gear oil should be changed every 30,000 miles. Guess I know what I'll be doing with my Supra this afternoon!

But, according to our friend jim beam, I should be going by the manual. The manual does not give a recommendation for changing brake fluid, it merely says "Top up all fluids." So, that's what I did with my 'hachiroku'.

Around 225,000 miles I noticed the brake pedal was hard as hell to depress, and flushed the entire system. Brought back that nice, like new feeling to the brakes. Lesson learned.

Also, Toyota did not have a recommendation for changing manual transmission gear oil or differential gear oil.

My wife took the GT-S to work one day, and I could hear her in the driveway. She was used to driving her automatic Honda and forgot the clutch. HEY! GRIND ME A POUND!

Next service, I called the SM I bought the car from and said, Oh, yeah, change the gear oil in the tranny. His response? "The gear oil in the manual transmission is good for the life of the car and only needs to be checked occasionally." I explained to him what happened and I could hear the pencil on the Service Order as he said, "Change...trans...gear...oil."

Some indication that what I'm doing is actually bad for the car. I buy the most 'exciting' cars I can for my money, and I drive them that way. So far, so good. I'm happy with the life span I get out of my cars. By the time I'm done with them they're so rusty from good old New England winters that even though the engine, transmission, clutch and other system are in top notch condition, the body has had it.

Either that or I trade the cars in for new ones, and see my old cars driving around for years afterwards. There's a Corolla I bought in 1987 that I just saw the other day, a bit rusty but still running.

But then, I broke it in *my* way, so I guess it should have been in the scrap heap 10 years ago. But, the new owner must have done something to counteract my 'abuse', right? Feh...

not only that, it's actually scheduled as part of the maintenance regime.

Don't pay much attention to beam. Planes ain't cars. Apples 'n oranges for sure.

While he does dispense some good info on occasion, most of his posts reflect a narrow personal view that is out of touch with the average motorist. He has also adopted the false mantra of dealer service while ignoring its main function, generation of revenue.

Just pour a cool one and enjoy the afternoon...

JT

I garnered all that a long time ago when I made an 'educated guess' in the Honda group.

As far as a cold one, I play in a band and we had a practice/party this afternoon (rather than in the evening) and I did just that! I like Bass Ale.

Please Google some Toyota manuals and show me.

You can peruse Toyota Owner's Manuals right on their website.

Here's the service manual for a 1990 Supra. Maybe you can find where it says, "replace brake fluid", Mr. Manual...

It isn't in the Owner's Manual, either.

brake fluid /is/ hygroscopic. that's a fact. as it absorbs water, its boiling point lowers. that's a fact. as its boiling point lowers, heating from brake application can boil the fluid easier. that's a fact. boiling fluid causes vapor lock and no brakes. that's a fact.

now, bleat to me one more time about how it's not in the owners manual - because its in all the honda ones.

and bleat to me about how it's not your problem. because it most definitely is. oh, wait, you had a crash and totaled your car hitting someone in front of you because you couldn't stop in time. well, well, well...

I don't own Hondas, I own Toyotas. So how the hell would I know what was in a Honda manual?

But, good for Honda for placing that info in the manual. Maybe they should give out a Honda manual with every new Toyota.

It was < 2 years old and only had 40,000 miles on it, in a severe thunderstorm with torrential downpours, and the kid cut less than

why do you always snip the factual information? is it because you have no interest?

No, it makes it easier to focus on the bullshit.

then it's narcissism.

"Grumpy AuContraire" wrote

Amen ( raises glass of shiraz to make a toast to you ).

Peace, Polfus

Since you keep changing the focus of the 'discussion', then I help you keep up with that. We went from oil changes to brake fluid changes, to crashing a Corolla because some idiot crossed in front of me in a torrential downpour.

I don't want you getting lost, after all...

what part of "you were driving too fast" didn't you understand from last time? the more you reveal of the facts, like road conditions, the more clear it becomes that you're reckless and stupid.