Your opinion of factory engineers recommended maintenance and mine differ. I'll likely not tell you what you want to hear, as apparently I didn't in my previous post.

As stated, I bought my Jeep (it isn't a BMW) brand new and it is now 18yrs old and has less than 55K miles on it. I could walk out the door right now this minute and drive it anywhere with no worries and not be ashamed to be seen in it, so I've done something right.

In addition to my previous post, I'll add that my Jeep gets poor gas mileage by today's new vehicle standards but gets what it was advertised for in 2003. Since I make no monthly payments, and haven't since 2004, and because I drive so little, I splurge on gas and burn nothing but non-ethanol. Cost more but the Jeep runs better and internals stay cleaner on actual gas than some corn or other biomass mixture. Non-ethanol "sits" better in a vehicle as well. When I actually do go on a trip somewhere, I also run some Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner to help keep the injectors clean whether it needs it or not.

Nothing but the best for the Jeep when replacing wear components from wipers to battery and tires. Heck I even put the best available air in those tires ... you could breathe it

EDIT: When I bought the Jeep, I didn't like the brakes and early on, replaced with Napa Gold pads and rotors. Haven't had to touch the brakes since doing that so long ago I can't remember when exactly. And this past summer when I looked at the pads for wear ... they look like they are only less than half worn. I was somewhat shocked.

EDIT 2: I don't normally name inanimate things, but I've had the Jeep so long she's family. Her name is Ruby LOL.

Never had a garage. Ruby has always been out in the weather and never even waxed. Never been through a car wash that uses harsh chemicals either. Hand wash only and I can't even remember the last time I used anything but clean water from the faucet alone. I've washed the Jeep so many times over the years, it only takes about 10min to walk around and that includes dragging out and restowing the 2' step ladder I bought years ago just to reach and wash the top of the Jeep. I don't plan a morning or afternoon for it HA. Clear coat still good and shines.

At 18, I don't have full insurance on Ruby, just Liability. She's worth much less than $5K now to insurance companies I think. I have an exemplary driving record and Liability costs between $150 and $200 ... a year. Ruby has accompanied me from middle age to senior and been very good to me. I wouldn't do less for her. Lately I've been wondering if I'll drive Ruby the Jeep until they stop selling gas and it's a federal law all vehicles be electric or nuclear or something. Hey it could happen

Raining all day today. These are from the end of last summer or first of fall when Ruby was only 17 1/2. You can tell from the dry (1945) concrete I had not just washed her either.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hobbs,

quote:

I take manufacturer maintenance recommendations with a grain of salt - many intervals are too long in my view

I'll grant you that mfg's have serious pressure to elongate maintenance intervals. Especially from the EPA who want to kill the amount of oil filters and used oil in the system. And from so called consumer groups who often calculate maintenance costs and beat up on those with bigger numbers. But my friend runs an engine rebuild business and the number of engines there is truly an indication of the state of the situation. And there are literally no motors that had the factory recommended changes in his shop with premature wear. In fact there are often exceedingly high mileage/hour motors that did exactly the book. I live in a coastal town so some of them are marine motors and it is completely common to see 10K hour motors that had 200hr oil changes which would be way longer than any consumer oil change interval. Change it when specified, use high quality oil and your exceedingly unlikely to wear anything out.

... I use an oil filter magnet that goes half way round the (Mobile) oil filter body. It arguably helps guard against engine wear. Don't think it hurts and just might catch and hold any tiny, minute metal that might be circulating in the (Mobile 1) oil and so called premium filter doesn't catch. Ruby hasn't complained. I have used Napa Gold filters in the past as well as Mobile filters. Either one seems to work fine. Others might live by Wix or some other brand though, but I have no experience with those.

Unless you are regularly towing trailers there's no need to change transmission fluid that often. With regular driving you can wait to 100k miles no problem. I changed the tranny fluid on a truck that I never towed with at 110k miles and the fluid looked and smelled brand new. It was indistinguishable from the new fluid. Same thing with the rear differential fluid.

quote:

Originally posted by Hobbs:
... I use an oil filter magnet that goes half way round the (Mobile) oil filter body. It arguably helps guard against engine wear. Don't think it hurts and just might catch and hold any tiny, minute metal that might be circulating in the (Mobile 1) oil and so called premium filter doesn't catch. Ruby hasn't complained. I have used Napa Gold filters in the past as well as Mobile filters. Either one seems to work fine. Others might live by Wix or some other brand though, but I have no experience with those.

Talking about filters...When I bought my first new Porsche I was very interested in keeping it for life (it is now 18 YO). One of the things I found out is that the Mahle oil filter that is used by Porsche has a filtration capacity down to 20 microns....but the Mobil 1 filter filters down to 5 microns so I bought an adapter from LN Engineering and use the M1 filters exclusively. The filter is physically smaller but given the low number of miles I drive it the oil never gets too dirty between changes.

When and why did changing brake fluid become a thing?
I started working on cars back in the 1960s and I never read or heard of changing brake fluid until 5-10 years ago. I don't ever recall any owners manuals back in the day calling for it.

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
When and why did changing brake fluid become a thing?
I started working on cars back in the 1960s and I never read or heard of changing brake fluid until 5-10 years ago. I don't ever recall any owners manuals back in the day calling for it.

When they realized that brake fluid is hydroscopic and absorbs moisture and breaks down. Changing brake fluid every couple of years not only helps pedal feel, it prolongs the life of calipers and hoses etc.

I'd still go by the owner's manual and engineer's recommendations. If a maintenance item is time sensitive as well as mileage sensitive, it's listed as such. I've only made an exception with engine oil because I use a synthetic (Mobile 1) rather than the straight up dinosaur stuff.