Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 You're either going to fix that thing... 

photo source: mercurynews.com
Sometimes you just gotta get it done wherever you can.

Or you're not!

'Cause that thing definitely is not going to fix itself!

That is the simple reality of the situation.

I've been operating under the belief that I was going to be capable and willing to do whatever work would be needed to keep my cars in good shape.

This all came back to me as I've been looking at buying a late model, lightly used, family car. 

The idea was to find a low mileage car so that I would get a reprieve from any deferred maintenance and repair. 

Cars are expensive, that point came home to me pretty clearly. Now, I've got a three year old car with only 30,000 miles. It's got plenty of mileage left in it's first, original parts, life span. That's pretty low mileage. I was checking out a 2014 Mustang that had over 100,000 additional miles on it. That's the equivalent of ten years or more, of additional wear. Not to say that I wouldn't buy a car with that kind of mileage, but it was still over 11,000 dollars! I guess that's the reason that I buy the older, high mileage cars.

Pay the price, or do the work. Or pay someone else to do the work.

There is no other way.

You can manage the situation by limiting the number of cars that you own. That is probably the best course of action.

Regular services, inspections and maintenance can help prevent unexpected problems on the road.

After our sour experience, I told my Wife that I was going to start an accelerated program to catch up on deferred maintenance on the '07 vehicles, They are both at approx 150-160 thousand miles. While I bought both new, and I know how they have been treated, I can't say that they've received the best organized or systemic care. 

Even if I compare them with my '96 Mustang.

Both '07s are still on their original belts, hoses, transmission fluid, and filters.

Things like tires, brakes, and batteries have been replaced. Well, I forgot that my truck's battery was already four years old, it failed on me somewhat unexpectedly last month.

They are both due for full fluid changes as well as any other work that each specifically need.

My '96 Mustang was bought with approx. 155K on the clock, it's now reading 215K. Though it is older, many repairs and replacements have been done over the years that I've owned it. Approx 60 thousand miles over 10 years, though I've been remiss in saving all the receipts and work orders, I can still reel off the repairs done in the approx order. 

Heater and radiator hoses, including the hose that runs under the intake manifold. Thermostat and new coolant.

Idle air control valve,

A/C hose replacement and system recharge.

Transmission fluid and filter and due to leaks, rear transmission gaskets and seals, all done at once after the pan gasket replacement didn't cure the leaking. 

I've replaced two intake manifolds, the original, one from LMR, Late Model Restoration, and now with one from Rock Auto. With the second manifold I also replaced all the hoses, the thermostat, temperature sender, coolant, and serpentine belt.

Two gas tank filler grommets. One short lived one from LMR and the next, OEM Ford. 

Fuel pump.

Brakes, front and rear including rotors.

Front lower control arms. 

Coolant tank cap.

Recently I replaced the air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs (second time) ignition wires, and coil packs. 

Tires, wheels, a couple of batteries, a convertible top, and a cd player.

I need to keep track of my work, maintenance and repairs. I need to keep a record of inspections.

Most oil changing places aren't staffed by real mechanics. They don't look for things that they can't easily perform. The thermostat housing on my '07 Mustang was seeping coolant and looked like a piece of grey, extra crispy chicken, but it was never brought to my attention by the lube guys. 

The owner's manuals and shop manuals have a maintenance schedule that we can follow. I'm going to have to become more organized and thorough.

The basics have to be kept up, that's the only way to have a reliable car and avoid problems on the highway. 

This is going to take a commitment in time and money, and I'll phase it in.  I'm going to start a log book for each car and a folder to keep receipts. 

My '96 has been a pretty good example of a car that I've kept ahead of. It has only left me stranded twice. Once after I first got it and the heater hoses sprung a leak, and then when the fuel pump gave out unexpectedly.

Maybe the 150k mark is a good time to change the fuel pump out pre-emptively? 

I've got a respite for now, with my Flex. 

                                                           -----------------------------------------------

I started digging around in my desk and found some old files that I had started. There was a surprising amount of work orders and receipts for my '96 Mustang, but there was a lot of paper for my other cars also. Then I went out to each car and looked through the glove box and center consoles and I retrieved a huge pile of paper. Tire warranty/ receipt packages, smog test result sheets, registration, and numerous oil change receipts. I hadn't been one to save those until just a few years ago. I have always  kept the battery receipts in the owners manual folder. 

A bit fuzzy, but these are the files that I had started earlier.
 I still need to add a couple.

Then I added the stack of papers that I had retrieved from each of my vehicles. I still need to dig through these. 

That was quite the mess. A lot of the papers are older, registration report of deposit of fees. I'm pretty careful now to always pay the reg fees on time. Even if I still need to get the car smogged I won't incur any penalties. 

My newest idea is to keep a log book on each vehicle. It will be a chronological and mileage record of maintenance, repairs and services. I'll keep this in each vehicle, work orders, receipts and other papers will be kept in my desk files. I'll keep the first few pages blank, where I'll note the battery replacement date. This way I can easily keep an eye on it's age. It's the most likely component to fail suddenly, so it's good to have a heads up. 

I discovered some interesting things. I found the work order for the front brake job on the F150, so now I know when that was done. I found the receipt for the replacement of the fuel pump in the '96 Mustang, it was just under the 200,000 mile mark, good to know. The battery in that same Mustang is almost three years old. Good to know.

I've been flying by the seat of my pants for way too long! I've let myself get into the dark about the actual condition of my fleet. And that's what it is, a fleet. There's no way that I can keep all this info available and straight in my mind without records. It will be a bit of work to get everything in order, than it will be easy to just make updates.

Then I'll have to follow a scheduled maintenance plan and document the results. For example, I'll clean the battery terminals and take and record the resting voltage of the battery and the charging voltage with the motor running. 

I've usually been pretty good at checking under the hood for fluid levels, I need to do that at specified intervals even when I'm not on a long trip. Just like checking the air pressure in the tires, not forgetting the spare. 

During the Pandemic mileage accumulation has been pretty low and it's been spread over several vehicles. I'm also retired though my commute was pretty short. 

My three Jags will also be on the same regimen, even though the XJS and the XJ6 haven't really been in the driving rotation.

What am I going to do about those Jags?