Vehicle Maintenace General

[Biggest Bubba]

What about oil changes based on time? Oil bottle says 20,000 or 1 year. It's been 2 years and 2,000 miles.

Does it really go bad sitting?

Yes the additives in the oil break up over time. It can turn into sludge in extreme cases. Also not running regularly allows humidity to work its way into the oil. Base rule is every 5000 miles or 6 months.

Also today I worked on one of my cousins cars, a 2021 Toyota corolla, it needed an oil change and headlight bulb. Turns out you can't just replace the bulb you have to replace the entire headlight assembly, it cost 600 dollars perside and im going to have to remove the entire front bumper cover. We really need to start sending auto engineers and the design managers for these cars to india as punishment.

 

[Biggest Bubba]

3.9. Thanks, for the help! It's definitely a learning (re-learning?) curve, driving such an old vehicle, again. While we can fix everything, given enough time, I forgot about simple things like the dead spot in steering, needing a windshield rag for especially cold weather, and the fact that Ed definitely needs to warm up for a few minutes in any sort of cold temperature. Stalled out like an ass my second time driving him, because the of the choke. New cars spoiled my ass. Yes, I am new to fixing up a truck like this. Yes, it's been over twenty years since I owned a carbureted vehicle. Please, have patience with me, until I figure out what I'm doing, through a bit of trial and error. Please help me on this journey, and I'll reward you with many pictures of this new old boy. Especially once we take his bed off to brush the rust.
ETA- As collateral for future help
View attachment 8465578

Also sorry to double post but for the love of God get that thing undercoated with a lanolin based undercoating like PB blaster surface shield or wool wax. Oil it yearly and it will last forever, please dont let another one die to rust.

 

[drammamean]

What about oil changes based on time? Oil bottle says 20,000 or 1 year. It's been 2 years and 2,000 miles.

Does it really go bad sitting?

Not if it’s synthetic oil. Possibly if it’s conventional oil.

There are a lot of people who only change their oil once a year and oil analysis testing shows no additional wear on the engine. You could always try it and have your oil analyzed if you’re really worried. Or just do two changes a year instead of one.

 

[God's drunkest driver]

Also today I worked on one of my cousins cars, a 2021 Toyota corolla, it needed an oil change and headlight bulb. Turns out you can't just replace the bulb you have to replace the entire headlight assembly, it cost 600 dollars perside and im going to have to remove the entire front bumper cover. We really need to start sending auto engineers and the design managers for these cars to india as punishment.

It's not 1965 anymore, engineers don't lead car companies. Bean counters and finance bros do.

 

[Biggest Bubba]

It's not 1965 anymore, engineers don't lead car companies. Bean counters and finance bros do.

I know i hate them all very much.

 

[PunishedTrover]

It's not 1965 anymore, engineers don't lead car companies. Bean counters and finance bros do.

Yeah, that is why I'm sticking to motorcycles. Less idiot business degree fags to enshtify everything... except Harley which somehow has more than most car companies

 

[Jump]

I don't buy in to the idea that oil just goes bad from sitting. I am talking about years not decades.
It goes bad from contamination from things like gasoline and moisture. That stuff happens from short tripping it or starting it for only 20 mins in the winter to "let it run". Or a failed coil pack or stuck choke loading it with gasoline. If your running the car long enough for it to get up to normal operating temperature and burn off all the moisture in the crank case then I would just go by millage not time.

I have an old school small block chevy in a car that only sees a few summer weekends and maybe a time or 2 going down the track at test and tune when all my other garbage is broken. Big cheap cam with solid flat tappet. Every time I check the lash its fine. I only change the oil when it starts to turn black. Im not dumping expensive valvoline VR1 oil with only 300 miles on it every year.
The oil in my tow rig is from 2020 and that motor hasn't been apart since it left the factory in the early 1990s.

I'm not a chemist or anything. Just a hobbyist who believes oil is much, much more stable today then it was in the 1960s when the "rule of thumb" like 3000miles/1yr where founded. And if the car is EFI then the oil has an even easier time staying in spec.

If your really worried about then you can spend the $40 and have the oil tested.

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/standard-oil-testing/

 

[Google.com]

Google is so fucking useless now I try to look up information on how to fix severe paint damage and it keeps recommending me content specifically for minor paint damage actually the most frustrating shit on earth.

I've found a cheap car I intend on potentially making my first project car. She is a certified beater and frankly disgusting in her current condition.

While I have confidence in being able to steam clean the inside... The outside is another thing. For the cars entire 26 year life it has been left out cooking in the sun and the paint is completely destroyed. What are my options here? I know wrapping is an option but the paint is so bad with all the cracks and bubbles I don't think it'd work and I'd rather not have to resort to wraps.

And before anyone asks yes it is priced appropriately the "I don't want to look at this thing and the neighbors keep complaining. Get this off my property" sort of price.

 

[DavidS877]

While I have confidence in being able to steam clean the inside... The outside is another thing. For the cars entire 26 year life it has been left out cooking in the sun and the paint is completely destroyed. What are my options here? I know wrapping is an option but the paint is so bad with all the cracks and bubbles I don't think it'd work and I'd rather not have to resort to wraps.

Your options are: Paint it or have it painted.
Doing a shitty garage paint job isn't too hard, doing the prep would suck though, also, you'd need to be able to get out of the weather to paint it.

 

[Google.com]

Your options are: Paint it or have it painted.
Doing a shitty garage paint job isn't too hard, doing the prep would suck though, also, you'd need to be able to get out of the weather to paint it.

Ya, the prep is my main concern mostly with how on earth you properly get the old paint off. Which is another thing Google refuses to help me with because it thinks I'm referring to vandalism.

 

[DavidS877]

Ya, the prep is my main concern mostly with how on earth you properly get the old paint off. Which is another thing Google refuses to help me with because it thinks I'm referring to vandalism.

There are chemical methods, but usually it's just sanding. Messy, lots of time, messy and also messy. Usually some combo of stripping disks and sanding disks. If the paint is in really bad shape you can often start with just scraping to knock a bunch of it off.

 

[God's drunkest driver]

Google is so fucking useless now I try to look up information on how to fix severe paint damage and it keeps recommending me content specifically for minor paint damage actually the most frustrating shit on earth.

I've found a cheap car I intend on potentially making my first project car. She is a certified beater and frankly disgusting in her current condition.

While I have confidence in being able to steam clean the inside... The outside is another thing. For the cars entire 26 year life it has been left out cooking in the sun and the paint is completely destroyed. What are my options here? I know wrapping is an option but the paint is so bad with all the cracks and bubbles I don't think it'd work and I'd rather not have to resort to wraps.

And before anyone asks yes it is priced appropriately the "I don't want to look at this thing and the neighbors keep complaining. Get this off my property" sort of price.

Because there is no fix.

Is this going to be a beater you don't care about or something you intend to love? If it's the latter, don't buy it. Nothing is more expensive or painful than paint in the automotive hobby. Having a quality paint job done is extremely expensive and any decent shop has a wait list. Then they will have your car for a month and the bill will give you indigestion. Cheap paint jobs are awful, you'll wind up with chipping around window seals and such where the masking and sanding are substandard, overspray, and it won't last in the weather. DIYing paint is doubly painful unless your life is made of free time, just the disassembly and sanding will take a month of weekends, then you have to prime, sand, base, sand, and clear, then sand and buff. Or use single stage, but that's just one fewer step.

 

[Google.com]

Because there is no fix.

Is this going to be a beater you don't care about or something you intend to love? If it's the latter, don't buy it. Nothing is more expensive or painful than paint in the automotive hobby. Having a quality paint job done is extremely expensive and any decent shop has a wait list. Then they will have your car for a month and the bill will give you indigestion. Cheap paint jobs are awful, you'll wind up with chipping around window seals and such where the masking and sanding are substandard, overspray, and it won't last in the weather. DIYing paint is doubly painful unless your life is made of free time, just the disassembly and sanding will take a month of weekends, then you have to prime, sand, base, sand, and clear, then sand and buff. Or use single stage, but that's just one fewer step.

I'll keep that in mind. I'm not sure what my long term plans with it are going to be I suppose it depends on how things work out it's main purpose is to let me learn how to do more intensive repairs without risking my ride to work. Paints mostly a curiosity I don't really care as long as it doesn't rust I'll probably end up leaving the outside the beater special unless I end up really loving the thing.

 

[ifunny pride world wide]

Because there is no fix.

Is this going to be a beater you don't care about or something you intend to love? If it's the latter, don't buy it. Nothing is more expensive or painful than paint in the automotive hobby. Having a quality paint job done is extremely expensive and any decent shop has a wait list. Then they will have your car for a month and the bill will give you indigestion. Cheap paint jobs are awful, you'll wind up with chipping around window seals and such where the masking and sanding are substandard, overspray, and it won't last in the weather. DIYing paint is doubly painful unless your life is made of free time, just the disassembly and sanding will take a month of weekends, then you have to prime, sand, base, sand, and clear, then sand and buff. Or use single stage, but that's just one fewer step.

This is more or less what I realized with mine. The clear coat is failing everywhere on my truck. Back when replaced my rocker panels and some of the metal around the wheel wells I intended on repainting the entire vehicle. However, I realized that I won't ever have the time to do a proper paint job myself and even the cheap paint jobs like Maaco are worth about as much as the vehicle itself and won't last long. I ended up roller painting bed liner around the bottom sort of like the waterline on a ship. Where I live, the outdoor temp/humidity is only good for spray painting for about a month and I'm always busy around then. I hate everything

 

[Epstein's Mexican cousin]

Just finished up a oil change on my Motorcycle. Wasn't too hard, although this is the first oil change that I've ever done. Did it with a kit that I got off amazon that had the filter and gasket i needed. Got oil all over my garage floor though, and certainly got a good whiff of some engine fumes when I ran the bike inside my garage instead of out on the street lol.

 

[Nefarious Elliot]

My 250k mile EJ25D is leaking oil like piss now, the slick outside my house grows larger every day. The rear separator plate is definitely the main issue but there are a few other leaks I can't pinpoint. How easy is it to fuck up a total engine reseal at home? Do I just suck it up and pay my mechanic or pay with my blood, sweat, tears, and time?

The latter, then the former.

 

[Google.com]

I brought home my project beater today. She actually runs good just doesn't like starting due to a bad ignition cassette(you'll never guess what make it is) the reason it was under a grand despite running and relatively low miles is that the interior is utterly disgusting and I will be stripping it entirely to clean. I had to wear a mask to get it home. Not mold luckily, wildlife got into it while I'm assuming the previous owner was in prison.

 

[Jump]

I brought home my project beater today. She actually runs good just doesn't like starting due to a bad ignition cassette(you'll never guess what make it is)

I hope your saab at least has a capital "T" and is stickshift.

 

[Google.com]

I hope your saab at least has a capital "T" and is stickshift.

I paid $350 for this car sadly that was out of budget. I think for the fact it runs with only the cassette issue that is a good price despite the low level trim and destroyed interior. It does have the heated rear seat option at least.

Anyways. For the interior I budgeted some things out and have determined partially due to the fact that saab poorly designed the lower door pull handles causing them to decay rapidly if not properly maintained and therefore making the price of replacements skyrocket. It is actually cheaper to buy 4 entire complete door interior panels instead of just the lower pull handles. And since all my research indicates that black lasts significantly longer than beige I will have a half beige half black interior. Will this look good? Probably not, oh well.

 

[Jump]

I paid $350 for this car sadly that was out of budget. I think for the fact it runs with only the cassette issue that is a good price despite the low level trim and destroyed interior. It does have the heated rear seat option at least.

Anyways. For the interior I budgeted some things out and have determined partially due to the fact that saab poorly designed the lower door pull handles causing them to decay rapidly if not properly maintained and therefore making the price of replacements skyrocket. It is actually cheaper to buy 4 entire complete door interior panels instead of just the lower pull handles. And since all my research indicates that black lasts significantly longer than beige I will have a half beige half black interior. Will this look good? Probably not, oh well.

If it was mice in there then don't mess around trying to clean it with everything in place. You will never get rid of the smell that way.
Pull the seats and rip out the carpet. If mice got in to the headliner the rip that down too. Powerwash it out and clean it with simplegreen.
They 100% got in to the HVAC system so pull that apart all the duct work including the heaterbox. Soak all the parts in hot water and clean off with simplegreen. Look for nests and mice shit in the center console. If you see it then that has to come apart too.

Mice are a big problem in my area and I have had to deal with them in cars a few times. You waste more time trying with 1/2 measures rather then just biting the bullet and spending a solid weekend pulling the interior apart. Nothing smells worse then hot mouse piss on a hot humid day