I am way behind on posting these and they are all for my own personal record to keep things straight.
We've had to do a lot of maintenance lately and I don't want to forget.
Thank goodness dh has done all of the work lately, as a few months ago we had that $1000 set back when we spent hundreds in labor to a shop.
I started out interspersing the posts when they should have been posted, but then I felt like that would mess up my 500 posts count (who cares?).
Until next time.
Showing posts with label auto maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label auto maintenance. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2008
SORRY for all the Auto Maintenance Posts!!
Labels: auto maintenance
Auto Maintenance PF 9-18-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Rack and pinion $399.99
Labor $150.00
Caliper front right $89.99
Rotor brake front $29.99
Pads brake front $27.99
Labor $150.00
Spark plugs $11.94
Distributor Cap $29.99
Rotor ignition $12.99
Labor $90.00
$979.57 Total OUCH
Auto Maintenance PF 10-12-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Monroe shocks. $93.58
[Update 1-26-08: These were not top of the line and ended up bottoming out and needing to be changed by January 26, 2008.]
Auto Maintenance PF 11-29-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Replaced half axle drive axle shaft, driver's side front.
Auto Maintenance PF 12-17-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Changed the u-joints to the front short drive shaft.
Auto Maintenance PF 12-27-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Inner and outer bearings on the front passenger side of the Pathfinder.
Auto Maintenance 1-26-07 241878
Labels: auto maintenance
Changed oil, but not the oil filter. $10.78
Changed air filter. $8.64
Changed plugs, putting in Bosch Premium Spark Plugs. $38.85
Last weekend:
Changed transmission fluid, but not the filter. $19.44
Replaced shocks with "advanced technology". $176.03
Our mileage had dropped to 17 mph from 18/19mph. The shocks purchased in October 2006 were bottoming out already, they were the cheapest ones.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Auto Maintenance Oil Change 1-5-08 238860
Labels: auto maintenance
Oil Change. I haven't noted oil changes for several times. Will try to get back to keeping track.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Just Some Pictures of My Daily Life
Labels: auto maintenance, ds2, LJ
The odometer reading was 233,333, I'm driving 70mph, the rpm's were 2600, tank half full and 144 miles since buying gas...
Ds2 scrubbed the oven out by hand. One day I'll add in the before picture. No chemicals were used! It's not perfect, but it's much cleaner than it was to begin with and did I say no chemicals were used!?
A cloudy day outside my office window.
Ds2 on his laptop and his cat in his favorite spot.
Dh in bed with just barely enough room due to LJ curled up at his side and Vicious laying on top of him.
And last but not least, LJ sleeping in bed. When he heard the camera he started stretching and then fell back to sleep.
Until next time.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Auto Maintenance Ford 10-1-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Changed modulator valve.
Changed spark plugs.
Changed distributor cap.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Auto Maintenance Fuel Filter 223100
Labels: auto maintenance
Dh changed the fuel filter in the Pathfinder today. He says we have never changed it since we've owned the vehicle (2001). He says it has a lot more get up and go, and we might get better gas mileage.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Auto Maintenance Oil Change 7-28-07 218441
Labels: auto maintenance
Dh changed the oil in the Pathfinder today. Previous oil change 6-10-07 at 214,613.
3828 miles this time.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Timing Belt
Labels: auto maintenance
I have been wondering when it would be time to change the timing belt.
We changed it at 117,000 miles back in February 2004. And then I decided to check my auto maintenance spreadsheet which I haven't updated in ages.
When I got gas yesterday the mileage was at 217,141. So if we let this belt go 117,000 miles, we have about 17,000 miles.
t's almost time for the next oil change. Last oil change done on 6-10 at 214613. So we've gone 2528 miles. Typically the recommendation is to change the oil every 3000 miles, but I was told by a mechanic that every 4000 miles would be okay since we do mostly highway miles.
Until next time.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Radiator Cap
Labels: auto maintenance, Memory Lane
UPDATE: July 2, 2007. The radiator fluid has stayed steady since we replaced the radiator cap. I am so grateful when small things like that take care of potential problems. It is not uncommon to see one or two cars every day on the side of the road with steam spewing from under the hood due to radiator problems.
Just a quickie. Dh is faithful at regularly checking the fluid levels in our primary vehicle. I am so thankful that he takes on this responsibility because without much concentration on my part I tend to forget all about it. He noticed a few days ago that we were needing just a little bit of water every day. Not much - just about one cup - but enough to indicate we were losing water somewhere. Not really any dripping or visible leaks that we could see, except alongside the top of the radiator near the cap. But dh had just put in another cup of antifreeze, so he thought maybe he spilled some. He also noticed the radiator cap didn't seem "right". The little flip up thing was pretty loose, instead of having a firm feeling to it.
Yesterday after I dropped him off at work I stopped by an auto parts store and picked up a new cap. I waited until after lunch to be sure everything was cool and went out and replaced the old cap with the new one.
So far no more water loss.
About two years ago our vehicle was running hot. The temperature indicator kept creeping up. I went by an auto repair shop and had them check it out. They changed out some part... some type of fan. And then they tried to persuade me that it was NORMAL for the temperature to run hot. I had been driving this vehicle for two or three years by this time and the temperature gauge always stayed steadily at just a hair under the half mark. Now it was creeping up closer and closer to the HOT indicator. Finally, if I remember correctly, we were hauling a refrigerator home, using our trailer. And the poor radiator blew. About 15 miles from home. We called the automotive service and had to leave the trailer parked with the fridge, have our vehicle hauled home and come back with the big truck to pull the trailer home.
We took the radiator in to a shop in the town nearby where we live. As it turns out, the radiator was almost totally clogged and THAT is the reason why the temperature indicator was showing the engine was so hot.
I have never gone back to that auto repair shop since. I think that is faulty service on their part. It makes you wonder if they were trying to persuade me to just ignore it and hope something worse would happen since the engine was being run at such an extreme temperature. Of course this was during the hottest part of the summer.
Until next time.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Tire Rotation
Labels: auto maintenance
Another auto maintenance post, of little to no interest to anyone but moi.
Today I made an unwise decision. Okay, I did something stupid. I paid an entirely ridiculously expensive amount to get four tires rotated and spin balanced. When I got the two new front tires a week or two ago, I asked my tire guy to move the two from the front onto the back. Instead he put on two new tires and tossed those into the back. He was supposed to put those newish tires onto the back and throw the old ones in the back. But that didn't get done and I forgot to check before I left.
It's been on my mental "to do" list, and I wanted to get it off. There is another tire place we go to regularly, out near where we live, but they sometimes do things for free, like repair a tire with a slow leak, or rotate our tires, and besides I was pulling the trailer so we could get hay later. I didn't buy my tires from them, so I feel guilty about them doing things for free to get my business when I can't do business with them since they are inconvenient unless we happen to need tires/repair on the weekend. Usually I have a problem during the week, so it's easier to go to the tire guy near my job. And if I pulled in their place with the trailer, I wouldn't be able to get out without having to back up and I am not that good at backing up a trailer. I CAN do it, but I get nervous, especially when people are watching and waiting. Actually, I would have had to back up next door into a Sonic restaurant and around and around to their exit. So it would have been difficult if not downright impossible to get in and out of there with a trailer.
I went to one place first, but I decided against it because what I needed to have done would be a bit complicated, so communication would be necessary and it seemed this place might not have English speaking persons available. I ended up going to a different place. They charged me $15 PER TIRE, so $60 total. Agh.
What I needed them to do was to move the 6 month old passenger side tire onto my vehicle's back rim on the passenger side. Move the 6 month old driver's side tire onto my vehicle's back rim on the driver's side. Take the older tires and change them onto the two rims that had old blown tires for the trailer on them. I had to make sure I got the right tires on the back, in the right direction. Something about tires coming apart if you run them backwards to how they've always been run. Or something like that.
Boring, boring, boring.
The oil change was done last weekend (6-10-07) at 214,613 miles. The previous oil change was done on 4-15-07. So not even 8 weeks and we put on 5,364 miles. Crazy, huh?
Now, I could either begin a new and interesting post, or I could knit. I think I'm going to knit. I ordered the most adorable buttons for the sweater. The baby's initials are LAMB, so can you guess what the buttons are shaped like? I'm several inches into the hood. Dh had a class to attend today, so I had about three hours to run errands and I managed to get some knitting in while waiting for the tires to be rotated and spin balanced, and I sat in a mexican food restaurant for about half an hour and got some knitting done there.
OH. I found another Samsonite overnight case for $3 and a circular knitting needle for $1.00. I really like the Samsonite case for my knitting/crocheting supplies and I am going to use this new one for sewing supplies as my sewing cabinet drawers are getting might full. I also found an old Kirby vacuum cleaner at a yard sale for $3. I haven't had a chance to see if it actually works. The girl running the yard sale said it did and she said if I wanted it, I could just take it. But I didn't want to do that, and I made her take the $3 she was asking for. I hope it works at least.
Speaking of things not working, my washing machine is agitating, but it won't remove the water or spin. Dh is going to look at it tomorrow. I sure hope he can fix it. Ds2 and I are planning to go to church. We haven't decided whether we'll give the Father's Day presents before or after church.
Until next time.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
New Tires
Labels: auto maintenance
Welcome the auto maintenance tag. Yeah, I know you probably don't care what kind of auto maintenance is going on around here but I realized the other day it would be a great way to keep track of it.
On Wednesday I noticed the truck was pulling to the right side and also the front right tire was wearing funny. It looked like it had little fins popping up on the inner part of the tire. So I took it to my favorite front end alignment place just down the street from my job. They took it for a test drive, then pulled it over the bays and took a look. The guy came back to tell me my alignment was right on, but he thought rotating the tires would "square up" the tire. However, the back tires, he said, were different brands, different tread and looked to be 2-3 years old. So he said I could drive another 5,000 miles (six weeks for us) and then get new tires on the front.
I opted to get new tires on the front. They don't sell tires, so I went to my tire guy, who is also near my job. I explained the situation... kind of asking his opinion and then saying I was willing to buy two new tires, but if I didn't really have to... and ended up with two new tires on the front. Not until dh pointed it out, did I realize that the tire guy neglected to have his guys rotate the fronts onto the back. Drat!
The nice thing about the tires we use, they fit perfectly on our trailer, and they fit on dh's sister's trailer. We needed a good used tire for each trailer, and now we have two available, since I took both tires with me. Since I forgot to make sure the tires were rotates, we'll have to bring a slew of tires (about four) with us to a tire shop, have them change out the old front tires onto the back rims, then put those tires onto the two spare rims for the trailers.
The tires cost $62 each, with $10 for mounting and balancing. $156.73 total. 214,233 on the odometer.
Also, the truck needs an oil change, badly. I usually try to remind dh to do it around 4,000 miles. I was once told by a mechanic that since I put on so many highway miles, there was no reason to do it every 3,000 miles. Since we put on a minimum of 500 miles per week, oil changes come quickly. Dh is going to change it this weekend, this time it is over 5000 miles!!! With so many miles on the engine, this is no time to forget oil changes. But it completely slipped my mind and it's only been since April 19th that the last one was done.
We are also debating using a synthetic oil, which would mean the oil changes would happen less often. Like every 15,000 miles instead of every 4,000. We almost bought synthetic oil yesterday, but were having such a hard time deciding that we didn't, buying regular oil to give ourselves a few more weeks to think it over.
Until next time.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Auto Maintenance Oil Change 4-15-07 209,249
Labels: auto maintenance
This post is the first oil change post.
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