Should preventive car maintenance be based on mileage or number of months between visits?
By Cars & Motorcycles on Feb 05, 2009 with Comments 10
JustJill asked: My mechanic always gives me a sticker reminding me to bring my car in for maintenance after 3 months or 3000 miles. I do not drive much so after 3 months I am still 1500 miles under the suggested mileage for maintenance. Should I bring my car in every 3 months regardless of the mileage, or should I schedule my visits solely on the mileage?
Filed Under: Car Maintenance
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depends on how much you drive….months if you drive very little…..mileage if you drive a lot
I’d say use the mileage. The resulting interval is not that long. Now if you were only driving 3000 miles a year, I’d say use the time interval as your guide. So you’re driving about 3000 miles every six months and that should be just fine to service your car using that interval.
Depends. Do you do a lot of short trips and stop-and-go driving, or is most of your driving done on the freeway where your car gets a good chance to warm up? If you use your car mostly for short jaunts around town, it’s a good idea to have the maintenance done every three months, even if you don’t hit 3,000 miles. If you do mostly freeway driving and your car runs for 20 minutes or more at a time (average), you can actually get away with changing your oil every 6,000 miles as long as you drive your car on a regular basis.
Use the mileage. Remember that they do want your money and the three months is the fallback for that.
I work in the car industry and we recommend that our cars are serviced every 12 months or 12000 miles, which ever comes sooner. Different makes have different guide lines but this is generally accepted as the norm. Modern diesel engines may have longer mileage gaps betwen servicing but the time span is still 12 months.
Hope this helps
Rebecca
Typically your mechanic will tell you to do it based on whichever comes first. This is probably the easiest way to do it, while not admittedly the most cost-efficient.
It mostly depends on how you drive your car. An engine wears more in the first five minutes after it is started cold than it does in a 10,000 mile trip while warmed up.
That said, if you mostly have highway miles on your car, I wuold try for every 3,000-3,500 miles regardless of time. If you drive short, cold start trips in the city frequently, you wuold be better off to stick to the 3-month policy.
This is a difficult question, 3 months or 3000 miles means just what it states but a lot has to do with your driving habits, outside temperature and highway or city driving. If after 3 months you only have driven 1500 miles I would check the oils level and check just how dirty it is because you can drive in stop and start condition with the outside temperature very high and the oil will break down.
everything age. so go with the months instead of mileage.. also, it depend where you drive such as dusty or muddy road. newer vehicles such as Bmw,Porsche,mercedes has a built in computer that sense the driver condition,outside temperature,condition of weather,idle speed,how often you brake,etc.
Everything wears differently. Brake pads obviously are only going to wear when you use them. Belts, hoses, and tires are going to wear with time and use ie: dry rot. Fuel Filters, Air Filters will totally depend on the cleanliness of gas & air that goes through them. Spark plugs should wear with mileage, Whereas the rubber coated wires will wear with engine heat and time. It all depends on the use of the automobile.
3 months, 3000 miles sounds like an oil change. Check your oil yourself about twice a month, when it starts looking dirty change it. It doesn’t hurt your car to be a little late getting your oil changed from time to time. Personally I’d wait for 3000, but check it every few weeks to be safe.
It sounds like you don’t know that much about car mainttenance. Your mechanic is probably not going to suggest those 60k mile maintenance repairs so you should study your service manual to know what needs changing when. Most places when they “service” your car it means to change the oil check the air filter, and wiper blades. A lot of them claim to grease the suspension and steering systems under your car during your “service” but I don’t know any of them that actually do this.
beleive it or not oil will break down even with little use. you dont want to cook a bearing just because it wasnt time to go for a oil change. $30.00 isnt alot go at whatever comes first.