Re: question for hachiroku

On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:

> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
> 
> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?

LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:

I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green' 
enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't change 
it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4 more 
years after that.

The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That one 
currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.

Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal 
pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge 
it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark 
brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed 
or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.

Now, this is what *I* do myself. I am not religious about Dealer Service, 
but occasionally I do bring the car to the Dealer and usually follow 
their recommendations, because we (used to) have decent dealers here who 
weren't trying to make all they could on service. They did what needed to 
be done and advised you before doing anything else. Did they change the 
coolant and the brake fluid? Maybe. I don't question. We had exceptional 
service managers here, and if they said do it, then it needed doing. 

Those days are gone. The nearest service manager I trust is 50 miles 
away, the one the next town over is still there, but the company that 
bought the dealership is pushing for revenue. The other two? I wouldn't 
go near them if there was blue and white smoke pouring out of the 
tailpipe, the wiring was in flames and I was driving right in front of 
the place. And I used to work for one of them...