DIY Maintenance Long-Term Road Tests Archives

Yes, that's fearless leader Scott Oldham standing under our 2011 Ford Mustang GT with a wrench in his hand. Our Rotary lift and the prospect of not havng to roll around on the concrete and mess up one of his "meeting" shirts was enough to lure him out of the office for a little DIY routine maintenance.

Draining the oil was easy enough thanks to our new elevated drain pan with its own tank and wheels. But such fancy tools are not required. There's nothing particularly difficult about the Mustang from a basic driveway maintenance standpoint.

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Categories: 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0,DIY Maintenance

It doesn't get any easier than this. Changing the oil in our 2012 Jeep Wrangler requires no floor jack, no jackstands -- just my trusty drain pan, a funnel, and a wrench each for the drain plug and oil filter.

This is a sub ten minute job if you're not taking pictures. Next time I bet I can do it in five.

Step One: You know the drill; crawl under, position pan, lefty loosey, drain plug out, glug glug. If you can avoid dropping the drain plug into the pan you won't even need any gloves.

And this drain plug has a rubber seal built in to it, so there's no washer to lose -- or replace.

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Categories: 2012 Jeep Wrangler,DIY Maintenance

As promised, our 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost had it's first oil change ahead of schedule. The manual says the first change could have waited until 7,500 to 10,000 miles showed on the clock. The actual number would depend on what the oil life monitor had to say about our collective driving habits.

We decided that maybe the oil life monitor doesn't know how to handle our track test procedure. We decided that maybe we should try out Blackstone Labs' advice, which suggests an early first (and maybe second) oil change to get the inevitable break-in residue out of there. They're fine with the extended oil change intervals and oil life monitors, but take a conservative approach when it comes to the break-in period.

So at 3,166 miles we withdrew an oil sample for analysis and changed the oil and filter. 

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Categories: 2012 Ford Explorer XLT EcoBoost,DIY Maintenance

Something like 14 U.S. states do not issue or require front license plates, but California isn't one of them. I prefer to run around without, but our cars spend a lot of time parked parallel on the streets of west LA and Santa Monica, where meter maids cruise around in trendy hybrids looking for any excuse to whip out their ticket books and start issuing.

Having spent 7 years in Arizona, one of the enlightened states that doesn't have front plates, I hadn't noticed the missing plate on the nose of our 2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon until I loaded some stuff in the back and found it laying next to the front bracket in the underfloor storage bin.

Reluctantly, and with a hint of sadness, I dug out a 10mm socket and a Phillips screwdriver and got to work.

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Categories: 2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon,DIY Maintenance

I was replacing the front brake pads on the 2004 Toyota Pruis when my son walked by and said, "I'm not good at mechanical things." That set me off. I told him to put on a pair of gloves and help me. Our arrangement was simple: I drank coffee and told him what to do; he did all the bending, lifting and tightening. It was a beautiful relationship. 

The brake job was a piece of cake, especially after I read Dan Edmunds' excellent DIY piece about changing the pads on the 2009 Ford Flex. When we got the old pads out I took a picture to show that there was still some life in them. The guy at the Toyota dealership said he had seen some Prius owners doing brakes after 90k miles. The regenerative braking system saves wear on the braking system and this translates to cost savings for the owner.

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Categories: 2004 Toyota Prius,DIY Maintenance

In our last episode, Blackstone Laboratories suggested we change the oil now rather than wait until the oil life monitor told us to. Why? Our 2010 GMC Terrain is still new-ish, and Blackstone saw a few more residual break-in metals than they'd like to see in a sample of our current oil.

That gave me an excuse to try something I'd had in mind for a while: a stand-up or, as I like to call it, a "Top Kill" oil change. Instead of diving deep under the sea car, I'm going to do the whole job topside, from right under the hood.

This works because the GMC Terrain's 2.4-liter Ecotec engine has a cartridge-style oil filter. On top of that, Edmunds co-conspirator Phil Reed lent me his vacuum oil extractor. 

Follow the jump to see a video of the process.

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Categories: 2010 GMC Terrain,DIY Maintenance

Just over a week ago, I took an oil sample from our 2010 GMC Terrain and sent it to Blackstone Labs in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for analysis. Our GMC's built-in oil life monitor was telling us that the oil could last something like 10,000 or 11,000 miles, so I pulled 3 ounces from the crankcase when the oil had 5,731 miles under its belt (and the engine had 15,000-odd miles) to see what the oil had to say for itself.

In short, Blackstone told us we should change the oil sooner rather than later -- within the next thousand miles. Not every time, mind you, but this time, at least.

I talked to Ryan Stark of Blackstone Labs to understand why they're telling us this. Those are my scribbled notes, not his. 

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Categories: 2010 GMC Terrain,DIY Maintenance

The last time a dealer laid hands on our 2010 GMC Terrain, they put a sticker on the windshield reminding us to come in for our next change at 3,000 miles or 3 months. Wrong!

Modern cars and the modern oils they run don't need such frequent changes. And this very GMC Terrain has a built-in oil life monitor that tells the driver exactly when the next change is due, right on the dash. And the calculation it makes is based on driving style and conditions, not straight time or mileage. Our dealer's scare tactics are nothing more than attempt to get into our wallet.

At the same moment our Terrain's oil was 4,000 miles old -- 1,000 miles past the dealer's "recommendation" -- the Terrain's own on-board oil life monitor was telling us the oil still had 60% of its life left. In other words, a 10,000 mile oil-change interval was going to be cool. 

Since then, the Terrain has been on some easygoing road trips. With 5,731 miles on the oil, the oil life monitor now says the oil has 48% of its life left. The projected oil life is up over 11,000 miles because of our recent light-duty use.

But does the oil life monitor really have things all figured out? Will this oil still have what it takes 5,000 miles from now?

I decided to pull a sample and send it to a laboratory for analysis. Blackstone Labs in Fort Wayne, Indiana will do it for between $25 and $35.

The standard $25 test tells you how your engine is doing, based on an analysis of the metal and "insolubles" in the sample. A worthwhile option is the $10 TBN or Total Base Number test. This is the test that measures properties related to oil life.

It's clear that we have time on our side. Before we change our Terrain's oil, we're going to send a sample in for a TBN test. Here's how we pulled the sample you see above.

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Categories: 2010 GMC Terrain,DIY Maintenance

This GM Goodwrench maintenance reminder sticker appears on the windshield of our 2010 GMC Terrain. As you can see, it's telling us that the next service is due at 12,615 miles or Sep. 30th, (whichever comes first, presumably), at which time we'll need to change-out the 5W30 motor oil.

I asked Mike to check our records, "When was the last oil change?"

"June 30th at 9,615 miles," said Mike.

You don't need a calculator to figure out that works out to EXACTLY 3 months or 3,000 miles.

I glanced at the odometer. It read 13,636 miles, just about 1,000 miles over. We've got just over 4,000 miles on this oil. Mr. Goodwrench will not be pleased.

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Categories: 2010 GMC Terrain,DIY Maintenance

Here's why our 2009 Ford Flex started emitting brake-grindy noises. You're looking at the inside pad from the right-rear disc brake. Sure, there's some material left, but these pads run into the rivets that hold the friction material in place before they go into full metal-to-metal mode.

Thing is, these rivets are the only pad-wear indicator. The Flex's rear brakes don't have the usual scratchy clip that's designed to emit an obvious high-pitched squeal while doing no harm to the rotor. OK, these rivets make a sound, but it's a subtle grinding, and the grinding is the rotor crying out for help as it's being torn to shreds by the rivet heads. By the time you hear it, it's probably going to be too late. Pads that look like this mean bad news for the rotor.

Regular visual inspections can of course avoid this, but you have to remove a wheel because you can't see the inside pad (this one) through the spokes. And on this car the inside rear pads wear much quicker than the outside ones. We've learned that it's something that Ford Freestyle owners often complained about, and since the Flex is more or less riding on the Freestyle's chassis, it shares this quirk. Furthermore, when the rotor gets trashed as ours was, the hidden inner face will be the one that suffers the damage. The visible outer face doesn't show it.

Why does the inside wear out quicker? Probably has something to do with the self-adjusting parking brake that's built into the rear calipers. It's designed to keep the piston face close so the foot-operated parking brake pedal always grabs early, within a few clicks. But this may keep the inner pad too close, where it can rub ever so slightly all the time. On top of this, the caliper has a bulky and semi-rigid parking brake cable attached to it, which may impede the free sliding action of the caliper. That's my theory, anyway. 

But enough of that. Let's see how I got this pad out and restored the rear brakes to fighting shape.

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Categories: 2009 Ford Flex Limited,DIY Maintenance

By now you've heard all about the front brakes on our 2009 Ford Flex Limited. Amazingly, the front brake pads have lasted over 60,000 miles, and there's still a bit more meat left. But the rotors have developed too much "disc thickness variation" or DTV. It's not warping from overheating -- we wouldn't have surpassed 60k with such hard use. No, this moderately-driven family-mobile has a classic case of cold judder, high spots on the rotor built ever-higher by gradual pad material transfers.

One way this can happen begins with rotors that start off with imperceptible high spots, and then spend their lives in a driving pattern that's dominated by long freeway drives with infrequent brake use. You know -- road trips. Our Flex is the go-to road trip vehicle around here, so it's been on more than its fair share of them.

Anyway, over time the retracted pads can start to lightly brush the tops of those high spots, and a minute amount of pad material transfers to the disc. The high spots get a little higher and the deposition cycle repeats. Then, at some point, the driver lightly applies the brakes on a freeway off-ramp and gets a handful of steering wheel shake for his trouble. Some of the deposits wear off, so the shaking doesn't persist around town. But the high spots got a little higher in the process, so the same thing happens again -- easier this time -- over the next long-haul open-road stretch. The subsequent shaking while braking gets more noticeable over time. We've been living with this on-and-off for the last 10,000 miles or so.

But we've had enough. It's time for new pads and rotors. Yeah, rotors can be machine-turned on a lathe, but when you're done they're thinner and have less remaining thermal mass. If the price is right, I'd much rather install new ones. Doing it myself allows me to divert the labor savings into the cost of new parts. And I can't turn a rotor myself, but I can bolt-on a new one. Besides, 60,000 miles is a good run for a rotor.

On top of all that, changing front pads and rotors is deceptively easy on most mainstream cars -- easy enough to be enjoyable. Our Flex is no exception. Jump to the next page to see my Ford Flex brake pad and rotor change walkaround.

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Categories: 2009 Ford Flex Limited,DIY Maintenance

With over 55,000 miles on the clock, our 2009 Ford Flex has had its oil changed many times. But we've never done the job ourselves ... until now. The above video says it all, but here's a summary of the lessons learned.

1) Don't be tempted by the discounted price of those 5-liter (5.28 quart) jugs of oil. The tallness of the jug makes them very hard to pour without spillage. Same goes for the sheer weight of the thing and the way the oil glugs out of the spout. Also, if your car takes, say, 4 quarts of oil, it'd be very easy to overfill. Save yourself the trouble and stick with 1-quart bottles.

2) The genuine Ford Motorcraft oil filter I bought has a weird fluted end that isn't compatible with the socket-style oil filter wrenches I have in my tool box -- they don't slip on. So I was forced to use one of those hateful band-type wrenches. As you'll see above, it was a royal pain in the butt, made worse because the last oil-change mechanic really king-konged the old filter on there. Even though I'm sure Ford (or Snap-On) sells a special service tool that fits, I won't be buying another filter with a fluted end like that again.

3) The oil drain plug is nearly horizontal, so the escaping oil really jets out of there. You'll need to brush up on ballistics theory to place the drain pan in the right spot to avoid a driveway tragedy. But even after the oil slows to a dribble, the pan is still too far away from the filter drip zone to collect both streams at once. I had to re-install the drain plug before I could attack that filter.

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 55,568 miles or thereabouts  

Categories: 2009 Ford Flex Limited,DIY Maintenance

The "Maint Reqd" light came on in our 2004 Toyota Prius a few days ago. Turns out the only Maint that light Reqds is an oil change.

It's a sunny day and I need some driveway time. Let's do this. And we'll turn off that poorly abbreviated light while we're at it, too. [Why couldn't the light simply say "Oil Change"? No guesswork reqd.]

And check out the weird noises the Prius makes while it sits parked. This car may help me realize my dream of becoming a Foley artist.

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 68,986 miles

Categories: 2004 Toyota Prius,DIY Maintenance

Just before the holidays our 2009 Suzuki SX4 started to intermittently display brake system warning light. This indicator happens to be red and federal safety regulations reserve this color for Serious Business such a brake system problems or air bag faults, so this is not a "live with it" situation.

The light routinely comes on when the parking brake is engaged as a reminder to release the brake before driving off. I check to see if the switch near the parking brake handle was faulty, but that was a dead end.

Next stop: under the hood for a look at the master cylinder... 

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Categories: 2009 Suzuki SX4,DIY Maintenance

Call it a case of killing two birds with one stone. Our 2009 Suzuki SX4 was due for an oil change. I have been encouraged to make more use of video in my posts. Why not document the oil change process on video?

Well, I don't have any experience with video editing software and the only software I have is MovieMaker, the Microsoft default that came on my PC. My "video camera" is nothing more than a mode in my small Canon ELPH point-and-shoot still camera.

But, what the heck. I do have a couple of tripods and the weather is good on this dead-of-winter SoCal morning.

So I trotted down to the local auto parts store for 5 quarts of oil and a new filter. Cost me $28.21.

I was going to add narration, but that seemed time-consuming and I decided the background sounds were interesting in their variety and the ELPH's little built-in mic picked them up reasonably well. I do need to figure out how to muffle the wind noise for next time, however.

Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 20,052 miles

Categories: 2009 Suzuki SX4,DIY Maintenance

You may or not know that I recently got a new cell phone, an iPhone 3GS. Now, instead of carrying around two devices, a phone and an iPod, I need only one. Additionally, I get to see how the various cars we test interact with the newest version of the most popular smartphone on the market.

It didn't take long to find a hiccup. Our 2009 Ford Flex exhibited a little quirk when paired to this phone. But a 2010 Lincoln MKT I drove this week, essentially a dressed-up version of the same car, had no such problems with the same phone.

Can you spot the flaw in the photo below?

Continued after the jump.

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Categories: 2009 Ford Flex Limited,DIY Maintenance

You've already heard Mike's sad tale of the two botched oil changes our 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI has received from our local dealer under the Free Scheduled Maintenance program.

Taking time out to visit the dealer and sit in a waiting room is bad enough. Having to go back because they grossly overfilled the Jetta is worse. Enduring this on two consecutive "free" oil changes was simply too much. Your local dealer may not be this incompetent, but it seems that our local gives you what you pay for.

Enough of this. Time to take matters into our own hands. Mike is standing here like an Oktoberfest bar-maid with  5 bottles of the uber-trick TDI-spec oil ($7.95 each) and a new filter ($12) that he just bought at a different VW dealer.

The 5th bottle is a spare because 4 should be plenty. The Jetta TDI's oil-change capacity is 4.3 quarts with a filter change, but these are 1-liter bottles, equivalent to 1.05 quarts. 4 bottles is therefore 4.2 quarts, and that's close enough to 4.3 for me.

Mike and I have this plan to measure the oil that comes out to see how overfull this beast is. The Jetta TDI's cartridge oil filter is a welcome DIY bonus -- I've never dealt with one before. What better way to learn than on someone else's car.

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Categories: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI,DIY Maintenance

Midway through Part 1, we finished removing our 2009 Nissan 370Z's front brake pads and diverted you here. Now it's time to take the caliper off so we can get at the rotor. There's one simple rule associated with taking a caliper off for this purpose: don't break open any hydraulic lines!

In order to ensure that doesn't happen, the first thing to do is locate the rubber brake hoses and the hard brake lines and make a game plan. This is the first time I've worked on a 370Z, so we're learning this together.

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Categories: 2009 Nissan 370Z Touring,DIY Maintenance

We've already hinted that we changed the front brakes and rotors on our 2009 Nissan 370Z. The following shows you what we did. But why did we do it ourselves? a) it's easy, b) we like the whole DIY thing, and; c) it saves money.

We're using factory parts because this isn't a project car, and generally we want to test our long-term cars in their as-built condition. But the process is much the same with any other pads you choose to use.

Did I mention it's easy? It is. If you have the tools, it almost takes more time to read this than to actually do it.

Don't have a 2009 NIssan 370Z? Not to worry. A lot of this will apply, in general terms at least, to other brands of cars that have 4-piston fixed calipers and hat-style rotors.

There are too many pictures for one post, so I'm breaking this into a pad change (part 1) and a rotor change (part 2). In reality, the rotor change happens in the middle of the whole process, but I'll call that out when we get there.

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Categories: 2009 Nissan 370Z Touring,DIY Maintenance

It's time to change brake pads on our 2008 Subaru WRX STI. Thickness-wise, they might have squeaked-by for another 2,000 miles, but the low grumbling/grinding noise they've been making for the last month has been grating on us. Needless to say, they've had a hard life to this point.

Mike Magrath came over with a set of genuine replacement front brake pads for the Brembo 4-piston brakes found on our Subie. They'd cost $299.95 at our local Subaru dealer. Total damage with tax was $324.70.

As reported earlier, the rotors didn't appear to be in bad shape. Had the price been reasonable, we might have changed them anyway; they're a simple "hat" design and would have been easy to swap. But a price of $458 for just one rotor made us forget that idea in a hurry. Had we gone ahead with it, our total parts cost would have topped $1,300 before we ever turned a wrench. And that's just the front.

But the only wrenches we would turn were those needed to remove the tires. Changing pads on the STI's 4-piston fixed-caliper brakes is about as easy as it gets.

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Categories: 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI,DIY Maintenance