Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
I can practically spit into Canada from here. It gets cold. They spread lots of salt. Things rust out. It can be tough on batteries, but my '94 F150 still sports the OEM battery!  It's on its 2nd serpentine belt (can't remember why I changed it), 2nd air filter (could have left it but changed it out of guilt), OEM plug wires, 2nd set of plugs, 3rd set of tires, OEM brakes except for a couple rusted out hard lines, OEM exhaust, 2nd windshield (thanks for the shower of gravel outta the landscaping truck, retard from Ohio  ), all OEM cooling system parts i.e. hoses, radiator, water pump; flushed and refilled it once , one new tailgate cable, replaced one (or was it two?) headlight bulbs... and on other vehicles too, I don't have to change stuff out <5 years.
How much of that pickup would have been replaced several times over by now (18 years!) by someone that loves to fix things that aren't broken?
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One year old pics... not a complete POS yet... |
But Frank, isn't that just testimony how well parts and truck are made, so that one can skip with service and it does not cause issues?
I think it is better to replace parts bit more often than wait them to fail, only issue I have is that manufacturers are no longer giving information from individual part's designed life as everything has designed life and if replaced at that schedule car is just like new after 30 years, well almost.
When I replace parts, I don't throw old ones away, most have still bit of life left so if wallet is really thin I can use short time those old parts until wallet becomes normal again. Also some parts like brake calipers are possible to refurbish and don't need to buy more than one extra set, when old ones start to leak or stick, then swap one from shelf and refurb set taken out from car.
Old timing belt can be then used for many other things, one can make a tool from it etc.
That is good reason to learn service car by yourself of course.
Regarding to air filter, my car's filter is again in poor condition, need to wash it, for some reason it gets really dirty in one year and it has really lot less airflow. Another car does not get dirty filter for years, it stays clean and flows well. Replacement intervals are around same for these cars, there one is too often, one is almost too rarely.
Volvo 850 had really long air filter change interval originally, that caused even engines to wear out, can't remember if they changed that interval, but compression test did show issues with many of those cars and air filters were really shot so that there was unfiltered air going past filter.
I would be careful with rubber parts though, especially timing belt as it is quite expensive thing if that fails.
Rust is perhaps number 1 killer of older cars here too, too much salt.
I think that your truck could use new headlights, that is if you drive in dark, I would guess that you have 50% or less of original illuminating power, I have replaced headlights from two of my cars and for one it was similar to your truck, improvement to lights was really incredible. Reflector gets dark with age and is eating the light. If reflector is metal, it can be coated again of course, but it is whole story by itself.
Most of my driving is during dark hours, so having good lights is quite important for me, of course different if driving mostly at daylight.