RF Overlord
06-22-2004, 06:30 AM
No, not THE Family...
A colleague recently bought a '98 CVLX from his mother...the car had originally been his father's company car, which he received new, and purchased for personal use when he got another company car. When my friend bought it (with approx 90,000 miles; remember that number), he wanted me to teach him how to do the simple maintenance items: change the oil, filters, belts, etc...his father was insistent that the car "doesn't need ANYTHING...EVERYTHING was done according to the manual".
Ahem.
First: I've seen raw sewage that looked cleaner than the coolant. If it had been flushed "according to the manual", or indeed if it had even been done ONCE, it would have been cleaner than it was...
Second: The oil was down 3 quarts (!)...this in a motor that only holds 5 in the first place...after my friend dumped in 3 quarts of whatever oil he had in the trunk of his Honda, it was still dark and ugly...and he said it leaked, too. I changed the oil with him, using some Pennzoil 5W-30 synth blend I had left over from another job...2 months later, he hadn't needed to add any...
Third: When we changed the fuel filter, it was very obviously the original.
Fourth: The front end made a horrible creaking every time you turned the wheel...no, it wasn't the PS pump...it was the total and complete lack of any grease whatsoever on any of the tie-rod ends, idler arm, etc...
Fifth: In light of the condition of the above items, I recommended that we change the transmission fluid and filter as well. Since it looked surprisingly clean and smelled OK, my friend called his father to ask if he remembered when the ATF was last changed...his father said he didn't know it NEEDED changing... :eek:
OK, so my point is this: we all know not to listen to used car salesmen, but apparently you can't even believe your own family when it comes to car maintenance...my friend bought this car for his wife to use going to CT to visit her family, and to Boston for her job in radio...if we had believed his father, this POS could have (WOULD have) left her stranded on the highway somewhere 2 hours from home...
It's also a sad commentary on the lack of knowledge people have about the proper maintenance of a vehicle they expect to haul them all over the place, only to piss and moan when it breaks down... :shake:
A colleague recently bought a '98 CVLX from his mother...the car had originally been his father's company car, which he received new, and purchased for personal use when he got another company car. When my friend bought it (with approx 90,000 miles; remember that number), he wanted me to teach him how to do the simple maintenance items: change the oil, filters, belts, etc...his father was insistent that the car "doesn't need ANYTHING...EVERYTHING was done according to the manual".
Ahem.
First: I've seen raw sewage that looked cleaner than the coolant. If it had been flushed "according to the manual", or indeed if it had even been done ONCE, it would have been cleaner than it was...
Second: The oil was down 3 quarts (!)...this in a motor that only holds 5 in the first place...after my friend dumped in 3 quarts of whatever oil he had in the trunk of his Honda, it was still dark and ugly...and he said it leaked, too. I changed the oil with him, using some Pennzoil 5W-30 synth blend I had left over from another job...2 months later, he hadn't needed to add any...
Third: When we changed the fuel filter, it was very obviously the original.
Fourth: The front end made a horrible creaking every time you turned the wheel...no, it wasn't the PS pump...it was the total and complete lack of any grease whatsoever on any of the tie-rod ends, idler arm, etc...
Fifth: In light of the condition of the above items, I recommended that we change the transmission fluid and filter as well. Since it looked surprisingly clean and smelled OK, my friend called his father to ask if he remembered when the ATF was last changed...his father said he didn't know it NEEDED changing... :eek:
OK, so my point is this: we all know not to listen to used car salesmen, but apparently you can't even believe your own family when it comes to car maintenance...my friend bought this car for his wife to use going to CT to visit her family, and to Boston for her job in radio...if we had believed his father, this POS could have (WOULD have) left her stranded on the highway somewhere 2 hours from home...
It's also a sad commentary on the lack of knowledge people have about the proper maintenance of a vehicle they expect to haul them all over the place, only to piss and moan when it breaks down... :shake: