I recently ran into a guy who drives, owns a car and he admitted to the fact that he knows nothing about car maintenance. He doesn't even check the oil and seemed strangely proud of his ignorance.


Really? It seems pretty dumb to me to be totally at the mercy to a mechanic's honesty. 

I do virtually all the work on our cars. (We have 9 running) There is only a few things - like wheel alignment or changing tires off rims - that I don't do. (The necessary equipment is too expensive)

But I do know what those jobs take - and know what they should cost.

To me -going to a mechanic with no knowledge of the internal workings of a vehicle - it is sort of like religion. Trusting somebody (who has a profit motive) to handle part of your life and expecting to not get ripped off.

My BIL bought an engine out of a '68 Impala station wagon in 1980. It still had the factory oil filter in it.

(October 30, 2019 at 7:47 am)onlinebiker Wrote: I recently ran into a guy who drives, owns a car and he admitted to the fact that he knows nothing about car maintenance. He doesn't even check the oil and seemed strangely proud of his ignorance.

Really? It seems pretty dumb to me to be totally at the mercy to a mechanic's honesty. 
[edit]

You just described my wife. And my ex, and my other ex.

(October 30, 2019 at 7:55 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: My BIL bought an engine out of a '68 Impala station wagon in 1980. It still had the factory oil filter in it.

The OEM filter was AC/Delco - which all dealers use in servicing. I don't know how you could tell factory equipped from a replacement.

(October 30, 2019 at 8:12 am)onlinebiker Wrote:

(October 30, 2019 at 7:55 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: My BIL bought an engine out of a '68 Impala station wagon in 1980. It still had the factory oil filter in it.

The OEM filter was AC/Delco - which all dealers use in servicing. I don't know how you could tell factory equipped from a replacement.

It was the dealer's call on that. BIL got it at half price based on that. Given the amount of gunk in the lower end/oil pan I had no problem believing it.

Did I mention that the Impala belonged to a little old widow lady?

(October 30, 2019 at 8:17 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:

(October 30, 2019 at 8:12 am)onlinebiker Wrote: The OEM filter was AC/Delco - which all dealers use in servicing. I don't know how you could tell factory equipped from a replacement.

It was the dealer's call on that. BIL got it at half price based on that. Given the amount of gunk in the lower end/oil pan I had no problem believing it.

Did I mention othat the Impala belonged to a little old widow lady?

I got to pull an engine apart with only 10,000 miles and three years old. The owner - the wife of an engineer I worked with - drove it daily to work - 1 mile from home. (250 cid Chevy straight 6)

It had no compression to speak of and used a quart of oil every 50 miles. The sludge was phenominal - as she ran Quaker State - which at the time (late 1970s) still had high levels of parafin.


There was so much build up in the bottom end - I bent the oil pan removing it. The only thing worth salvage was nuts and bolts.

Short haul driving is the hardest abuse you can inflict on an engine.

The L.O.L. could see the grocery store from her drive way, and the church was closer. It was ... fun cleaning it up. Went right down the shiney.

I'm by no means a car mechanic, but I  know enough to know this:



isn't right.

Boru

You would have liked that project, I think. IIRC it was a 389(?) dropped into a Nova body. Needed wheelie casters.

One of my dad's friends did his own mechanic work, and he used Quaker State (non-detergent, yet!) because it used so much oil. When he took a valve cover off because he was going to do a valve job (265 CID V-8), the oil had congealed in the shape of the inside of the valve cover. The push rods and rocker arms were the only place that the Jello-like green sludge wasn't. Same in the lifter galley- the push rods were surrounded by green goo.