[Guest]

Hi. No big issues with my car so far, other than having to replace the blend door which I did last week.

Should I ponder new plugs? I'm going to get a new air filter, probably a drop in green filter.

Any other maintenance I should consider seeing as my car isn't a spring chicken any more?

Brakes seem fine, last time I had it at the dealership (couple months, ~ 4k miles ago), they said brakes should last till spring.

There's a line in the owners manual about "check/grease U joints, etc." Can I have this done via quick lane do you think?

 

[FiST_To_The_Clutch]

I'd change out transmission fluid if you haven't done so. Doing a cylinder compression test won't hurt, will provide you a very good overview of the overall health of your engine and piston rings (we all know about ringlands, right?). I know it's a 99% FoST issue, but won't hurt on the FiST as well (I'm planning to do mine at 25,000 miles). Definitely check out spark plugs, check their gap, possibly swap them out (if you're not tuned, don't need to go step colder), regap per manual specs. It'd be good to take a look at your valves, how dirty they are, how much gunk have accumulated there. Who knows, you might need to clean them. Apart from that if your car is running well and healthy, you're good, that's my opinion...

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the recommendations. After reading up on compression testing a little, it looks like it is waaaaay easier than I anticipated. Same with doing your own plugs. Any pitfalls you want to warn me about?

Thanks!

I'd change out transmission fluid if you haven't done so. Doing a cylinder compression test won't hurt, will provide you a very good overview of the overall health of your engine and piston rings (we all know about ringlands, right?). I know it's a 99% FoST issue, but won't hurt on the FiST as well (I'm planning to do mine at 25,000 miles). Definitely check out spark plugs, check their gap, possibly swap them out (if you're not tuned, don't need to go step colder), regap per manual specs. It'd be good to take a look at your valves, how dirty they are, how much gunk have accumulated there. Who knows, you might need to clean them. Apart from that if your car is running well and healthy, you're good, that's my opinion...

 

[FiST_To_The_Clutch]

From what I've heard, it's not really the specific number you're looking for on each cylinder during compression test, it's the differences across all cylinders should not be more than 10% (say one cylinder shows 160, another shows 150; you're still good because the difference is less than 10%). Of course the numbers should not be low, but if you find some numbers being relatively low it'll be a good idea to go to the dealer and report your findings as we have 5 years/60,000 powertrain warranty. Low compression test number for a given cylinder indicates that it's about to blow up...

 

[reddog99]

Just a reminder that compression tests should be performed on a hot engine.

 

[Guest]

Thanks all for the advice.

Doing brakes next week, gunna hit plugs/compression test @ 50k I think. Probably going to do trans fluid sooner than later as well.

 

[FiST_To_The_Clutch]

And check the valves:thumbsup: