Dear Friends and Customers,

As I sit down to write this, the stock market has taken a pause in its free fall, but the future of our economy for at least the next several years appears less than brilliant.

Economic realities being what they are, it’s probably not the best time to buy a new car. The good news is that most of the cars built in the last few decades are designed to last, with proper maintenance, much longer than the cars of previous generations. It’s not unusual for a well-made car to go 200,000 miles. The big IF here is 200k with the proper maintenance.

Auto manufacturers are in the business of selling cars. While they like their cars to last long enough to ensure their reputation, they don’t really want them to last too long; they make more profit if you buy another of their products as soon as reasonably possible.

Another manufacturer consideration is that low maintenance sells. If they convince you that maintenance on their vehicle is an infrequent and minor cost, not only are you more likely to buy it, but you’ll be replacing it sooner. For them, this is a win-win. My job, on the other hand, is to help you keep your car healthy and reliable for as long as possible. So I’m devoting this issue to maintenance.

One article will be on fluids, why to change them and how often. This is the most important thing you can do to extend the life of your vehicle.

Marty Kaliski

Another will be on the difference between a tune-up and a scheduled service. The third will be on how to get the best gas mileage out of your vehicle. I hope this information will be helpful. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call us. We’re here to serve you.

     Marty

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Marty's Message Fluids & Vehicle Health Tune- Ups VS. Scheduled Services Getting The Best Gas Mileage You Can

Fluids & Vehicle Health

Your car or truck uses 4 basic fluids (not counting gas): motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and power steering fluid. They are required to keep your vehicle system operating, and all need regular changing.

Motor Oil: This is the most important fluid to change regularly if you want your vehicle to have a long life. It not only lubricates all the internal parts of your engine, but it also helps keep them clean. It contains detergents that wash dirt and sludge off the parts. If the dirt or metal particles are big enough, they collect in the oil filter. If not, they stay in the oil.

The oil collects other impurities. When your engine is cold, it does a bad job of burning gasoline. Gas only burns well as a vapor. When that vapor hits cold engine parts, it turns into liquid, which ends up in your oil. The mixing of water, gasoline, and gas combustion by-products under heat creates sulfuric acid, which is highly corrosive. It will eat your engine from the inside, eventually destroying bearings, seals, and more. Modern oil contains additives to neutralize the acid, but they get used up doing their job. Changing oil not only gets rid of the dirt and other by-products, but also renews the acid neutralizers and detergents.

How often should you change your oil? If a significant part of your driving is long trips (1/2 hour or more) the heat your engine builds up will help drive out the gasoline and water accumulating in your oil. When the engine gets hot enough, they turn back into vapors and get sucked into the engine's combustion chambers and get burned. If this is the sort of driving you do, you can use the manufacturer's specified intervals for oil changes. If, however, you drive mostly short trips (to BART, the store, etc.), like many people, then it is important to change your oil every three months, even if you have driven under 1,000 miles.

Brake fluid: To understand the importance of good brake fluid it is necessary to understand how a hydraulic system works. Fluids are non-compressible. This means when you step on the brake pedal the pressure you’re applying is distributed equally (regulated by some valves) throughout the system. Step on the brake pedal and you are pressing on the wheel cylinders and the calipers.

This whole system goes out the window if any gas (including air or water vapor) gets into the system. Gas compresses. When this situation occurs, stepping on the brake pedal compresses the gas instead of putting pressure on the brake parts.

Brake fluid is pretty amazing stuff. The components in a brake system can reach a temperature of 5,000° and even at that temperature, good brake fluid doesn’t boil. This amazing stuff does have one weakness — it absorbs water. When it has absorbed too much water, the water will precipitate out and then can boil, or change into gas. This is one of the major causes of brake fade coming down a hill or a mountain. The water can also create rust inside the brake system, leading to a failure of the brake wheel cylinders and calipers. Brake fluid also gets dirty. It has been estimated that as much as 80% of brake master cylinder failures are due to dirty brake fluid. The estimated interval for changing brake fluid, under normal use, is every two years.

Coolant: The main reason coolant has to be changed is that it becomes acidic as a result of electrochemical action within your engine,. It eventually becomes so acidic that it will eat parts of the cooling system, such as your radiator and heater core. Fresh antifreeze comes with buffers to neutralize that acid. When you simply drain the radiator without flushing it, you change only about half of the acidic antifreeze. We use a special machine to flush all the antifreeze and replace it with recycled antifreeze. Recycled antifreeze has all the impurities removed, new buffers and rust inhibitors, and its freeze point adjusted to 32 degrees making it just as good as new antifreeze, without creating any hazardous waste. The recommended interval for coolant changing is every two years.

"Tune-up" is probably the most misused word in the automotive vocabulary. The discounted "tune up" you may see advertised is often a set of spark plugs, maybe an air filter and see what else they can sell you. For other shops a "tune-up" is a full service. Car owners are often unclear about what to expect from a "tune-up". Many assume that if their car is running poorly a "tune-up" will cure their problem. These people will frequently be disappointed.

The modern motor vehicle no longer goes out of tune. There are no longer ignition points to wear out. The computer usually controls the timing and the fuel mixture. When a modern vehicle starts running poorly it means that something has worn out, gotten plugged up or failed. Something will need to be replaced or cleaned to get that vehicle running properly again.

There has been so much confusion about "tune-ups" that the government has come in with their own definition. Being government however, they got it all wrong. Their definition is restoring the vehicle to its original operating specifications! On many vehicles, that would require replacing the whole engine!!!

We at Marty’s Motors have found that with all this confusion about "tune-ups", we don’t even use the term. We talk about either regular or scheduled services.

A regular service is one that we recommend you have done at a specific interval, i.e. annually or biannually, taking into account your particular vehicle usage pattern. See my article on fluids and you will see one of the reasons why we want to see your vehicle at regular intervals. Another reason is to replace parts that wear out or get plugged up regularly, like filters or spark plugs. The last and possibly best reason for us to see your vehicle regularly is to give us a chance to spot things that are getting ready to fail before they leave you stranded. Since we regard this as our most important service, I’m including in this newsletter a coupon for a free preventative maintenance checklist with every repair.

A scheduled service is a service recommended by the manufacturer at a specific mileage or date interval, i.e.: 30,000 miles or two years. These services will be listed in your vehicle owner’s manual. While looking at these charts in your owner’s manual, note the definitions of regular and severe driving. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or stop by with your owner's manual.

Getting the Best Gas Mileage You Can

As gas prices continue to escalate, most of us want to stretch our gas dollars as far as possible. Here are a few tips to help:

1: KEEP YOUR TIRES PROPERLY INFLATED: Buy a good tire pressure gauge, one with a dial or digital readout. The skinny pencil shaped ones tends to be inaccurate, and the ones at the gas station are often damaged or worn to inaccuracy. Check your owner’s manual or call the dealer to get recommended tire pressures, then look on the sidewall of your tire for its recommended pressures, e.g. 28-36 psi. I recommend using the highest recommended tire pressure acceptable to both the vehicle manufacturer and the tire manufacturer. The ride may be a little harsher, but you’ll get better mileage and a safer ride as well, as cars generally handle better and steer easier with higher tire pressure.

Note: All of the Ford and Firestone tread separation problems that you have been hearing about occurred when tire pressures were low.

2: DRIVE GENTLY:
Every time you push the gas pedal to the floor, your gas consumption goes up dramatically. Make sure your car is in the right gear. An engine that is straining or racing is not only wasting gas, but wearing out prematurely. Watch the road ahead to see if you will need to slow down.

3: SERVICE YOUR VEHICLE REGULARLY AND BRING IT IN IF IT IS RUNNING POORLY:
A vehicle with just one misfiring cylinder can be sending 25% of its gas out of the tailpipe unburned. That is _ of your gas that's not doing anything! You might as well be burning your money.

4: USE THE LOWEST OCTANE GAS YOU CAN USE WITHOUT YOUR ENGINE KNOCKING:
Octane is purely a measure of the ability of the gas to resist knocking or pinging. It has nothing to do with how much power it produces. As a vehicle gets older and the engine gets more worn out, you can often use lower octane gas. Pinging and knocking will let you know if you’ve gone too far. Try half a tank of the next lower octane gas, and listen to your engine. If you hear pinging or knocking (a sound like shaking a can of marbles) when accelerating on going up a hill, fill the rest of the tank with the higher octane gas you’re used to. Also check your owner’s manual for the recommended octane.

Next newsletter coming soon!

last update July 23/02
Inkyslay Productions