People who don't do preventative maintenance ok ?

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Have you ever noticed that people who don't do preventative maintenance, or even minimal service, often have no problems?

Here is my example:

I once observed my boss filling his car's radiator up with water before leaving work several days in a row. I asked him what was going on. He said that he had a leak somewhere and needed to do this before and after work. I offered to help him, found leak (bad hose) and helped him replaced it.

This is the same guy who would wait until his oil pressure light came on to add oil. He then went to Western Auto and added one quart at a time until it got to the "one quart low" mark and then stopped ! Of course he never had major car problems.

He did hire someone to paint his house trim, they told him his soffits and fascia were rotten and needed replaced!

Some people just don't do any preventative maintenance.
 
Yea, some people want as little outflow of cash (or concern) as possible.

There's tolerance built in with the cars (and society) to withstand that, but sometime, it'll catch up with them...
 
I know! My neighbor had a great F250 pickup and didnt changed the oil once in close to 40k (obviously using dollar store no name oil and a valucraft oil filter from AZ.) He said the reason why his truck died is because he had to use starter fluid one time to help jump it............
 
Not just with automotive maintenance, but with home maintenance as well. People just don't seem to take care of the things they have these days. I think it's a product of what our society has become. We've become spoiled & lazy (in a lot of ways). People don't value or appreciate what they have. It's an attitude of "ah, just throw it away and I'll buy a new one". Plus, so many people are in debt up to their ears, they "can't afford" to take care of what they already have. I see so many new or newer vehicles these day that have some sort of cosmetic damage on their cars. Sure, some of those folks will probably get it repaired, but I bet most people won't spend the cash to get it fixed because they can barely afford their car payments, let alone all the other stuff they spend their money on.

That's just my $.02 anyway!
 
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My former father in law bought a Dakota 4x4 new in 93. He didn't change the oil but once. I borrowed the truck and changed it for him once. This was about 2001. Those were the only two oil changes the truck got in the first 83,000 miles. I changed it for him one other time and he spun a main bearing at around 88,000. He dropped a shortblock in it and kept rolling. I changed oil regularly on that one for him until he became my ex-father in law. I also changed out the original plugs, wires, cap, rotor, PCV valve, fuel filter, coolant, hoses, shocks,tranmission oil, T-case oil, rear end oil, idler arm, etc. Maintenance for him was adding gas.
 
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My former co-irker has a dented up 98 sunfire that only sees its oil changed when I do some other emergency repair, typically every 18 months. He's had good luck except for a blown brake line (salt) and alternator (not maintenance related.)

His headlight switch got flaky (they all seem to on that car) and his answer was to just hold it on "flash to pass" with his left hand, for his entire drive. (!)
 
I used to work in a gas station back in the 70s. There was a lady who came in with her engine making a terrible rattling/clanking noise. She turned it off and asked me to check the engine oil. There was none on the stick and it took 3 quarts until I could get a reading. She paid me and then tried to leave...but the engine had tied up right then and there. It got towed away.

Then there was a lady who drove in with a very flat front tire and her husband drove in right behind her. He was one of those "DON'T WORRY HONEY I'LL HANDLE THIS" types and he proceeded to grab the air hose and started putting air in. I should mention here that the compressor would put out at least 120 psi then, which is probably more than the coin-operated machines you see nowadays. I had turned my back on him and was thinking that it was taking him a long time to pump up the tire when all of a sudden


****BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM****,



and I turned around to see him sitting in a cloud of dust several feet away from the car. He had exploded his wife's tire.
 
My guess is most cars go to the junk yard with original PS fluid in them.

I think a lot of people get oil changed at 3000 miles but thats the extent of it. Everything else is when it breaks or when its obvious like bald tires and the brake pad wear indicator making a noise.
 
Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
Have you ever noticed that people who don't do preventative maintenance, or even minimal service, often have no problems?

Yup. It's the next owner that will have the problems.
smile.gif
 
Yes, My SIL & BIL!...They don't do anything to their vehicles and don't have any troubles with them to speek of in 8-10 years of ownership. Oh, I'm sure that they have repairs done on the cars such as brakes and such. But, never the other fluids(tranny, Diff, TC P/S etc.)

I do lots of PM's on our vehicles since I usuall buy'em new and keep'em into their teens so, it's only appropriate.

But, sometimes I'll perform maintenance and create problems while doing so, causing me to have to do more fixin' but, that's life isn't it?

But too, I am right now experiencing hard/catchy steering and I have done things to prevent any P/S issues such as change out the P/S fluid regularly and replace HP & Return lines. NOW THIS!

I seem to be the guy that keeps vehicles longer than those in my circle but often has more issues. I should start buying and getting rid of vehicles in "The 10 Year period of time" I guess!
 
The 280,000+ mile Protege running on "Trac" ND30 came in a couple of days ago.

It now has a very pronounced rod-knock. It was LOUD! I couldn't drive a car like that. I would be in terror of being stranded when the rod separates itself and comes through the block or something. But he's still driving it and topping it off with whatever ND30 he can get cheapest (Accel ND30 was in the floor this time) when the oil light comes on.
 
Agreed. A family friend has a 1999 Chevy Venture with 230k miles on it and still going. He got for $1000 a few years ago with 170k miles on it. He's put another $1000 into needed repairs like brakes and lower control arm bushings into it. That's all the maintenance it's gotten on his watch aside from regular oil changes. I've changed the oil on it a few times, typically every 5-6000 miles. He's into this car for under $3000 still, excluding gas/insurance. It even passed California smog when moved to CA. He drove it cross-country from NY to CA when it had 210k miles on it, and it did the trip just fine.
 
I think it's helpful to remember something: You don't do preventive maintenance to keep your equipment from breaking. You do it to reduce the chances that your equipment will break. By the same token, if you fail to do preventive maintenance, your equipment won't necessarily break. It is simply more likely to break.

There will be plenty of people who don't do preventive maintenance and have their equipment work just fine. There will also be plenty of people who do all the preventive maintenance in the world and still have things break on them all the time. The question is, what's the trend? There are millions of people in this country and billions in the world, so even if exceptions are one-in-a-thousand, we'll find them all day long. You have to look at the big picture. As far as I can tell, the people who do preventive maintenance still generally have fewer problems overall.
 
These people who don't bother with preventive maintenance often lament that they don't have any money. That's because they're always spending it on new cars.
 
My parents have plenty of money but at times my dad just get sloppy or lazy with maintenance...despite the fact he has been a car guy all his life and worked in the industry.

Sometimes I think people just flat out forget because "the car still drives fine".
 
I have some family members that are in debt up to there necks from buying top end cars and trucks. You know the most expensive in the line up. Spend 50k for a yukon and then within days its muddy and one of there dogs has done his business in the floor board! Never mind mantence. They aint gonna do any. Last fall, they yet again up graded and was gonna trade there 3 year old yukon for the xl version. After trying to make a deal, they werent offered much for a trade-in. They offered to sell it to me amd my wife to "help us out". That 3 year old gmc yukon was in much worse shape with 90k miles than my 99 honda accord, with 191k! They thought they were doing us a favor you know...get a newer car thing, but in my opinion they were trying to sell us there problem. I made them mad when I turned them down on that deal. But guess what, that new yukon xl is in the same shape already. Never changed oil in it yet...and last week it had 24k mikes on the factory fill!
 
I have always been baffled by someone who knows nothing about car and maintenance can do the dumbest things to their poor cars and just keep driving but if I try something to "just get by", it fails in the first mile because I know better!
 
Those are also the same people that get offended when they do bring it in for an oil change and we honestly try to tell them what needs fixing on their car. Then they call us crooks and accuse us of being a stealership.

I had a guy like that when I worked at Sears Auto Center, literally it was some of the worst brakes I have seen in my life. The caliper pistons were hanging out because they wore through the pads and had wore out the back side of the rotor to the vanes. Wanted us to just slap pads on it and go.
 
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