Congrats yor car has earned Beater status now what

[HangerHarley]

If you had a vehicle that earned "Beater status" (something is wrong with it, its dinged, it might be a beater forever) what would you do in regards to the Engine Oil? What if this "Beater" had an engine that made using a certain kind of Oil (a thicker or a non-synthetic one, perhaps) necessary for it to run well and not tick, or drink oil on you?

This is a general question. But if the price of buying a clean non-beater was less than the price of making that non-Beater a Beater, would you let the beater STAY a Beater? And would you put any particular kind of engine oil in said Beater?

Beater. (why not)

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Cars are an appliance. If it serves your purpose and gives you little trouble, treat it right and it will return the favor.

After a few months, new cars are used cars. Wear beater status as a badge of honor.

 

[sciphi]

Dino owners manual recommended grade at 7500 mile intervals, lol. Just whatever happened to be on sale at the moment.

 

[bullwinkle]

Most beaters I've had, oil was the LEAST of their problems!

 

[pcfxer]

Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
Cars are an appliance. If it serves your purpose and gives you little trouble, treat it right and it will return the favor.

After a few months, new cars are used cars. Wear beater status as a badge of honor.


I disagree, cars are not appliances at all. Appliances also do not return favors, it is impossible for an inanimate object to comprehend the context that is implied when receiving/returning favors.

Cars are machines; they all fail at some point and they all experience wear at all points. If you think your machine is a beater then by all means further the beater-ness by using only the cheapest parts to fix anything and always be the first friend to volunteer their car for road trips.

 

[fdcg27]

If the car is merely aging, and has acquired the parking lot rash that inevitably happens, and the like, it may well still be mechanically sound, and have plenty of life left in it.
In that case, manintain it as you would any car.
Give it regular mechanical maintenance, which costs very little, and run it out to 200K+.
A car is like a tube of toothpaste.
Use it up.

 

[HangerHarley]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Most beaters I've had, oil was the LEAST of their problems!


And the beaters that DID need thick Syrup Oil either did really well on them for a long time and as long as you didnt go trying to clean out the engine you were fine..

.. or they got a nice $600 Junkyard engine put in for the same price as the engine after the engine decided to exhibit some awful smoke and die. Done in one day, car rides again.

:lol:

Yes or no w beaters?

I once had a car give off smoke after running out of gas.. Didnt "Overheat" I added gas and it ran.. but the Engine smoked AFTER RUNNING OUT OF GAS!! WTH? What do yall make of THAT one? never SMOKED from Engine after running out of gas... (Didnt overheat because it started right back up, was normal temp.)

 

[demarpaint]

Beater status to me demotes the car from synthetic oil to dino, and whatever oil is on sale. Then I'll park it wherever there is a spot in a parking lot without fear of shopping carts crashing into it. It isn't washed and waxed as often. Life becomes harder for it. LOL

 

[Texan4Life]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Most beaters I've had, oil was the LEAST of their problems!


+1

We have a 86 mustang (v6, auto) and it is the left over oil garbage disposal. Right now it has 2 qts ST 15w-40, 2 qts ST 20w-50, and 1 qt of some old Golden West SAE 40 (API SA) that I found. ST oil filter.

It gets changed once every year or two and gets very little miles put on it.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I`ve always thought of a car as being a part of the family. I always treat my cars differently than any other possesion I own. Cars have "soul" and should be treated as such :^) This may be silly,but our cars are such a personal aspect of out life.

 

[HangerHarley]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Beater status to me demotes the car from synthetic oil to dino, and whatever oil is on sale. Then I'll park it wherever there is a spot in a parking lot without fear of shopping carts crashing into it. It isn't washed and waxed as often. Life becomes harder for it. LOL


:lol:

These are the cars where "Cleaning the engine" and "synthetic Oil" "Kills" them. I AGREE! :lol:

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Originally Posted By: pcfxer
Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
Cars are an appliance. If it serves your purpose and gives you little trouble, treat it right and it will return the favor.

After a few months, new cars are used cars. Wear beater status as a badge of honor.


I disagree, cars are not appliances at all. Appliances also do not return favors, it is impossible for an inanimate object to comprehend the context that is implied when receiving/returning favors.

Cars are machines; they all fail at some point and they all experience wear at all points. If you think your machine is a beater then by all means further the beater-ness by using only the cheapest parts to fix anything and always be the first friend to volunteer their car for road trips.


Computers are appliances as well. If you actually read my post, I said treat the automobile right. Infer what you wish from my statement, but I never implied to use the cheapest anything. In my mind any machine is an appliance in that it's use is to make human endeavor easier and more efficient. You may have a different view.

By all means, have your friends chauffer you on all road trips and never volunteer any form of assistance. Leave that for the government.

 

[CATERHAM]

The last beater I had, many years ago(a Renault Medallion)leaked so much oil I stopped changing it altogether.
Topped up with used oil out of my other cars.
When I had to buy oil it was the cheapest dino I could find which was either 5W-30 or 10W-30. (an aside, I've noticed the cheapest oil on the market today in my area is HDEO 15W-40).
I even used a gallon of used vegetable oil. In the end, the car was so rusty I was hoping the engine would die, but it ran like a top. I eventually sold the car; accepted an offer out of the blue from someone who wanted it for parts.

 

[J. A. Rizzo]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Dino owners manual recommended grade at 7500 mile intervals, lol. Just whatever happened to be on sale at the moment.


+1 except at the manual-recommended normal service interval also.

 

[Carbon]

If the car is not using or dripping much oil, I would still put in a full synthetic oil every 10000 or once per year. The price difference is small when compared to the effort to get the oil changed....

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I`ve always thought of a car as being a part of the family. I always treat my cars differently than any other possesion I own. Cars have "soul" and should be treated as such :^) This may be silly,but our cars are such a personal aspect of out life.
The only soul a car has is the owners attachment to it. They are just products, a machine, a hundred thousand dollars worth of parts assembeld into a $30,000.00 overpriced machine. That can be cut in half with tin snips.

 

[JustinH]

My girlfriend and I both buy "cash cars" until we repay our student loans. Both are 03 model GM's, we consider them beaters.

I keep them up, they are cheap to insure, and I run the cheapest oil available in both and change it 2x per year. Usually about 5k miles each run.

The current fill in both is Peak 5w30 dino that was 8.99 for a jug. The next fill will be whatever I can get on sale that meets the API spec, and is 5w30..

 

[TFB1]

I had a beater '93 Grand Marquis with around 160Kmi that had bad valve stem seals and used a quart of oil in 800-1000 miles... Still it averaged twice a year oil changes with whatever 10W-40 that was on sale(filter every other change)... Finally after it needed a bunch of maintenance items, tires, brakes, shocks etc I sold it to a friend who has done all the above(incl the seals) and uses it as 1st line transportation... He loves the car...

 

[Brett Miller]

I ran Supertech 5W-30 for 9,000 miles in a 1987 Dodge Lancer 2.2, never missed a beat and only burned about a quart over the interval.

 

[01rangerxl]

My beater still gets full synthetic every oil change. Just because it looks like [censored] doesn't mean I don't want it to run good.