Freepmail "Lazlo in PA" to be added or removed.
Posted on 04/09/2012 4:05:36 PM PDT by NoLibZone
What's your sense on the state of modern auto and motor plant technology?
Does CAD, modern tech, etc push the emotional 100,000 mile threshold, to a new higher number?
LOL. Geez. Your cheaper than I am. I had the same issue on my ‘98 Town Car a couple years ago. You can rent for cheap a ball joint press at Auto Zone and save yourself all the hillbilly tech. Let me tell you, Ford really put those lower ball joints in there. They don’t come out easy.
Huh?
Freepmail "Lazlo in PA" to be added or removed.
My 1995 Del Sol has 211,000..rust is the only problem now.
750,000 what?
Hell my 2000 Grand Voyager has 210,000 miles and still running
If it won't go well over 200k, it was a waste of time and money, these days.
The Yugoslavians had a different odometer on the Yugo. It measured feet. I can’t see how a car that had it’s front suspension welded in make it that far in miles.
Motor oil is so much better than it was 20-30 years ago and that’s a large part of the reason that 300k is the new 100k.
...lose the “emotional threshold”.
I’ve viewed all vehicles as an “appliance”, keep it in mechanically/physically top shape, and it pays huge dividends. My 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo is pristine and has 148k on it and it’ll go another 150k, as my other 3 have over the past 35yrs.
At 300,000 miles on my 88 Supra Turbo the engine still purred like the day i bought her.
I miss that car.
Most cars have only one real thresh hold, and it’s not determined simply by miles driven.
A car’s threshhold is really up to the owner - do they believe its a good investment (for them), and do they desire, to continue good quality of care of some present vehicle, or do they want a different one.
The more they think of a vehicle as just transportation, and not a social or financial “investment” (”I should sell it while I can still get something for it”), the more they are inclined to keep it and keep it well, for a long time.
It is true that cars today, for the most part are of far better quality, and can easily go 80k if maintained regularly, and often much longer. However, for most manufacturers, once you get past 60-80K, the recommended maintenance becomes much more expensive...and at the same time as the value of the car is dropping.
If nothing major goes wrong, you'll be OK, and come out ahead financially. However, if something major does go wrong after 4 -5 years..unless you have considerable mechanical ability, and the necessary tools, then your car is essentially worthless, and you are faced with having to put several thousand $$ into something that has no value, and then the very next day, somthing else, completely unrelated, and very expensive, could also go wrong.
The average car of the last 3-4 years has MORE computing power than the Apollo space capsule..and you can't fix them..you just have to suck it up and put in a new one..and shall we talk about catalytic converters, or struts, or replacing calipers after maybe 5 sets of brake pads..
I'm just saying that an argument can be made for getting a new car every three to four years..yes..you have a payment, but you have basically no service costs....anything goes wrong, it's fixed no charge
I think electronic fuel injection and modern high-power ignition systems have more to do with it than the oil. With the carburetor's near-total demise, piston rings and cylinder walls no longer get washed-down by unburned fuel to the same degree as in the past.
Oil stays cleaner, bearings last longer, engines need very infrequent tune-ups. Apart from the oil and filter, maintenance is down to an occasional can of fuel injector cleaner in the tank.
The "threshold" is now parts availability. It helps a lot to own something that has some degree of "enthusiast" following; that tends to mean there is broader aftermarket support for parts long after the manufacturer has written off the vehicle as obsolete.
I’d guess that running synthetic motor oil starting from the very first oil change, might contribute more than any other factor.
And how one drives.
Stupid driving can demolish any car in the first 50K.
Drive at least someone defensively, don’t let the oil run out, keep it changed (with synthetic you don’t even need to do so every 3000 miles) and you’re good.
I AM using the rental ball joint press (p/n 27023 at autozone.. that’s where I rented this one)... it’s not moving... WITH the 5’ of bar AND the dry ice IT’S NOT MOVING.. if it hadn’t broken off it would be easier... but I just have the conical wedge in the knuckle/spindle and the ball which is free of it’s socket. The car did me a big favor though ... the joint failed turning into my driveway...
They don’t come out easy.
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The uppers were fine ,, bolt ins... no problem at all.
The “cup” on the lower came out of the “A” arm with just a few hammer blows..
European car. It’s metric.
750,000 meters.
You should use heat to break a stuck part loose. Either an industrial hot air gun, or one of those propane torches.
The new lubricants are part of it... But there’s more to it. It’s the tighter machining tolerances, better materials, better science throughout. Pretty much anything made in the last ten years will last much, much longer than even the finest cars from 30 or 40 years ago. It used to be that 100,000 miles was about the end of life for most cars. Nowadays that’s literally -nothing-. A fairly recent vehicle with 150,000 miles can expect another 150,000 without a likely major service. No problem.
My 2006 Jeep Commander doesn’t even have it’s first major scheduled service until it hits 65,000 miles, and I’m not there yet. I have a 2000 Mustang GT that’s had a steady diet of synthetic oil and it still drives like the day I bought it new. No rattles. Still tight. Still a -whole- lot of fun.
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