I’m aware that this is a shit post, buuuut I just want to point out if this was very old oil it would be black sludge. This oil looks contaminated. Probably with coolant. If we’re going to do a sexism let’s at least accurately identify the engine problem.
Yeah, that underside of an engine is way too spotless and clean to have driven the distance needed to break down engine oil.
Agreed with both of you.
That’s the classic “milkshake” color and is definitely from coolant.
I don’t understand how anyone can do this. If you’ve spent thousands on an asset that (in the USA) one relies on, surely you’d at least get it serviced once a year. I wonder what her house is like.
A lot of people are more irresponsible than you can possibly imagine, and, if you point that out to them, you are harming them.
When I met my wife she complained the car was often smokey and lacked power up hill.
First think I checked was oil level.
It had none.
So I asked when she had the oil changed last, and she replied with something like “Oil change? What’s that?”
That car got donated to the wrecker for tax receipt program.
She’s not good with details, but also never had a dad or car guy influence in her life to explain what maintenance was all about.
RTFM is a way of life. I’m not a car person by any means. I’m about as good at mechanics as fish are at cycling. I just read the manual, and do what it says, if I can. If not, I take the device to someone who can. Most devices come with documents made by intelligent, educated and experienced people who just want to help make it work.
Many people just throw instructions away. Have you seen IKEA returns. Much of that is people not following the pictures
Don’t you have mandatory inspections?
Nope. If you bought it new off a dealer they would nag you for maintenance. But if you bought private and were oblivious to maintenance needs there would be nobody reminding.
Personally I don’t get it, because I always want to know how stuff works or care info, but she saw it as an appliance. You run it till you call a repair person
A subculture of “the damn mechanic is always just trying to rip me off” will do that.
That’s kind of me because as someone who knows computers well and knows how computer repair places are, I can assume mechanics are the same. I usually plan to do my own repairs but I hate cars, am lazy, and rarely drive mine so I usually go way too long before just taking it in far later than I should have
edit: my car is 700km past when it should have had an oil change and the muffler is loose and bouncing around right now for example :)
Muffler is probable a.$20 fix, if you do it yourself. They hang them from what amounts to two really thick rubber bands. There are two hooks on the muffler and two on the car. That should stop the bouncing. Just ask auto zone for “muffler mounting bands.”
Here you are forced by law to get your car serviced periodically. Mechanics are known to try to rip you off every time.
Plus, I could easily raise the counter argument that if I spend thousands on a machine, it better be reliable without needing to get serviced all the time
I’m going to guess by here you mean Scotland (given your username). An MOT (annual inspection) is not a service. The inspection is just to ensure the car is road worthy. Oil and filter changes, for example, are not a part of it.
I do live in Scotland. And yeah, MOT just shows the vehicle is legally compliant. Could pass MOT and blow a piston the next day because it’s not had any oil put in for 10 years.
Plus, I could easily raise the counter argument that if I spend thousands on a machine, it better be reliable without needing to get serviced all the time
So I guess you never wash your expensive clothes? A vehicle is essentially a tool. And if a tool doesn’t get upkeep every once in awhile then it’s going to break. Why would anyone spend some people’s annual income on a tool and not treat it with care and give it proper upkeep so it lasts long enough to be worth spending that much money on?
i mean, you should change oil more than once a year…
Nah just run it once with out, then you just top up every other fill up no oil change needed
My car requires a service plus oil change every year or 10k miles, whichever comes first.
And you should cut that in half. 5k max. Auto Manufactures are only interested in your vehicle making it to the end warranty.
With fully synthetic oils, tighter tolerances, and cleaner running engines there are many cars that are easily going to make it to a year or 10k miles without serious degradation of the oil.
Things like tire rotations should still be done more often. And there are ways to check/test oil for degradation if you don’t believe manufacturer recommendations.
This is opposite from what I’ve heard. Dealerships make a killing on their service department, so they say you need oil change every 8k when in reality 10k is probably fine.
You can get away with changing it once a year as long as you rotate it every few months.
Lol, I can’t even process what I’m looking at.
Crude butter
Oil pan full of sludge, presumably because so much of the motor oil has burned off
It isn’t supposed to look like that?
Forbidden chocolate milk.
