Something to be said for changing the oil every 3000 miles

Extra?

How would the condition of the engine differ if it were changed every

With 200k mi, that's 65 changes. But, with 5000 mi between changes, there would be 38 changes. That's 25 extra changes.

I use good oil so I can change it every 5k miles. It is also more environmentally friendly.

Also oil contains trace elements that contaminate the catalytic converter. With age these materials burn away in the oil,. If you change your oil too often, you get too much of these contaminents which will destroy your catalytic converter.

So do not change your oil too often. Oil is designed to be changed at mfg recommended intervals.

Love those oil filters on the sides of the engine that you can reach from the top. I hated those filters that you would unscrew and they would drip hot oil down your arm.

Chang>> We've had the 93 Corolla since 1995 when we bought it with 45k miles on >> it,

You know, for a few extra bucks, there are technicians at dealerships that will do it. The equipment will cost me more than I will save by doing it myself, so that's where I go. Plus, no need to flinch, at least until I get the bill.

Jeff

Yep. I had a car that I bought from the dealership with free oil changes and I took it many times. Not worth the trouble to have my wife drive separately so we could drop it off, so I would take the car and wait for it to be done. That worked pretty well but it was a waste of time. I also had to fight the service tech who wanted to do lots of extra work. I also changed my brake pads once (done myself) and found the noise maker scrapers cut off such that I would get no warning before the pads contacted my rotors. I suspect the dealer did this hoping the rotors would get scored in hopes that I would be scared away from doing the brake job myself due to the extra work and bring it in to them so they could make money off of me.

In other words, I suspected the dealer of being crooks.

I would just as soon do my own oil changes in that case.

In message , uncle_vito writes

That's the case over here, where road salt rots a car after about ten years, (MOT failure) even though it's still mechanically perfect.

No problem. Just snip the bits you don't need to reply to and post away.

Oh, and about front filters: Those 4cyl filters near the exhaust manifold are a pain in more ways than one. Good tip is to use a filter "wrench" that is like a cap that fits over the grooves at the top of the filter and has a 3/8" drive female end in the middle. Stick a small extension with a ratchet and they come right off.

Hand tighten, of course.

Why would I want to get rid of it?

Yes the paint is going bad now, but it can be painted.

It runs fine and no one is going to give me enough for it, to make it worth my while to sell it.

One guy emailed me recently and offered $500 for it. I put him on the spam bounce filter.

They're starting to do that here too, the fools. They used to just use sand on the roads but are now using salt and the body is starting to rust.

Sand, at below freezing temps, without some kind of de-icer, isn't worth a shit!

Garden hoses and jet sprayers are your friend. :/ I'd wash that mess off if I drove through stuff like that. You could get one of those extendo sprayer/brushes to reach under the car easier. Once rust starts, it's hard to stop. They don't use that stuff down here. Just sand on bridges. My car stays in the garage unless I'm driving it. It's fairly pristine for a 5+ year old car. "05". Even my seats still look like brand new because I use large color matching towels for seat covers. :/ So mine ain't gonna be rotting away anytime soon.

I wish I could say the same for my 1968 F-250 which has to sit out in the rain all the time.. :( I'm starting to get some rust on lower panels, and it's from the inside of the panels. No real decent way to fix it except cut em out and replace with good metal. The glass patches, etc will look OK for a while, but almost always start rusting again. Don't ask me how I know this.. :( But it does have an excuse.. It's 42+ years old. I wonder if my Corolla will still be alive after 42 years? Being I doubt I will be, I guess it probably doesn't matter.

My local mechanic does it in 1/2 hr and charges $18 but that doesn't include fluid checks.

To rust cars so people have to buy new ones.

No, to prevent people from sliding on ice and killing themselves and others.

Jeff

The effort needed to check the brake fluid is roughly the same amount of effort needed to move your eyes from the instrument panel to the rearview mirror. One more turn of the head and the coolant level is checked. Both are in translucent reservoirs so he literally doesn't have to lift a finger to check.

Totally uneccessary....and maybe just a little bit crazy.

Ed

LOL!