What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

What about us time wise and not mileage guys?? I just changed my oil @ 6 months with only 1,300 miles on it...

And do I rotate the tires every oil change (1,300 miles) or every 5,000 miles??

 

I was looking for the small squeeze bottles link... lol
But thanks....

 

If it were me I would just leave it as painful as it is lol

 

$25 Boeshield T-9 Bicycle Chain Waterproof Lubricant and Rust Protection, 4 oz Liquid, Original Version (122183) (1, Twо Pаck)

https://www.amazon.com/Boeshield-Wa...ield&qid=1742775487&sprefix=t9,aps,516&sr=8-6

 

I’m on that schedule too! No rotate every five either way.

 

I use 3M film for my headlights to help prevent pitting from the road and to prevent the clearcoat from hazing. I do it on all my cars and it works great. It will probably hide most of that scratch. A 2fer.

 

Bike shops, tool shops, and some outdoor supply stores usually carry t-9 if you don't want to give Amazon your money.

 

Got great deal on a Jeep Gladiator Smartcap (free 99) so I figured I’d see if it fit….and boom, it does, kind of.next up is putting on new suspension.

 

So as I understand it, there are two reasons to change your oil, according to time, and not just miles.

- Oil exposed to the combustion gases, becomes acidic, and you prefer to not etch your journals, that ride on solid bearings, so change the oil, to get rid of the acidic content. Now when I think about this one, it seems to me that the acidity goes up only with the number of miles, so at 1,500 miles, is it acidic enough to have concern. If someone changes their oil every 5,000 miles and that is about 6 months for them, then they are doing far more 'etching' for the 2nd half of the time before they change their oil, than you will be doing if you wait and change your oil at 3,000 miles and 1 year. And make note, that many do not change their oil till 10,000 miles. Heck, I have family that never changed their oil. Never. Only add when it is low, and those cars died from rust, not from engine trouble. I change my oil every 5,000 miles, and the vehicles that I store for the winter, get an oil change only if the current oil has 3,000 miles or more. That is approximately where I draw the line, partly because before synthetic oils, I used to change my oil every 3,333.3 miles (was easy to know when an oil change was needed, without writing it down)

- Oil will pick up water. Burning a gallon of gasoline, produces about a gallon of water, from the combustion process. You can see it out the tailpipe on a cool morning. Some portion of this water vapor gets past the rings, and into the crankcase, contaminating the oil. If you ever heard the saying that the worst thing you can do to a motor is to only drive it a few miles, each time you drive; this is why. Anything less than about a 10 mile commute, is terribly unkind to your car. Problem is, your car is not run long enough, for the oil temperature to get hot enough to boil off that water, and send it out the PCV. In fact, it is not just your oil temperature, it is compounded by the engine internals being cool enough, that the water vapor entering the crankcase, condenses on the cool metals of the engine internals, creating water droplets into your oil. So a little more water is collected in your oil each day, and never boiled off. This rusts your pan, degrades your oil's lubricating properties, and adds corrosion to all the engine internals. So if your low miles per a 6 month period is due to very short trips, change your oil more often! But if your trips are plenty long enough, just not often; then water in the oil is not a factor. I also believe that changing your oil is less effective at removing water, than taking a nice long drive. Though oil floats on water, so any water present, should reside most heavily at the drain plug.

So I have a vehicle that is not driven during winter. I change the oil before storing it, and 6 months later I want to start driving again. What reasons would I have to change the oil, before driving it for the summer? The only one I could come up with is concern for it collecting water, while stored. drastic temperature swings make the engine breath in and out, even without running; and inhaling moist air can then condensate on the cool metal internals, and drip into the oil pan. If this is in abundance enough to do damage, then this is a good reason. If the vehicle is stored in a heated garage, then this is moot. Is there any other reason?

I feel that rotating tires is strictly about generating even wear, so strictly influenced by miles. No harm in rotating more often, but I think it far better to rotate on equal miles intervals, and not by time. Time is not a factor, so I think it best that each tire spend approximately an equal number of miles on the front, and the rear.

 

All that sag is caused by that cap?

 

You could just be "subtle" about the injury ...

 

It doesn’t not fit Nice find!

 

All though my post was more of a rhetorical question/statement than anything, that was a great reply/post...

I average about 14 MPG per tank of gas, most of the time I am only getting single digit numbers, I drive about 14-15 miles round trip to the Dr once a month (18-20 MPG then) and get the RPM's up to kinda blow the cobwebs out so to speak, since retiring... but most of the time are short trips... I also only drive with the ECT Power on until I finally get around to doing the OTT tune, that helps to keep the rpms up a little also...

My 35+ year automotive technician brain will not let me go over 5,000 miles on an oil change, my daughters 17 Corolla uses 0w20 also and it is changed every 5,000 miles, and she drives a lot, even changed it after putting 5K in about 35 days on it one time last year... lol

But yes, I will be rotating and balancing as well as checking the alignment every 5,000 miles, but fluids will all be time based, not mileage based mainly...

It's just this whole retirement thing and not driving much anymore is killing me on maintenance for all the vehicles in my fleet... lol

Again, thank you for the post, very well written...

 

I typically put about 2.5 to 3K miles on my Taco per. So I’ve resigned myself to just change oil/filter every Fall and if that isn’t good enough then F’k it. Amsoil 0W-20.

 

Oh I get it, but with this being a direct injection etc, I am taking the best care I can, I also only run Shell (top tier) in it, not running cheap gas...

 

It was already a little high in the front from the puck I put in to clear my tires. And it’s just a little more exaggerated now. But it’ll get fixed this weekend

Thanks man!

 

Your two points are one and the same. It is the blow-by sulfur (from combustion) combining with the blow-by water (from combustion) which creates sulfuric acid. A quality oil includes a Base to neutralize the created acid in its additive package. If the Base is still in solution sufficiently, then 10k miles is perfectly fine.
Absolutely run the engine to operating temperature every time and for a proper duration. Water will evaporate and not be a consideration. (like you said)

(Blackstone always informs me of my Base levels.)

 

I have a smartcap I’m about to put on and hoping not to need a suspension upgrade since the back is already a bit higher than front when stock.

 

Finally got a new fender decal on. It's coming together..

 

That looks really good with the color matching the rest of the black trim!