Automobile Maintenance Question

[BullGear]

For those who take well care of their automobiles:

When do you change out your antifreeze?

When do you swap out your brake fluid?

When do you do an auto transmission tune up?

 

[Ravenworks]

For those who take well care of their automobiles:

When do you change out your antifreeze?

When do you swap out your brake fluid?

When do you do an auto transmission tune up?

I do my new stuff by the service schedule
My older stuff I change the oil twice a year regardless because it sits in storage most of the time the rest by the manual.
Brake fluid needs flush when it get unclear or by the manufacturer recommended

 

[Rant Durden]

What kind of car? Toyos in general are pretty easy on maintenance, Honda's are respond really well if fluids (especially antifreeze) are changed regularly. I haven't owned a Chevy for a while, but both of my V8's were pretty easygoing.
If you've got high mileage on an autotrans don't do the wazoo power flush, just change the fluid. Newer seems to last longer, but then go completely to shit.
A lot of manufacturers, especially the Euro's lengthened the service intervals to make it seem like they need less service and save them money during the warranty period. 3k for regular oil and 6k for synthetic is still a good guideline if you plan on keeping your ride past the factory warranty.
Performance cars or hard driving is harder on brake fluid, especially in extreme weather. I used to autocross and drive an older Nissan pretty hard. I never changed the fluid and never had an issue.

 

[Waco Kid]

The manufacturer usually has a schedule for that stuff. Some don't specify brake fluid tho. I'd flush it every few (3 or 4) years under normal driving/mileage if you're worried about it, especially if it starts looking dark. I used to work at a high end dealer, Aston, Ferrari, etc called for a brake flush every year, I think that is a bit excessive unless it's seeing a lot of track days or hard use. Transmission is usually between 50k and 100k miles depending on make and driving habits.

 

[rjacobs]

Brake fluid for me is generally an age thing since brake fluid absorbs water which lowers its boiling point. 5 years for most daily driver type cars. My Corvettes get flushed every year but I drive them pretty hard.

Anti-freeze(the newer pink/orange stuff) is generally good for 100k or 5 years. I run a lower percentage of anti-freeze(25% anti-freeze, 75% water) in my Corvettes and its recommended to change that ratio every 2 years because you dont have the same amount of corrosion inhibitors.

Auto trans I dont mess with to much. Drain, filter and fill at 100k.

 

[kenny1773]

For antifreeze follow exactly what the manufacturer says to do

For oil, I change every 5000 miles with basic synthetic oil, its cheap, its easy, why not, sure most daily driver cars can go more than 5000 miles if you want to

Brake fluid, I also use synthetic (Valvoline) and change it out every 3 years, good time to lube the caliper pins while you are at it

Don't forget power steering fluid and transmission fluid while you are at it

I generally keep cars 10 to 15 years, I am going go for 20 years on one of my current toyotas just to see if I can get it there. It is at 15 years now.

 

[chevy_man]

Transmission, flush is ok if it's forward flushed. Back flush is what causes them to die because they flush all the junk back out of the filter into the rest of the trans.
I typically change filter and refill pan every 50k unless it gets burnt. 250k + miles in 2 different chevy's with factory transmissions.

Brake fluid when it changes color/looks dirty.

Antifreeze, every 5 years/100k with dexcool. Some of them are particularly critical, like Ford with their cavitation issues in their shit water pump design. Fluid can still test good yet needs additive to keep cavitation at bay or your entire front cover will be garbage.

Differentials are not life time fill as some would advise. Change them every 50k.

Transfer case, every 50k. Some are specialty fluid (auto-trak), some are atf, some are gear oil.

Synthetic motor oil. Mobil 1 is the best for daily drivers. Good anti-wear and detergents while being affordable. I run 5-8k, never had an oil failure.


My daily truck is a 2000, with a vortec 5.7, 4l80e, in a 7500lb truck. I towed 12k 1200 miles with it during our last move at 220k miles. It's sitting just past 250k right now. I wouldn't be worried to jump in and drive it 20 hours right now. All factory drivetrain, just keep up on the maintenance.

 

[10ring'r]

Antifreeze- Every 5 years or when I have to do a water pump.
Brake fluid- When I do a complete brake job or when it looks dirty/contaminated.
Trans.- 40-50k or sooner if towing a lot in the mountains.
Trans. case- Same as transmission.
F & R Diffs.- 30-40k (unless they get submerged)
OR..Just follow the manf. service intervals/recomendations.
Mac

 

[S197]

For those who take well care of their automobiles:

When do you change out your antifreeze?

When do you swap out your brake fluid?

When do you do an auto transmission tune up?

Your environment and driving conditions play into it. Otherwise annual fluid changes on all three, same with your differential. Unless you have repairs that could contaminate them.

 

[TxWelder35]

Open up your manual and read it. It will tell you exactly what your car needs.

 

[GTOJOSH]

Brake fluid, when (if) it needs it. It needs it when its dark.
Antifreeze, when it needs it. Test it. Still good, no problem.
Transmission, depends on the transmission. Older nissan cvt- every other oil change. Gm turbo 400, every decade if you beat it to death as you're going to be topping it off every lof anyway.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

You've been given a lot of good information here.

You've been given a lot of bad information here.

It's up to YOU to decide AND discern the difference.

There are some fluids, that will last YEARS, under 'normal' use. There are other fluids that will last "a-year-or-so" under heavy use. There are some apparatus' that will last for lots of years under normal use. There are other apparatus' that will last for "a-year-or-so" under heavy use.

The difference between "normal" and "heavy" can be HUGELY different amomgst members of the conversation. Again, it is up to YOU to discern that tangent of differentiality. (technical term)

I have had to "power-down-shift-AND-PANIC-emergency-brake" at an intersection, because the brake-line blew right when I applied the brakes. I have also had a large number of vehicles, where this wasn't an issue. I have had other issues with other vehicles that put them out of commission for a length of time. What is your vehicle worth to you? What is your vehicle downtime worth to you and your livelihood?

Is there a hard-and-fast rule for "if A happens then do B?" Not at all. The situation and the circumstances dictate the required outcome. That is on YOU, the owner of said vehicle. AND, it is up to YOU, to take in to account the other passengers in said vechicle AS WELL AS the other people on the road. EQUALLY.

That, my friend, is "speaking adult". Hope that helps, YMMV.

 

[The D]

3yrs for coolant

2yrs for brake fluid

Transmission fluid is a little different. Check what the manufacturer recommends but also check a few owner forums for any real world info. For instance; the Mercedes 5 speed auto from the 00’s was said to be a lifetime fill but quickly became a 60k interval. And our Honda has a 60k(I think) interval but it’s highly recommended to go as low as 20k to get as much life out of it

differential fluids are typically 80k-100k

air and fuel filters(gas cars) can just be manufacturers recommended interval, they’re not super critical. Just don’t completely forget about them forever

diesel fuel filters can be tricky. Definitely change them at least by the recommenced interval. If a Diesel engine anybody owns is a known problem child, consult an online forum for some more specific intervals

spark plugs are typically 80k-100k now also. Exceptions exist though so at least check your manual

 

[BullGear]

Open up your manual and read it. It will tell you exactly what your car needs.

I'm not looking for advice, I'm just wondering if people follow their manuals or they have their own service intervals.

 

[supercorndogs]

There are strips for checking the PH or alkaline reserve of your antifreeze, to tell you whether it is ready to change or not. You can also use a refractometer for checking PH an specific gravity{proper mix}. The big problem with antifreeze is it becoming acidic, and eating things like head gaskets and intake gaskets. Antifreeze can become acidic enough that is turns the cooling system and its dissimilar metals into a battery. So another way to test it is actually with a volt meter. I have seen cooling systems making 2-4 volts DC before. It kind of the changed the way the shop who hired me out of college dealt with antifreeze. They had a bunch of shade tree part changers, who thought if the antifreeze was still green, it was good.

When the antifreeze would eat hole through the liner in a Cat engine, the saying was, looks like electrolysis got er.

 

[rjacobs]

Your environment and driving conditions play into it. Otherwise annual fluid changes on all three, same with your differential. Unless you have repairs that could contaminate them.

Annual(at a minimum) engine oil changes I can buy off on...

Annual trans service??? Unless you are driving 50k-100k miles a year, thats a huge waste.

Also annual brake fluid service is a huge waste as well unless you are running Castrol SRF which is HIGHLY hygroscopic and recommended to change every year, but I DOUBT anybody on this forum is running Castrol SRF at $70 per liter and you need like 2 liters at least for a vehicle flush.

Annual diff fluid flushes are a waste also since again they are generally good for 50-100k miles... obviously if you offroad and go in water a lot your service intervals on diff's will be completely different.

 

[supercorndogs]

I'm not looking for advice, I'm just wondering if people follow their manuals or they have their own service intervals.

I run synthetic motor oil in the car I drive a lot, with a 20k filter, and run it 20k. Oil will last for a lot of miles if you can keep it clean. When I was in college I worked on experimental vehicle. They would pull some oil samples and change the filters every 5k, it had over 200k on the same oil.

 

[rjacobs]

I'm not looking for advice, I'm just wondering if people follow their manuals or they have their own service intervals.

I "generally" follow the manual, but, depending on the car, if there are forums with enough traffic where you start to see trends of people doing services early for certain things like The D says. Like the Prius we just bought says service the transaxle at 100k miles... MOST people on Prius forum say change it at 20-30k miles then run it for 100k miles. There has been enough people see some nasty shit in the fluid in the first 20-30k that warrant a change. Same as the C7 Corvette rear end. GM doesnt offer guidance for daily drivers, but for track driving says "every 24 hours"... Well daily driver guys were changing fluid at like 1500 miles and it was NASTY and lots of reports of under filled diffs from the factory, so basically now everybody changes rear end fluid on new C7's(there arent anymore new out there) at like 1500-2000 miles and then the diffs go a long time.

 

[roostercogburn98]

Drive it until it needs any major service and go get a new one

 

[chevy_man]

Drive it until it needs any major service and go get a new one

What's major?

$500, $5000?

 

[BullGear]

Okay, lets take a trip in the Way Back Machine. Growing up, many would change the oil filter 2 or 3 times before doing an oil change.

Would anyone recommend that today?

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Okay, lets take a trip in the Way Back Machine. Growing up, many would change the oil filter 2 or 3 times before doing an oil change.

Would anyone recommend that today?

If you use the right oil and filter you can do that. I’d only do it with amsoil personally and run wix premium (NAPA gold) filters.

It’s still best to change the oil every 5-6K with a good oil. The oil builds up with stuff that a filter still isn’t going to get out and with variable valve timing and other engine complications these days it’s not the greatest.

Mobil 1 is great oil and is pretty cheap in most cases at about $25 or less for a 5 quart jug. Consider how much gas you burn in that amount of time and then don’t be a cheap ass and just change your oil.

 

[Mooseknuckles]

3yrs for coolant

2yrs for brake fluid

Transmission fluid is a little different. Check what the manufacturer recommends but also check a few owner forums for any real world info. For instance; the Mercedes 5 speed auto from the 00’s was said to be a lifetime fill but quickly became a 60k interval. And our Honda has a 60k(I think) interval but it’s highly recommended to go as low as 20k to get as much life out of it

differential fluids are typically 80k-100k

air and fuel filters(gas cars) can just be manufacturers recommended interval, they’re not super critical. Just don’t completely forget about them forever

diesel fuel filters can be tricky. Definitely change them at least by the recommenced interval. If a Diesel engine anybody owns is a known problem child, consult an online forum for some more specific intervals

spark plugs are typically 80k-100k now also. Exceptions exist though so at least check your manual

This is basically what my maintenance schedule is except the diesel filter.
I would recommend changing you fuel filter on a diesel every oil change. It is cheap insurance. A 35-100 dollar filter is cheaper then 3000 for injectors or 12k for a while fuel system.

 

[rjacobs]

I keep seeing how "mobil 1 is cheap"... I did an oil change on a truck I sold just prior to the sale. I had planned to do it with Amsoil(I am an Amsoil dealer) but did not want to drive 25 miles each way to the depot to pickup the oil so I went to Oreilly and just said "screw it ill use Mobil 1"... Needed 6 quarts. 5 quart jug was like 32 bucks and an extra qt was $9.99... Geebus... So I looked for something "cheaper but still ok quality" but nothing really was to be found at Oreilly. Everything was around that $30-35 a 5 qt price. So I went to Napa... prices were higher. So I went to AutoZone and prices were same as Oreilly so I just bit the bullet and bought it. I could have done an oil change with the Amsoil XL(mid level) for about 45 bucks. The XL is usually rated equivalent to the regular Mobil 1.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I keep seeing how "mobil 1 is cheap"... I did an oil change on a truck I sold just prior to the sale. I had planned to do it with Amsoil(I am an Amsoil dealer) but did not want to drive 25 miles each way to the depot to pickup the oil so I went to Oreilly and just said "screw it ill use Mobil 1"... Needed 6 quarts. 5 quart jug was like 32 bucks and an extra qt was $9.99... Geebus... So I looked for something "cheaper but still ok quality" but nothing really was to be found at Oreilly. Everything was around that $30-35 a 5 qt price. So I went to Napa... prices were higher. So I went to AutoZone and prices were same as Oreilly so I just bit the bullet and bought it. I could have done an oil change with the Amsoil XL(mid level) for about 45 bucks. The XL is usually rated equivalent to the regular Mobil 1.

You must not look very hard. It’s like $22/5qt jug at Walmart and Sam’s club. Amazon even has it for the same price per jug delivered. It’s on sale at Napa like every other week for $5.99/qt. Paying $9.99 a qt is stupid, just buy another 5qt jug and have extra for the next oil change, or buy a few at a time and avoid the trip to the store. That’s the smart way to do it.

 

[rjacobs]

You must not look very hard. It’s like $22/5qt jug at Walmart and Sam’s club. Amazon even has it for the same price per jug delivered. It’s on sale at Napa like every other week for $5.99/qt. Paying $9.99 a qt is stupid, just buy another 5qt jug and have extra for the next oil change, or buy a few at a time and avoid the trip to the store. That’s the smart way to do it.

I havent run Mobil 1 in like 15+ years(and dont plan on running it either)... I only used it in a pinch(because I was to lazy to drive the 25 miles each way to get Amsoil), but I didnt see any deals running when I bought it.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I havent run Mobil 1 in like 15+ years(and dont plan on running it either)... I only used it in a pinch(because I was to lazy to drive the 25 miles each way to get Amsoil), but I didnt see any deals running when I bought it.

So you’re lazy too lazy to shop around, or drive 25 miles?

Some people just need something to complain about LOL.

 

[Tokay444]

I do new brakes and fresh fluid every spring.
I test my coolant to determine when it needs to be changed.
I drive a manual, but I do the oil in it and the diff every spring.
I track the car and annual fluid changes are cheap piece of mind.

 

[rjacobs]

So you’re lazy too lazy to shop around, or drive 25 miles?

Some people just need something to complain about LOL.

I did shop around and I refuse to go to Walmart. I guess I could have tried Home Depot and Target also, maybe cheaper there.

My only point was everybody always saying "its so cheap" yet I didnt find that to be the case. Since I never run Mobil 1 I dont keep up with the sales they have.

 

[LuvDog]

Oil changes are every 5k
I like to change out the coolant, transmission and differentials at 50k.

I'm bad about brake fluid on the cars and trucks.

Do all fluids annually on the bikes.

 

[roostercogburn98]

What's major?

$500, $5000?

Depends on the car I guess. Had a car with two piece rotors, 6 pot front calipers and 4 pot rears. Any real brake service was major IMO. Never got to find out if I wanted to do work on it, some lady knocked the front end off for me at 11k miles.

 

[roostercogburn98]

Okay, lets take a trip in the Way Back Machine. Growing up, many would change the oil filter 2 or 3 times before doing an oil change.

Would anyone recommend that today?

I do 10k oil changes, but I change the filter every time. I do however skip manufacturers recommendations of only changing fuel filter every 20k, and I change it every 10k with the oil. I use Shell Rotella T6 heavy duty diesel oil.

 

[chevy_man]

I did shop around and I refuse to go to Walmart. I guess I could have tried Home Depot and Target also, maybe cheaper there.

My only point was everybody always saying "its so cheap" yet I didnt find that to be the case. Since I never run Mobil 1 I dont keep up with the sales they have.

$28 5qt jugs yesterday at o'reilly.

No amsoil here, costs me $25/qt shipped so it's stupid expensive.

 

[kenny1773]

You can find mobil 1 in 5qt jugs at walmart for $22-$24, and usually once or twice a year mobil offers a main in rebate for $10 on a 5qt purchase

Mobil 1™ – Terms

acbincentives.com

So yes, mobil 1 is CHEAP if your car takes less than 5 quarts (or less than 10 quarts per rebate period as the rebate is usually good on (2) 5 quart jugs)

Pennzoil will offer a competing rebate
I have seen valvoline do it too
and for you valvolilne fans, Napa brand syn oil is rebranded valvoline (slightly lesser formula but still good)

You can get oil deals with little effort. I can also usually source decent filters for a Toyota for $4 (Wix, Napa. Bosch, etc there are many 'good ones') just look for sales and rebates

over 100k miles of the life of my car, I might spend $400 on oil and filters (that is a high estimate) that is NOTHING in 100k miles of driving.

I have seen idiots dump $100 at one visit to jiffy lube (you need new wiper blades and this and that and blah blah)

 

[kenny1773]

As for 'follow the manufacturers guidelines on maintenance"

Yes, except when you shouldn't

I have two examples:
I have a Honda Mini van, it was maintained to Honda's exact requirements in the warranty period, using Honda fluids purcahsed at the dealer for the cost of an arm and a leg, all receipts and log book maintained.

The transmission on THOUSANDS of these mini vans failed. My went at 48k miles - yes 2000 miles before the Honda powertrain warranty expired (but for 10,000 miles prior to that the trans had issues, Honda was just in denial about it)

Honda gave me a new trans as I could prove maintenance - but was a HUGE fucking argument with them, but it got done

I have 160,000 on that van now, so 110.000 on the new transmission, it shifts and runs smooth as silk now

What did I change??

The Honda Z1 fluid is a fossil fluid and it SUCKS DONKEY DICKS
I switched to Valvoline Max Life Synthetic ATF when the warranty ran out. I did 4x pan drain and fills over a 2 week period (that got rid of most of the DW1 fluid) then every other oil change or in the 10,000 to 12,000 window I changed the trans fluid. I never had another problem, same with numerous people on the Ody forum


Toyota had a sludge problem on many model years of camry. I never had an issue, I changed oil every 5k with synthetic
it keeps running and running and running, no oil issues no sludge issues, no nothing, why? because I change the oil more often and use a better oil than Toyota requires

How do you know this stuff???? you don't, you get lucky sometimes that doing what your brain knows is better (I have worked on cars as a 'hobby' since I was 14 years old)

 

[TurboTrout]

For those who take well care of their automobiles:

When do you change out your antifreeze?

When do you swap out your brake fluid?

When do you do an auto transmission tune up?

Whatever the OEM mx schedule recommends

 

[acudaowner]

I always did my anti freeze just before summer and again just before winter 50/50 mix in summer and more of a 70/30 ish in winter but my cars were always old so no fancy new cars for me I also had to change my oil a lot sooner than 50k miles nope never had a 75k miles between oil changes and my trans was always around the same time as the oil and filters for all 4 oil trans , and gas , and plugs / wires oh the fun old days .

 

[10ring'r]

I run a diesel Collie now, fuel filters are changed when the DIC gets to 20%, but, I do drain the water out of them every fall, just so I don't have any freeze-ups when the cold weather hits.
I've run Mobil 1 in all my vehicles (m/c's, cars, trucks) since the late 70's. Have never had any oil related engine issues. Swear by the stuff. Run it in my diffs, x-fer cases also.
If Mobil 1 makes a fluid for it, I'll run it.
I'll be totally honest though, I use to be really anal on my fluid changes, now, not so much.
I use to put lots of hard miles on my shit (off-road & racing), now, not so much. ymmv.
Mac

 

[rjacobs]

$28 5qt jugs yesterday at o'reilly.

No amsoil here, costs me $25/qt shipped so it's stupid expensive.

yea if you buy a single quart... but who does that? As a dealer, shipping is $11 up to like 100lbs of product. If you are a preferred customer(cost like 20 bucks a year) and you spend $100 the shipping is free. Its honestly almost a better deal than being a dealer. The price on the product is like 3% higher, but the free shipping if you spend $100 eats that 3% easily.

 

[S197]

Annual(at a minimum) engine oil changes I can buy off on...

Annual trans service??? Unless you are driving 50k-100k miles a year, thats a huge waste.

Also annual brake fluid service is a huge waste as well unless you are running Castrol SRF which is HIGHLY hygroscopic and recommended to change every year, but I DOUBT anybody on this forum is running Castrol SRF at $70 per liter and you need like 2 liters at least for a vehicle flush.

Annual diff fluid flushes are a waste also since again they are generally good for 50-100k miles... obviously if you offroad and go in water a lot your service intervals on diff's will be completely different.

annual engine oil changes? No!

I ran an OTR truck shop and have first hand experience through physical inspections and laboratory testing. These Fluids breakdown over time and collect contaminants. A Preventive Maintenance plan is better then a reactive plan.

 

[rjacobs]

annual engine oil changes? No!

I ran an OTR truck shop and have first hand experience through physical inspections and laboratory testing. These Fluids breakdown over time and collect contaminants. A Preventive Maintenance plan is better then a reactive plan.

You are playing a different ballgame than the average consumer driving down the road and its just not cost affective to do what you would on a fleet of OTR trucks. Im down with oil analysis but at $25 per, its almost useless for a daily driver type car that gets 1, maybe 2 oil changes a year.

I will agree with you on OTR trucks that take like 16 gallons of oil that sampling and testing is the way to go. Ive read of OTR trucks running 60-80k miles on an "oil change"... I believe the filters were changed like every 20k and the oil topped off.

 

[308pirate]

For those who take well care of their automobiles:

When do you change out your antifreeze?

When do you swap out your brake fluid?

When do you do an auto transmission tune up?

Whenever the maintenance manual that came with the car says to

Honda knows its cars better than pops garage

 

[BytorJr]

Brake fluid - every 1 to 2 years. No more than 2. Within 1 year keep in mind your fluid is now at the "wet" boiling point. This is the one maintenance item I never miss. Usually my Thanksgiving job.

Oil - I admit, I went 2 years (300 miles) on my last oil change. But generally it's 1x a year regardless. I just felt 300 miles there couldn't be that much acid build up (Mobil 1 V-twin...aka..air cooled)..

Antifreeze - WHAT THE F is That? Air cooled... No, seriously, most cars now days are good for 100K if you have a VW or Toyota. That said, i do that every 50K.

Transmission fluid? Automatic: 30K-50K depending on usage. Track car...about every 4 events. Manual daily, 75K

 

[chevy_man]

yea if you buy a single quart... but who does that? As a dealer, shipping is $11 up to like 100lbs of product. If you are a preferred customer(cost like 20 bucks a year) and you spend $100 the shipping is free. Its honestly almost a better deal than being a dealer. The price on the product is like 3% higher, but the free shipping if you spend $100 eats that 3% easily.

No dealers around, and I'm not going to jump through the hoops for it.
If I was worried about running it 50k, yes. I'm not, so I'll use the stuff I can get 5 minutes from my house.

Only thing I use it in is the outboard 4t. 2 quart changes, once per year. Only because it's either off or wide open throttle, and it costs more than a truck motor.

 

[AngryKoala]

There are strips for checking the PH or alkaline reserve of your antifreeze, to tell you whether it is ready to change or not. You can also use a refractometer for checking PH an specific gravity{proper mix}. The big problem with antifreeze is it becoming acidic, and eating things like head gaskets and intake gaskets. Antifreeze can become acidic enough that is turns the cooling system and its dissimilar metals into a battery. So another way to test it is actually with a volt meter. I have seen cooling systems making 2-4 volts DC before. It kind of the changed the way the shop who hired me out of college dealt with antifreeze. They had a bunch of shade tree part changers, who thought if the antifreeze was still green, it was good.

When the antifreeze would eat hole through the liner in a Cat engine, the saying was, looks like electrolysis got er.

How does one use a refractometer to measure pH or S.G. im curious?

 

[supercorndogs]

How does one use a refractometer to measure pH or S.G. im curious?

I might have miss remembered. Most of them I see check specific gravity of antifreeze and acidity of battery acid.

https://www.grainger.com/product/8P...V7B-tBh2KwwAtEAQYAiABEgLaQvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Soulezoo]

Back to the oil/price/availability discussion above,

I know absolutely that Amsoil top shelf stuff is the best oil made. This is known through intrinsic ASTM standardized testing.

However, it is more expensive and often difficult to get. (BTW- their filters are by far the best too...)

So, putting money where mouth is, really how much better of a cost vs value relationship is there if you aren't doing extended drain intervals?

I just bought a brand new F250 Tremor with the 7.3l gas engine. I have 500 miles on it now and will likely change the break in oil around 2-3k miles. Will I use Amsoil cuz it's the best? No... (I have used Amsoil a lot in the past when I was a dealer) I got 3 five quart jugs of Mobil 1, (the extended life 20,000 mile kind... it has a lot more TBN than standard M1). Got it at Wallyworld for just under $24 a jug. Then, Mobil oil have me a rebate in the form of a prepaid visa @ $15 a jug.
So, in the end I paid $9.34 a 5 quart jug for premium Mobile 1. Pays to do research.

 

[AngryKoala]

I might have miss remembered. Most of them I see check specific gravity of antifreeze and acidity of battery acid.

https://www.grainger.com/product/8P...V7B-tBh2KwwAtEAQYAiABEgLaQvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Cool, I've only used them to observe concentration variances (light scattering instrumentation is better for this). Interesting application.

Back to the oil/price/availability discussion above,

I know absolutely that Amsoil top shelf stuff is the best oil made. This is known through intrinsic ASTM standardized testing.

However, it is more expensive and often difficult to get. (BTW- their filters are by far the best too...)

So, putting money where mouth is, really how much better of a cost vs value relationship is there if you aren't doing extended drain intervals?

I just bought a brand new F250 Tremor with the 7.3l gas engine. I have 500 miles on it now and will likely change the break in oil around 2-3k miles. Will I use Amsoil cuz it's the best? No... (I have used Amsoil a lot in the past when I was a dealer) I got 3 five quart jugs of Mobil 1, (the extended life 20,000 mile kind... it has a lot more TBN than standard M1). Got it at Wallyworld for just under $24 a jug. Then, Mobil oil have me a rebate in the form of a prepaid visa @ $15 a jug.
So, in the end I paid $9.34 a 5 quart jug for premium Mobile 1. Pays to do research.View attachment 7614351View attachment 7614352

I would like to know which ASTM methods prove that Amsoil is the best? There are only so many additive manufacturers in this line of work that make additive packages for ExxonMobil, Chevron ect... Most of the packages are very similar and they all go through the same set of tests to obtain OEM approval.

 

[clcustom1911]

For those who take well care of their automobiles:

When do you change out your antifreeze?

When do you swap out your brake fluid?

When do you do an auto transmission tune up?

Antifreeze is at 100k, then again when I do my water pump/thermostat at 140k-ish before it fails LOL

Brake fluid was at whatever the normal maintenance interval was. I think I sucked out the fluid from the reservoir and refilled at... 75k.

Tranny fluid and filter was was 100k. Which was per the manufacturer recommended interval.

2013 Chevy Silverado 5.3 2WD. Some off road, nothing crazy.

 

[Soulezoo]

Cool, I've only used them to observe concentration variances (light scattering instrumentation is better for this). Interesting application.



I would like to know which ASTM methods prove that Amsoil is the best? There are only so many additive manufacturers in this line of work that make additive packages for ExxonMobil, Chevron ect... Most of the packages are very similar and they all go through the same set of tests to obtain OEM approval.

Well, given that the results are publicly available, by all means research yourself to your satisfaction.
And yes, there are only so many additives, but they vary wildly between the brands. They are not at all that similar as you posit. Many oil analysis results are out there for you to compare. Again, do your research. They only have to pass or meet a threshold of requirements to get the certification you speak of. There are oils that just meet that and others that far surpass it.

Bobistheoilguy.com is your friend. Begin your oil education there.

In the end, use whatever makes you feel good inside and you'll probably be just fine.

Others strive to know truths and have the best. Don't be a poor in this area.