Vehicle Maintenance

[flm_savage]

I will never understand why some people don't maintain their vehicles. this was on a company truck my friend was driving. I decided to check the filter since i was bored and tired of waiting on him to fill the truck up with diesel. This is on a 2003 ford 7.3L
the seconds picture is what i could knock out. DISGUSTING!!! uke:

 

[Cupooterluvr]

Damn I'm surprised that truck even ran at all.

 

[marauder]

Sir, this is your air filter and this is what a new filter looks like. Would you like me to replace your filter for $14.99....

 

[nitrogator]

just think what the oil looks like "tar".man he needs some major maint.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

It's purely disgusting. It embarrasses the human race when someone doesn't take care of a vehicle like that when it's their own vehicle. It's much worse when someone is getting to drive a vehicle free of charge and they can't even take care of it. What's so bad is that he probably wouldn't even have to pay for the air filter, yet the employees are still too lazy to change it. Because of someone being too lazy, it will probably cost the owner of the company 15 grand to replace the engine eventually. The owner can't just grow the money, so the cost of the products and services that the company makes gets passed on to the consumer. Think about how much of our tax money gets wasted on state vehicles that are poorly maintained, and how much the cost is effected by companies constantly having to replace equipment because it hasn't been maintained. With a family that owns a rather large construction equpment, we see stuff like this all of the time, and often have to fire employees because we can't keep up with the equpiment that they destroy.

 

[SMaxxin]

His company should have a better maintenance program for their equipment! They should have a maintenance person to make sure it is taken care of.

 

[itsalifeworthliving]

YOU SAID YOU DONT UNDER STAND WHY.. well, i am the king of not maintianing my automobiles. i run them untill they dont start. then my mechanic will come pic up my car, fix it and give me my bill. and right off the bat, your probly thinking thats got to be expensive. its not. and i hardly ever see my mechanic. dont even know his name. most of the time it is a sensor or the airfilter is packed or something silly. it cost maybe $200 to get it fixed. its cheaper then doing all that preventive maintonance. oh, thats right, i go thru cars quite often..!NOT!.. i live out in the country, so every where is far. i like to buy a car at around 40,000 miles and dont get rid of it untill at least 200,000 miles. and yes i sell them cheap but they always run. if i have a car break down once every 2 years, its alot. becouse of my maintonace habbits, i can't buy an american car. they sadly just dont hold up. i do however change the oil.. about every 15-20,000 miles.. i might have to add a quart or so somewhere in the middle. I'm no dummy. i know what they say. fix it before it breaks.uhhhhm.NO! unless it was a ford, I've never had to do any major auto repairs, and I've never had a car break down any where else but my driveway. and like i said. they dont really break down. they just keep going. i didnt think of this all by myself eather. my brother is the same way. and so is mom and dad. i can't see myself ever changing my ways unless i start to have a problem with it. hopefully this answers your "i dont understand why" question. i do have a car that is maintained like clock work wether i drive it or not. it gets serviced couse i plan on keeping it forever. OK. I'm STANDING TALL FOR THE HAZINGS.. LET IT BEGIN.. :surrender

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Its a company car. You should see how badly i treat my crown vic. If it breaks i just bring it to the fleet yard and check out another police car. Its fun to break down because we get to check out the new chargers and magnums and tahoe's all decked out with lights for us to play with. But in the end i miss my ole crown and drop off the loaner and pick her up.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I know I'm different, I'm one of those people that doesn't like my RC's to be caked up with dirt for years and when I sell one, I do my best to make sure it looks as if it just came out of the box. It's really paid off too. Both of the RC's I sold in the last month, sold withint five minutes of me stating that they were for sale, and I got a very good price for each of them. Smaxxin, you're exactly right. They should have a maintenance person checking that stuff, and the superintendent should make sure that they're keeping up with the routine maintenance.

 

[insomniak]

I'm with itsalifeworthliving drive it like u stole it its just transportation !now my bike it gets polished and maintained but like he said i plan to keep it.cars r like bic lighters to me run em til they quit and get another one!

 

[marauder]

Here ya go Charlie...
http://www.miataturbo.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21521

 

[robmob]

Damn.

The driver needs a foot in his ass to dislodge his head.

My company has 2 full time maintenance guys. All I have to do is give them a memo and they take care of whatever my company car needs.

It is up to me to let them know when routine maintenance is required. After all, I am the one driving it.

 

[SMaxxin]

Damn.

The driver needs a foot in his ass to dislodge his head.

My company has 2 full time maintenance guys. All I have to do is give them a memo and they take care of whatever my company car needs.

It is up to me to let them know when routine maintenance is required. After all, I am the one driving it.

I used to be a pm guy for a company and we had a similar set up. The only difference is I kept a schedule for all of the vehicles/equipment and if the operator didn't get their vehicles/equipment on time I would give them a reminder.

Most people driving a company vehicle don't really worry about it, they just put gas and drive.

 

[itsalifeworthliving]

just becouse you dont change the oil and pay your mechanics mortgage with useless repairs and unneeded mantonance doesn't meen you drive a hunk of junk. my cars are as spotless as my rc's and it may not cost as much as some of those hotrods out there. the point is "I" dont feel it to be important. i'd rather spend 3 hours washing my rims then pay some minumum wage "tech" who always messis with my seat to change the oil and tell me how much $ i need to spend per year to keep my "whip" running. please.. you now how much money the state wastes on over paid fleet mechanics? ALOT! they dont get any extra life span out of those trucks. if you have ever been to a goverment auction you wont see a goverment vehicle over 150,000 miles. couse they sell them dirt cheap. and replace with brand new ones !BEFORE! THEY BREAK DOWN.. so a $50,000 per year certified mechanic can change oil, replace o2 sensors and plug tires.. oh ya. and he has a superintendent waching over him so he doesn't screw it up. but hey, what do i know. I'm just another happy jackass living care free in my own little world.

 

[flm_savage]

i am just a stickler for preventive maintenance. I have a company truck and it gets an oil change every 5K, new fuel filter every 10K and a new air filter every 15K. I just like knowing i have done all i can to ensure the vehicle lasts as long as possible. If i was the owner of the company, i wouldn't want any "gas-n-go" employee's. I think the little things you do speak to your character as well. Generally speaking, people who are sloppy in one area of their life will be sloppy in others. If you don't care enough about the company to take care of a free vehicle, then i don't need you around. Maybe i was brought up different but i believe in taking care of things whether or not they are yours. I'm not saying you can't beat up on things, but take care of them after. With rc's i easily spend 3-4x more time cleaning and workin on them than i actually do driving them.

to each his own.

 

[NitroNewb]

I gotta say, I'm with Charlie on this one. Especially now that I have kids. They learn by example. My oldest (15) just bought his first truck and he has taken over the maintenance on most things here at home. From the weedwacker to the computer. Everything needs to be maintained. It's just the right thing to do. You brush your teeth to prevent cavities, you trim your toe nails, wipe your butt and you change oil and filters when needed. Maintenance shouldn't be something that's up for debate. You do it because it's the right thing to do!! Just about everything in this life NEEDS to be maintained. From the Brooklyn bridge to Lil Andrettis Revo to that marines M16.

 

[flm_savage]

that marines M16.

i don't miss cleaning those.

spend 4 days cleaning it and then they take a q-tip into every crevice. one speck and you fail.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Well I'm an exception because I actually built my first vehicle from the frame up over a four year period, while working to pay for a lot of the parts myself, and putting a lot of blood sweat and tears into it. I don't pay my mechanic's mortgage either, I do most of it myself. I think once you've put that much time and love into something, it means a lot more. I agree, I don't pay my mechanic's mortgage either, I do all that I can myself. But I think a lot of it comes down to what we care about and how we were raised. Not saying either way is bad, just different.

 

[olds97_lss]

...change the oil.. about every 15-20,000 miles.. i might have to add a quart or so somewhere in the middle. I'm no dummy. i know what they say. fix it before it breaks.uhhhhm.NO! unless it was a ford....

Huh... yeah... I'm the guy that does pay for my mechanics mortgage. I wrack up about 33K a year on my cars and I've found that if it has less than 8 cyl, it isn't going to make it to 100K without something major blowing on me.

The only non-8cyl car that did was an 89 hyundai with a 4cyl 5 speed. Most gutless ugly POS you ever saw, but it died at 154K because I hit a k-rail doing 55. It still drove home 50 miles! Granted, it was seriously out of line (melting tires, smoking, arms exhausted), but it made it. All my other cars (dodge 6cyl, olds 6cyl, toyota 4cyl, honda 4cyl, ford 4cyl) all had serious $1000K+ issues before I hit 100K. One actually needed the engine replaced at 70K (olds), another needed a new $3000 trans at 80K (dodge).

I religiously change my oil every 2500 miles, change my fuel/air filters every 15-20K, flush the trans at every 40K... to no avail, all of them died. All but my last car, 98 mercury grand marquis. 164K and I've spent a total of $400 on it in unexpected maintenance in 4 years 140K miles. $250 of which just today! I just bought a 06 mercury grand marquis... hopefully it treats me as good as my last one (that my wife is now driving).

It may not matter, but at least I know I give them my best shot at living a long and trouble free life.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Not only that, but you can be proud of the way that you take care of your vehicles.