I’ve had mechanics tell me my cabin filter is bad on a vehicle that didn’t have one.
I’ve had mechanics show me how gross my spark plugs were in a diesel engine sedan.
I’ve had mechanics tell me I need new tires on a truck I had just replaced the tires on two weeks beforehand, and driven in mud.
I know more about my truck’s issues than the guy who just did an oil change and casually glanced at a couple other things.
All that said, I still appreciate an actual mechanic (not the lube guy who started on Tuesday) telling me what they found wrong. You ever know when you might actually miss something.
But for real, fuck that spark plug guy.
Those are shit mechanics who are just trying to steal as much money as they can. I would avoid them and call them out whenever possible. I’ve had some good mechanics who go out of their way to save you time and some who have actually helped without charging extra. Not to say it’s required but the stigma of bad mechanics has ended up being the way it is by having people oblivious to what happens under their car’s hood.
My local chain does that bullshit upsell standard.
They’ll even show you your CLEAN air filter in hope you’re a sucker enough to say yes.
And they don’t get in trouble if they just say “wow, look at this cabin air filter. Would you like us to replace it while we’re working on your car?”
Yeah, I don’t go back to places like that, I leave reviews, and I tell anyone who mentions car trouble “don’t go to this place here”
There’s a shop about 35 minutes from me I’ve been at for awhile now, they’ve saved me quite a bit of money over the years and the ONLY time I’ve had an issue with something, THEY contacted ME to ask me to come back in so they could fix a mistake.
Kinda scary how easily someone could get me with one of these.
fuck that spark plug guy
I had a diesel mechanic tell me that the diesel engine in my school bus needed new glow plugs. This was at least a more reasonable scam as diesels normally do have glow plugs, I just happened to know that my engine (a DT466e) doesn’t have them.
Wait, I didn’t think diesel engines had spark plugs
To be fair, I’ve told someone spark plugs on a diesel after I changed a few on gas cars.
They have glow plugs. I knew what I was saying, but it was a long day.
They go in the boom holes and help with said booms. Don’t look at me because I’m not an English major. When I order parts I point to the catalog and grunt like a caveman, because my brain is smarter than my mouth.
When I order parts I point to the catalog and grunt like a caveman, because my brain is smarter than my mouth.
Ok im using this in the future I love it lol
I own a school bus with a diesel engine and one mechanic I went to told me I needed new glow plugs. Unfortunately for him I was aware that my particular diesel engine doesn’t have them.
Look at this air filter!
If you have a clogged air filter you will damage your engine. Most of the time slapping the air filter against your leg to get the dust out helps. If you see oil on it then there is a serious issue, that could have been from not changing your filter.
An old air filter will do one of two things. Make your engine run rough because it isn’t getting enough oxygen, 1/3rd of what makes your car go forward. Or allowing dirt to get into your engine and that will 100% damage your engine. Imagine if you will, instead of lube you used grit soap. Please don’t ruin your car over a $30 part. Filter is cheap, engines are expensive.
Change your own air filter. One of the easiest things you can do for maintenance. It’s either clips or a size 8mm socket… usually. Then you don’t have to pay some kid $100 for 2 minutes of labor. You’ll feel better for doing something and you will also get better gas mileage. If the answer to when was the last time you changed your air filter is “I don’t know” then it’s probably time.
Please don’t ruin your car over a $30 part.
The thing is, it’s only a $10 part at walmart.
If you fork out a little extra for a K&N filter then you’ll never need a new one again, and your engine will perform a tiny bit better.
You’ve still got to wash and re-oil it once in a while, which is more trouble than replacing a paper filter.
Every 50,000 or 100,000 miles depending on the type of filter
I did it every 20,000 on my previous car just because the smallest oil bottle lasts for more than a couple of applications
My assumption is that you’re talking about the washable ones. They do last a bit longer and they do save money in the long term because you don’t have to buy as many. But there is still wear and tear happening every time you wash it.
My grubby little raccoon hands have worn out my keyboard caps. I don’t need to see what the letter is, and I’ve had my keyboard for so long it is a razer that isn’t backlit.
Air filter holes are measured in microns. I don’t know the time frame, but it will happen that it will let dirt through the air holes that it really shouldn’t.
K&N is a fairly well quality controlled product. Nothing is forever.
So go to Walmart on your way to the oil change place.
OR - admit you’re not really going to Walmart and just pay them to get it done.
Air filters are such an easy part to replace it’s insane. I pop that removed out once in a while and slam that removed against the wall. Also you should check you vacuum filter too since it’s basically the same thing.
Air filters are such an easy part to replace it’s insane.
Lots of things are so easy to fix or replace it’s insane, both in terms of car maintenance and other sorts of DIY. Folks are way too intimidated by simple repairs when they shouldn’t be.
I, for one, blame the relegation of classes like shop and home ec to the “technical” high schools that only the non-college-prep kids go to. They should’ve stayed part of the normal curriculum for everybody.
I’m broke so I always look things up before determining if I need to pay someone. I had a landlord say she was going to have to pay someone to put in the original showerhead because she didn’t know how when we moved out. I grabbed that thing and screwed it in in front of her. Like sure you may want to put some tape there for leakage but it wasn’t there when we moved in.
Last time that happened, I had just changed it two weeks before. I was more than a little annoyed.
Nickelback starts playing in the background
You laugh, but I never would’ve found out that my blinker fluid was low if the mechanic didn’t tell me after changing my oil.
Don’t waste your money at the mechanic, you can change your blinker fluid yourself!
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I change my own oil. However, I went to get my tired rotated and the guy tried to sell me some windshield wipers when I had just replaced them
You change your own oil, but don’t rotate your own tires? Changing tires seems like the easier of the two, especially if you already have everything to lift the car?
“Easy” in terms of complexity, yes. “Easy” in terms of strength required to mount and dismount wheels (especially the big heavy ones on the SUVs so many folks have these days), no.
I just climb under the car to do it. I drive a Subaru so it isn’t all that bad
Rotating tires can be free depending on where you bought them from. If that shop is in a convenient location then why not?
I do most of my own maintenance on my cars for two reasons. I kind of like doing them myself, and I can make sure it’s getting done (and done correctly). Not saying all shops are like this, but I have seen some shady and damn right ignorant practices going on. From not actually doing the service you paid for, to totally using the wrong oil, or over tightening lug nuts, or worse not tightening them enough. My aunt had a tire go rolling down the road after she pulled out of the tire shop she just bought the tires from… I get it not everyone wants to do it themselves, or they don’t have the tools or the space to do it. Just verify the work is being done right is all…
paying for oil change
Even my automotive engineer friend who can basically repair his whole car alone often pays for his oil changes because of the convenience of not dealing with old engine oil and its disposal
In most places you can drop off used oil at your local auto parts store for free. It’s still super easy.
The only vehicle I don’t change my own oil on is my truck, which has off-road skidplates you need to remove first. I could do it, but I decided it was better worth my time to have a shop do it.
oil
/smugEVdriver
Mechanic here. Most ev’s have oil. Check your owners manual when you should change it.
/TiredMechanic
Since I once again have to get serious after a shitpost, Most EVs definitely don’t, because most on the road are Teslas, and there is no oil to change in their regular service.
My bolt has oil for the reduction gear but it’s not part of the regular maintenance. Expected interval for that would probably be similar to a transmission fluid change.
It’s probably built so that the fluid lasts for the lifetime of the car, or whenever there’s any issues it’s able to be changed. Only thing is lifetime is different for everyone especially depending on driving conditions.
“Lifetime of the car” means different things to manufacturers vs drivers. VW would have you believe that their transmissions are maintenace free and will not need to be serviced for the life of the car. They neglect to mention that they only expect the car to do 100,000km. They’re not exactly wrong, in that when the transmission starts to fail you’re probably going to write it off rather than drop 5k on a replacement valve body, but if you had serviced it every 60,000km or so, there’s no reason that transmission shouldn’t be good for 300,000.
Way too many people get news and information through shit posts :/
Do you know how many people think because they have a hybrid they don’t have oil. I’d much rather be called a dumbass for not knowing make/model/year on a random “ev’s” than someone destroying their car. So yes, I will do this till I become the meme and the “ev’s don’t require any maintenance” meme dies.
Uninformed speculation: they need oil changes, but aren’t in the regular service so it will break down, causing costly repairs or forcing you to buy a new one. The planned obsolescence is baked right in.
The motors are sealed and will last long beyond drivetrain warranty periods (which is 8 years, 120k miles on Model 3/Y). Battery packs do have a coolant that is intended to last the life of the vehicle, though I’ve heard of it being drained/replaced after maintenance where someone had failed valves in the coolant system.
ICE vehicles break down far faster, requiring loads more maintenance and parts replacement over their lives, even when properly maintained. More moving parts, more friction, more points of failure.
My man, change your drivetrain oil. Call me old fashioned but vehicles should last longer than 8 years. This “lifetime transmission” stuff is hogwash. I have a 5 year old ICE car that I plan on changing it’s transmission oil and filter…in about 3 years.
Your drivetrain is made out of actual materials. Not some marvel movie space metal. It will shed some metal into the oil when it moves. You don’t want to drive around with grit soap for lube.
Dude, this is utterly ridiculous nonsense and no one should be having their Tesla motor drive units cracked open to change lubricants. Not only does it void the 120k mile warranty, but it proves you have no experience with them.
You may as well be telling me to have my rear diff rebuilt on an MX-5 after 10,000 miles.
It’s different from a normal car though because you don’t need to change it as often if you even need to change it at all
if you even need to change it at all
Every car oil needs to be changed eventually. Even “lifetime” transmission fluid really just means “it’ll last until it’s out of warranty and no longer our [the manufacturer’s] problem anymore.”
Yep. Had a 2012 Sentra with 150k KMs (close to 100k miles) wanted to check transmission fluid - no dipstick! Wtf? Dealer says not serviceable - f you Nissan.
Yeah but I may not own the car long enough to ever have to change it was my point
I stopped believing their shit when I took my car for an oil change the week after the cabin air filter was changed (confirmed visually).
I’ll be damned if I didn’t have a bad cabin air filter that needed replacing.
