![]() ![]() Lauren Fix specifically recommends looking at your suspension bearings and bushings - metal and rubber bits, often doughnut-shaped, that isolate your suspension from the rest of the car and dampen noise. ![]() Tackle these fixes proactively to avoid larger repair bills that might lead you to give up on a car before its time. But as you head for the land of six-figure mileage, there are some other parts you should be looking to replace before they fail. It’s a given that you’ll be replacing what are known as “wear parts”: tires, brake pads, timing and accessory belts, and shock absorbers. Flushing, warns radio host Torbjornsen, will only accelerate its demise by introducing new fluid whose detergents will dissolve whatever’s still holding together in there.īe Prepared to Replace Bearings, Bushings and Belts That’s what the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association recommends.Īnd if you have stinky transmission fluid? Your transmission is already cooked and on its last legs. Our counsel: Never do a flush without replacing the filter first. Dropping the pan will get out any sludge that collected in it and will usually entail a new filter, but less old fluid will come out - and less fresh, new fluid will go in. Flushing allows all of of the old fluid to be removed but doesn’t do anything about the (possibly dirty) filter inside your transmission. Note that there’s considerable controversy about whether it makes more sense to “flush” your car’s transmission fluid or have the pan on the bottom of the transmission removed and cleaned out. If changing the transmission fluid and filter is specified in your car’s maintenance schedule, well, then, take care of it.īut what if no replacement is specified? Increasingly, car manufacturers are either just indicating that the fluid should be checked at intervals or assuring you that the fluid is “lifetime.” To which we say, how long is a lifetime? If you’re looking for a long lifetime, plan on replacing the transmission fluid at least by 100,000 miles (and there’s no harm in doing it earlier). And for Pete’s sake, don’t park in front of the garage and then pull the car in when you’re going to bed. Try to combine your short trips into a single run. ![]() That way it burns off the nasty stuff that can build up in your crankcase.” “I take the long way in the winter, to make sure the engine gets up to operating temperature. Tony Molla, of the ASE, faces only a three-mile commute to work but often drives longer. So, how short is too short? It varies by temperature and how you drive, but AAA defines it as “trips of less than five miles in normal temperatures, or less than ten miles in freezing temperatures.” But a short trip won’t do that, allowing the slurry of oil, water and fuel in your crankcase to eventually turn into a noxious sludge. On a longer trip, your car’s engine gets hot, boiling the unburned fuel out of the oil, your engine and your exhaust - that's a good thing. Also, when your car is first started, more fuel is mixed in to get it running. Here’s what happens: Water is a byproduct of engine combustion, and some of it gets into your car’s oil and exhaust system every time the engine runs. If there’s one single thing you can do as a driver to get your car to last longer on its original parts, it’s to drive it less - specifically, on trips where the engine doesn’t have a chance to reach operating temperature.
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