20 Ways to waste money on your car.

[qu1cks1lver56]

I lol'd at the "high octane is a waist." Boy is that false. For the average Joe it's unnecessary but the higher octane burns faster and increases performance. Only prevents knocks. Lol. My YFZ does 49 horse on 91 octane and 55 on 110.

higher octane fuel burns slower, and in a newer vehicle, unless it says to run higher octane fuel, there's no difference in 87 vs 93 because the computer adjusts the timing to adjust for the octane.

the high octain fuels are for higher compression engines. and engines with superchargers and turbos also benefit from it.

true.

in our race engines we always ran 114. they were 14:1 compression. in my truck, which has a 9.6:1 motor, i notice a very small difference between 87 and 93 octane. not enough to make me wanna run it though.

[Steph3n1]

what he meant by the oil filter bypassing after 4k is that around 4k it becomes so clogged that is serves no porpose and none of the contanimates in the oil are filtered out. oh and the reason you oil is black is not because of carbon buildup its because your exhaust stains it that color

[eliassami5]

I lol'd at the "high octane is a waist." Boy is that false. For the average Joe it's unnecessary but the higher octane burns faster and increases performance. Only prevents knocks. Lol. My YFZ does 49 horse on 91 octane and 55 on 110.

You are comparing a motorcycle to a car...

Higher octane prevents pre detonation, also called "knock". "Knock" is the result of your air fuel mixture detonating due to your piston compressing the mixture, and not from the spark plug itself. This causes the piston to be pushed down at the wrong time and can cause damage in the long run.

If your cars manual tells you to use 87 then use 87..anything higher will be a waste, if it tells you to use 91 then use 91..anything lower can damage your engine.

[Gotloud555]

That some very good tip there on maintenance your car. I did most of the mechanic on my own. The worst taking the crank pulley bolt. I can see peoples don't like to wash their car on they own, instead they take it to the car wash. There always a line up there...

[kandiman71874]

Having been in the automotive repair industry for 16 years professionally, alot of that crap just cracks me up. It's called "Maintenance" for a reason being you are preventing bigger problems down the road by doing them rather than letting things that are working but worn work outside of thier original parameters.

Oh yeah, and the oil change recommendations? Go ahead and go 10'000 miles per change on that toyota or lexus you spent your kids college money on. When they tell you they wont warranty the engine because of sludge build up that starved the motor for oil, you'll wish you had done them more often.....

[treossi]

3,000-mile oil changes. Manufacturers typically suggest 5,000 miles, 7,500 miles or even longer intervals between oil changes (many car markers now include oil-life monitors that tell you when the oil is dirty -- sometimes as long as 15,000 miles.) There may be two recommendations for oil-change intervals: one for normal driving and one for hard use. If you live in a cold climate, take mostly very short trips, tow a trailer or have a high-revving, high-performance engine, use the more aggressive schedule. If you seldom drive your car, go by the calendar rather than your odometer. Twice a year changes are the minimum.

Taking false economies. Better to replace a timing belt on the manufacturer’s schedule than to have it break somewhere in western Nebraska. Better to pop for snow tires than to ride that low-profile rubber right

i agree on MOST of the things said... but not all of them.. the above ones i agree upon..

better damn believe i change my timing belt every 90k miles along with the fuel filter and everything else that goes into a 90k mile service

but the oil change light in most cars is basicly a timer... not all of them know if you oil is "dirty" or not... read the sticker they put in the left hand side of your windsheild.. don't care what car or what oil your using i wouldn't exced the manufactures specs.. which is usually 5k miles..

and not all gas is the same btw.. say for instance arco.. what additive are they advertising on their commercials. or the signs at the pump... NONE... those additives clean the carbon out of your intake, and off the other components in your engine, such as piston tops and valves.. don't skimp on gas.. you don't need to buy premium.. just stick with the main gas station brands.. btw i read in popular mechanics that techron.. the additive used at chevron was currently the best... shell was second before they added nitrogen... 76 was third... ARCO.. was last along with it's sister company "thrifty" and don't even get me started at VALERO... im done

remember this when the dealership or shop asks you if you want to spend 129 bucks to get your throttle body and intake system cleaned of it's carbon deposits.... 5 cents more per gallon pwns

[treossi]

what he meant by the oil filter bypassing after 4k is that around 4k it becomes so clogged that is serves no porpose and none of the contanimates in the oil are filtered out. oh and the reason you oil is black is not because of carbon buildup its because your exhaust stains it that color

[treossi]

Oil filter wise I stick with Mobil 1. Gonna switch to K&N just for the bolt feature.

Fram is for squares

actually i have a bad experience with K&N filters.. i did an oil change on my buddies car using that filter.. the filter was defective, and didn't allow any oil to flow through it.. and made the engine knock.... replaced it with the mobile 1 filter.. and boom no more problems... i called up k&N, they are right down the street from here btw... they said this is the 3rd time it's happened... and were dicks about it.. so that's just something i have to say about it... also that bolt isn't that cool... how hard is it to take an oil filter off?

what he meant by the oil filter bypassing after 4k is that around 4k it becomes so clogged that is serves no porpose and none of the contanimates in the oil are filtered out. oh and the reason you oil is black is not because of carbon buildup its because your exhaust stains it that color

called "byproducts" of combustion"

[R_Mac_1]

I remember a big topic about oil change intervals on a Trailblazer forum a while back. A few guys sent their oil in for analysis after letting it go about 10k and the analysis showed that they were fine and that 10k was acceptable. I guess it depends on the vehicle, though, as the I6 TB holds about 7qts of oil.

I usually just use the oil change thing in my DIC. But if it went higher than 7 or 8k I would just change it. After reading a bunch of crap on both sides, I'll just stick to 5-7k changes with a quality filter.

[treossi]

well i think the 25 dollars it cost for an oil change is better than buying an 7k dollar engine...how many people have actually read the owners manual to their car?

i like the part where it says if you live in the desert to change you oil at a different time then if you live in the mountains..

also stay away from "synthetic blends" there is currently no state regulations for how much "blend" there is in that oil... it can be 2 percent synthetic... castrol sucks... read up on it..