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FAQs

Cost Effective Maintenance Hints

Bought to you by Apps Automotive, as part of their ongoing commitment to cost effective vehicle maintenance, and your driving pleasure.

Long term reliability of your vehicle can be maintained best by a few basic rules.

1. Watch your instruments.

As important as your speedo is to stop you from getting a speeding fine, a speeding fine is miniscule compared to the cost of an engine failure due to overheating or lack of lubrication. Temperature and oil pressure should be monitored every time your speed is checked, an engine seizure or total destruction can occur within 1-5 minutes of a loss of oil pressure or coolant loss, both of these situations can occur suddenly, without warning, and if stopped and repaired immediately can usually be rectified very cheaply. A simple thing like a 10 cent sump plug washer may fail, even days after just being serviced, resulting in a bill of $2,000 to $3,000, remember, it is the owners responsibility to maintain coolant and oil levels, and the repairers responsibility, to repair faults brought to their attention.

Listen, look, smell.

Similar to your gauges, an unusual sound, smell, of evidence of smoke or steam, may be a warning of a serious mechanical failure. Grinding sensations from the brakes may mean you have run out of friction material and metal to metal contact will result in higher than normal repair costs, and possibly unsafe looming hydraulic failure. Vibrations or unusual noises may be indicators that a mechanical device is bent or causing run out, once again to continue to drive with these indicators will normally result in further mechanical failure, which could have normally been avoided by stopping at the onset of the warning fault. What may have originally been a simple repair of the offending part such as a simple machine disc, can result in replacement of disc rotors, replacement of disc calliper parts from a simple $20.00 repair to $500.00 or more, a noisy gearbox initially could mean the cost of a set of bearings, approximately $600-$700 dollars, if the noisy bearing fails completely replacement gears or more could cost well into the thousands. If you have pain in your chest you don’t keep going you see a doctor, if your car tells you its in pain, the same common sense should prevail, A taxi fair and a tow does not equal thousands of dollars worth of avoidable repairs.

2. Regular checks.

3. Follow general rules of maintenance for basic oil change service

10,000 km or 6 months whichever comes first, note the emphasis on whichever comes first. Under severe driving conditions, go to 5,000 km or 3 month services whichever comes first. The general rule will vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but has been designed basically around the ability of your engine oil to maintain its lubricating properties under normal operating conditions. Each individual service schedule designed by the manufacturer, best suits that particular vehicle under normal driving at normal temperatures with minimum dust, these conditions are rarely attained. New vehicles up to approximately 50,000 km seem to follow this pattern fairly well, but between 50,000 –100,000klm start to part ways with the set rules of maintenance and variables take over, Australian climate being a large factor, dust conditions found as we move away from the coast cause air filters to clog, resulting in poor fuel economy and advanced break down of engine oil due to higher carbon output. Some fuel suppliers of late have come under scrutiny for suspect mixtures of fuel, but also cleanliness of fuel can never be totally guaranteed, the results can mean premature failure of fuel filters and electronic injection devices, although not as life threatening to the engine as the oil, fouling up of these devices prematurely can be expensive. Areas such as brakes, shock absorbers, tyres, suspension, should all be monitored at these regular maintenance services. Items listed so far are all distance related and normal routine maintenance will address all these issues. Other items requiring regular maintenance, but are time relative, are engine coolant and brake fluid. The coolant in your engine these days isn’t just water, or definitely shouldn’t be. Engines these days are built to run at much higher coolant pressures, resulting in the ability to run higher temperatures and more efficiency, chemical based coolants help effectively maintain even temperature, most are glycol based offering engine protection under winter or summer conditions, and most importantly they contain a corrosion inhibitor, this stops the chemical reaction in your engine from eating away at the aluminium cylinder heads and radiator cores, unseen until its too late( basic cylinder head core cost approximately $800.00). Most good brands of coolants have a life expectancy of 2-3 years but then rapidly break down reducing its ability to protect the alloys in your engine, a safe margin to service the cooling system is approximately every 2 years regardless of mileage. Never mix coolants; different brands may have different compositions not compatible causing more problems than protecting. If in doubt, and coolant needs to be added, just add water, distilled preferred, until the coolant can be identified and or flushed and replaced and the reason for the loss detected and repaired. Brake fluid again is a very neglected service item, once again a glycol based chemical, with the characteristic of absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, over time brake fluid becomes more water saturated causing rust in internal brake components, costly premature repairs, or even worse reducing brake efficiency to an unsafe level. Flushing brake fluid every 12 months is ideal, but fluid should be left no longer than 2 years maximum.

Service schedules for your vehicle as it begins to age, need to be more individually catered to the particular vehicle and the conditions it operates under. Here at Apps Automotive, particular attention is given to the condition of all fluids, a lot can be learnt from just the waste oil removed during a service, thickening and sludging of oil maybe an indication of extending oil change periods too long, or incorrect oil being used, or other factors such as over fuelling can result in the same premature brake down of oil. All factors need to be identified to reduce the chance of premature engine failure. The simplest of basic oil changes can increase the engine life dramatically. The type of oil used is very important, unfortunately, too many workshops these days carry one oil to suit all engines, this is playing Russian Roulette with your engine, different engine tolerances, mean some late model vehicles now run on engine oils extremely thin, adding an incorrect multigrade such as normal 20w50 oil will result at best in an increase in fuel consumption, and at worse, fouling oil galleries reducing oil flow and ultimately premature engine failure,

FAQs

Q. I don’t do many kilometers each year, so I don’t need to change my oil as often?

A. Nothing could be further from the truth. A low kilometer car is often a car a mechanic will avoid purchasing because its oil change periods have been extended. As noted at the beginning of this article, a car that travels less than 10,000 km per year is classed as severe driving. A vehicle which only travels short distances, up to 8 klm at a time, very rarely reaches operation temperatures, under these conditions, engines produce more unburnt fuel, which in turn produces more carbon in the combustion process, a high percentage of this fuel and carbon passes into the engine sump and into the engine oil, over a period of time this will break down the oil, resulting in excessive engine wear. A comparison could be made that a car doing continual 8 km trips after approximately 1,000 km would exhibit the same wear as a vehicle running constantly at operating temperatures for 5,000 km, Overcoming this potential for advanced wear can only be achieved by more frequent oil changes removing the contaminated oil and replacing with new oil giving the lubrication protection it needs. Service schedules in your manufacturers hand book always have the phrase X amount of kilometers, or X amount of months, whichever comes first, this “whichever comes first” cannot be emphasized enough if you are to give your engine the protection it needs.

Q. My engine is using oil, what can cause this?

A. Many factors need to be addressed, a first assumption that the engine is worn out although commonly is the truth, committing straight to a new engine can be premature. Poor maintenance is the single most common reason for high oil consumption. Engine oil does not wear out, it fails due to outside contaminants, such as carbon and fuel, fuel as it burns, produces carbon which is emitted through the exhaust, but some does end up passing by the pistons into the engine sump and polluting the oil, a mixture of this carbon and some unburnt fuel gradually breaks down the oil thinning it, which in turn makes it more susceptible to burning along with the combustion process. Just topping up the oil compounds this problem, the main pollutants in the oil have not been removed, so, in turn by adding more oil because it has been burnt, the next mileage period the engine will consume the oil even faster, simply, change the oil and filter, using the lightest grade possible, then monitor oil consumption for next 1,000 km most good oils contain high detergent levels, and a few frequent oil changes will clean the engine as well as give the lubricating protection it needs.

Q, My engine has noisy tappets can it be fixed cheaply?

A, Engine oil once again may play a major role in deteriorated tappets, many modern engines run hydraulic tappets, relying on oil pressure in a valve lifter to operate quietly and open the engine valves, as oil deteriorates it fouls the tappet, causing failure, this may be corrected by an oil change, once again cleaning the build up of deposits blocking the oil flow.

Q, When I apply my brakes there is a grinding sensation, what can this be?

A, With the deletion of asbestos commonly used in brake friction materials, metal composition such as copper, brass, and aluminium are used, these compositions quite often produce a grinding sensation without actually being worn out. However, it can never be assumed that this is the case and visual inspection of the brakes is the only way to confirm if the brakes are worn.

Q, When should I replace my brakes, and should I machine the disc rotors as well?

A, Visual inspection of the friction material is the only positive way to determine pad wear, each vehicle has a minimum specification for both the disc pad thickness and the disc rotor thickness, both these thicknesses should be adhered to as minimums, replacement above the minimum is determined by a judgement as its % against possible distance till next service when brakes will be checked again. Disc rotors need only be machined if distortion of rotor (out of round) has occurred or grooves in the disc have deteriorated to a degree which promotes excessive pad wear, or promotes an unsafe characteristic such as pulling to one side, in most cases grooved disc surface will only accelerate pad wear by a small %, machining disc rotors will however reduce parent material and in turn promote ability for disc to overheat and return a condition of disc distortion. It is also worthy of note that many European style disc rotors show a heavy degree of disc rotor wear and as such are classed as sacrificial rotors, unfortunately, this means costly replacement of discs on a more regular basis than the traditional disc rotor.

Q Why doesn’t my car brake and steer as well as it did when new, and how can I best fix it?

A, The most neglected part of the suspension is the shock absorbers, they have probably the biggest influence of any of the suspension components on road handling, and braking efficiency, a car which has travelled upwards of 80,000 km, will usually find a vast improvement in handling and braking by replacing the shock absorbers. Although many other components also can contribute to poor handling, after a visual inspection to determine if any other components have failed, a simple test will determine the efficiency of your shock absorbers. Replacement of all shock absorbers may seem expensive, but as this is also a requirement of registration if the shock absorbers have failed or are leaking, reasonably so, as a reduced braking distance of only 10% (partially worn shocks) can mean the difference in a serious emergency braking situation.

Q, When should I get my car tuned?

A, This varies greatly on the modern engine, the introduction of electronic management components and injection has made most engines very reliable. A tune seems to have no set definition, it is now more replaced with the period at which spark plugs, air cleaner and fuel filter should be replaced, the term tune really has become obsolete. Even spark plugs now come in a variety of types up to platinum spark plugs which do not need replacement for up to 100,000 km. Spark plugs, air cleaner, fuel filter, injectors, and on occasion spark plug leads are all items that will require servicing, this will differ depending on the type of vehicle and the recommended periods for maintenance, once again there is no set firm rule as too many variables exist, discussion with a good reliable mechanic is the only way to establish a set period of maintenance for these items. Unlike neglecting an oil change, the results of extending a tune are not as drastic, or at least rarer, initially, failure of a spark plug, or lead, or fuel filter, will commonly cause an inconvenience, measured in performance, which in turn then needs to be rectified. Unless management systems or injectors promote lean combustion it is rare for resultant damage. However, some high energy ignition systems can cause expensive coil pack failures if spark plug leads and spark plug resistances start to go above recommended limits. Once again a good mechanic will advise you when it is prudent to replace these items for both reliability, and overall cost savings. Addition of a reliable fuel system cleaner can also be an advantage in delaying the inevitable proper removal of injectors and clean, Premium fuels also seem to be a better refined fuel, prolonging replacement of filters and servicing injectors, and also can return better fuel consumption readings often offsetting the initial extra cost at the bowser. Other pollution devices not mentioned here and minor adjustments may also be required from time to time, to keep our atmosphere at its optimum, these items should also not be neglected.

Vehicles under new car warranty can also be serviced at Apps Automotive without effecting new car warranty, as usual, detailed service attention is carried out by experienced qualified mechanics at very competitive prices. Older vehicles can benefit from tailored servicing to suit the environment they are operating in. Don’t hesitate to contact us for any servicing or mechanical needs, or just for friendly advice on maintaining your vehicle.

Copyright ©: Apps Automotive

Unit 4, 5-7 Ethell Rd Kirrawee, NSW 2232
Ph: (02) 9521-1655,
Fax: (02) 9545-4018
appsauto@tpg.com.au

Website development by Keith Cain. (Email: mrkeithcain@hotmail.com) Last updated: Feb 2007