Thought many of you would be interested in this. I found this very useful. Hope you all do to. I also listed what I have done in the past.


yahoo.com
By Consumer Reports

To paraphrase Mark Twain, it's not what you don't know that can come back to bite you; it's what you know for sure that ain't true. When it comes to maintaining your car, misconceptions abound. And even the best intentions can lead you to spend more money than necessary or even compromise your safety. Here are common myths that can do more harm than good:


Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on Yahoo!.

Myth: Engine oil should be changed every 3,000 miles.

Reality: Despite what oil companies and quick-lube shops often claim, it's usually not necessary. Stick to the service intervals in your car's owner's manual. Under normal driving conditions, most vehicles are designed to go 7,500 miles or more between oil changes. Changing oil more often doesn't hurt the engine, but it can cost you a lot of extra money. Automakers often recommend 3,000-mile intervals for severe driving conditions, such as constant stop-and-go driving, frequent trailer-towing, mountainous terrain, or dusty conditions.

Myth: Inflate tires to the pressure shown on the tire's sidewall.

Reality: The pounds-per-square-inch figure on the side of the tire is the maximum pressure that the tire can safely hold, not the automaker's recommended pressure, which provides the best balance of braking, handling, gas mileage, and ride comfort. That figure is usually found on a doorjamb sticker, in the glove box, or on the fuel-filler door. Perform a monthly pressure check when tires are cold or after the car has been parked for a few hours.

Myth: If the brake fluid is low, topping it off will fix the problem.

Reality: As brake pads wear, the level in the brake-fluid reservoir drops a bit. That helps you monitor brake wear. If the fluid level drops to or below the Low mark on the reservoir, then either your brakes are worn out or fluid is leaking. Either way, get the brake system serviced immediately. You should also get a routine brake inspection when you rotate the tires, about every 6,000 to 7,000 miles.

Myth: If regular-grade fuel is good, premium must be better.

Reality: Most vehicles run just fine on regular-grade (87 octane) fuel. Using premium in these cars won't hurt, but it won't improve performance, either. A higher-octane number simply means that the fuel is less prone to pre-ignition problems, so it's often specified for hotter running, high-compression engines. So if your car is designed for 87-octane fuel, don't waste money on premium.

Myth: Flush the coolant with every oil change.

Reality: Radiator coolant doesn't need to be replaced very often. Most owner's manuals recommend changing the coolant every five years or 60,000 miles. Of course, if the level in the coolant reservoir is chronically low, check for a leak and get service as soon as possible.

Myth: After a jump-start, your car will soon recharge the battery.

Reality: It could take hours of driving to restore a battery's full charge, especially in the winter. That's because power accessories, such as heated seats, draw so much electricity that in some cars the alternator has little left over to recharge a run-down battery. A "load test" at a service station can determine whether the battery can still hold a charge. If so, some hours on a battery charger might be needed to revive the battery to its full potential.

Myth: Let your engine warm up for several minutes before driving.

Reality: That might have been good advice for yesteryear's cars but is less so today. Modern engines warm up more quickly when they're driven. And the sooner they warm up, the sooner they reach maximum efficiency and deliver the best fuel economy and performance. But don't rev the engine high over the first few miles while it's warming up.

Myth: A dealership must perform regular maintenance to keep your car's factory warranty valid.

Reality: As long as the maintenance items specified in the vehicle owner's manual are performed on schedule, the work can be done at any auto-repair shop. If you're knowledgeable, you can even do the work yourself. Just keep accurate records and receipts to back you up in case of a warranty dispute on a future repair.

Myth: Dishwashing and laundry detergents make a good car wash.

Reality: Detergent can strip off a car's wax finish. Instead, use a car-wash liquid, which is formulated to clean without removing wax.

Copyright © 2005-2009 Consumers Union of U.S., Inc.


I am guilty of.......

1. I usually change my oil in my cougar every 5k to 10k miles. Once in a blue moon would I do the 3k oil change. My manual says 5k to 7.5k if im not mistaken. Plus the dealer told me 5k when I first purchased the car.

2. I inflate the tires to the pressure on the wall. I would also over inflate by 5lbs sometimes.

3. I always top my break fluid. Just a habit of having a run down car almost a decade ago. I still do this now once in a while. When changing my breaks I forgot what I have done. hehe.

4. I always thought the higher the grade of octane the better the fuel mileage and performance.

5. Never flushed the coolant unless I bought the car used I would change all the fluids except for the break or tranny fluids) Plus I use the factory coolant for my cougar which is a orange/pink color which they say it good up to 140k.

6. I only let a few of my car warm up before driving. Mostly my RX-7's, Camry and that is it. Sometimes the coug I would warm up.

7. I used to use liquid laundry detergant. (GAIN) to wash my car. Never knew it was bad.

On the alternator charging the battery I still don't understand how an alternator can fully charge a battery without harming it. Is there a chip in the alternator that tells it when to stop charging it when its full ??

 

My G8 has a OLM (Oil Life Monitor) that calculates the oil life off of many variables. People swear by it. I JUST had my oil changed yesterday @ 12,500 since my last oil change, and my OLM said I still had 38% oil life remaining. I do 90% highway. Of course, I also use Mobil 1.

Every 3,000? I's be changing oil monthly!

Charles

 

Any new car can be driven 100,000 miles without changing any fluids, but if you want it to last beyond 100K then fluids should be changed regularly.

I'm skeptical of onboard oil monitors. I believe some of them just count the engine revolutions and when they reach a certain number they tell you to change the oil. Do any cars have some sort of tester that takes a sample of oil and analyzes it periodically for viscosity and impurity? I don't know, I'm asking. I'm sure my Chevy pickup just counts revolutions.

Coolant should be changed more often than five years and the proper mix of coolant and distilled water should be used to keep internal parts from rusting.

Typically if the brake fluid looks like coffee then it has absorbed too much moisture and could hurt performance as well as damage internal parts.

Letting the engine warm up is a good idea on a cool day. The tolerances of the internals are designed to perform best when the parts have expanded to operating temps. A cold engine will get more blowby under load which contaminates the oil.

 

Nothing on what to do about tire presure when driving for long hours? I drive alot, and miami/orlando/jacksonvile are often sometime, The ONE time I forgot to reduce some of the psi on my tires for a trip to miami, the front driver side tire almost poped! the side wall almost poped, luckly I checked the the tires when i started to hear a funny sound from the tires.

Could've been deadly. I am gonna try and get nitro filled tires, like when I had my civic, nitro filled doesnt expand when heated like normal air, due to the tires constantly spining for a long time at high speeads; of course produces heat..

 

A bit of a warm up on cold/cooler days is also good for aluminum head/iron block engines. The 2 materials have different expansion rates and running them too hard when cold can blow head gaskets. Even same material head/block can do it when cold.

I did it on my 89 firebird formula 350, and it was iron head and block. Got out of work on a cold morning, fired it up and floored it through 1st gear. A little smoke and coolant smell out from under the hood and in the exhaust when I got home.

Ever since then I have let all my cars get to at least 100 degrees (or whatever the lowest mark is) before I drive, also stay easy on the throttle until the temp is at least mid point on the gauge.

Even though I use synthetic oil in all my cars I still change every 3000. Its only 3 or 4 changes a year, so I dont worry about wasting lots of money.

 

Funny note on tire pressure. I used at work at an oil change (on 60 near 75). One day a guy came in with over 100 lbs in each tire. We pointed it out to him, along with the max rated pressure of 34 lbs on the sidewall. He said "oh, I didnt know that. I just filled them until they were completely round".

 

Yeah, I've heard a lot of those myths before. Only one I've ever been guilty off is inflating the tires to max. Thought it would give me a firmer ride, lol. Now I keep it usually at least 5psi under that. All the rest of those things, I've learned not to do pretty early on, and learned more about them later. Especially the oil changes.

Those oil life monitors, both my cars have them and I don't go by them at all. They average the cars typical revs and throttle position in order to determine how much load and wear you are placing on it. Mine would always go off 500-1000 miles early, but they are assuming you are using typical oil too and I always use synthetic that can be run longer. I actually send oil samples out occasionally now to Blackstone Labs for analysis. They can tell you exactly what wear metals are in your oil to spot problems early and how much of the additive package is left so you know how many more miles you can run it. IE in my '97 grand prix using castrol GTX I can run the oil for 7000 miles.


Your question about the alternator, most modern cars and alternators have a voltage regulator and are monitored and controlled by the cars computer. If you run more accessories and power demand goes up, output from the alternator goes up (and the alternators drag on the engine as well). Battery charging is part of that electrical load. When the battery is fully charged, the regulator turns down the power output to the level needed to meet ignition and accessory needs.

 

nice.... repped....

 

Unbelievable. Those dipshits are the reason auto manufacturers are being forced to equip all cars with those stupid tire pressure sensor monitors.

 

I change my oil no later than 3k miles. Usually every 2500. Luckily for me its about 3 months worth of driving lol.

I think the tire air pressure myth is a bit bunk. Wouldn't that really depend on the type of tire you put on the car? I can see that being true if you replaced you're tires with the exact make/model of tires that originally came on the car.