Scheduled Maintenance

[Steve Caroccia]

It has been awhile, but anybody got any ideas for 50,000 miles / 9 yr maintenance? I just became a Lone Star from NJ, so any changes I should make for the warmer weather? Sun and 70 sure beats 3 ft of snow. And no, I am not raising the car to compete with the tons of trucks down here.


I can probably go from the 195 to the 180 thermostat (reprogram with the HPPIII), but what glycol/water mixture? Serpentine Belt needs changed, can I change any pulleys to aftermarket to get any improvements? And I should probably dump the rear differential.

Close to a brake change also, anybody got any ideas for pads and slotted/drilled rotors?

Looking for any type of mods not already listed.

[ssms5411]

Re: Scheduled Maintenance

You could buy a haynes manual and it will tell you what needs to be done at what milage and also have a description and pictures on doing the maintance. You should list what year car and engine , that would be helpful too, along with any mods?
But the simple things:
Spark plugs- NGK TR55's
Fuel filter
PCV
Hawks Ceramic pads
Bremo Blank rotors or get some that are zinc coated for looks/ if you really want the look R1 Concepts have nice D/S but blanks will stop quicker.
Oil change
Tranny oil change
Check rear diff. gear oil level
All fluid levels
Air filter, new one or do a K&N or simular
Tire presssure and see if they are still doing fine and not misallinged.
Check spark plug wires for cracks
Check engine belt for cracks( if orginal I would replace)
Check all water hoses
If you have Dexcool in it maybe flush it to the green stuff, green stuff is distilled water(NO TAP WATER) and anitfrezze 50/50 mix.
Thermo 180 is fine
SLP manual fan switch is also a good investment( allows you to control low and high fan speeds while driving)
Check all your suspension to make sure everything is tight/greased and no bushings are going bad, A arms upper/lower, Tie end rods, LCA's, Panhard rod, Tq arm mount, tranny mount, sway bar bushings and endlinks are greased
Before you change your spark plugs,oil, fuel filter maybe use some Seafoam through all of it to clean out the systems, then change everything out. (Theres a Seafoam writeup in the stickeys above on how to use it).
Also check your A/C to make sure it is blowing cold, 30-40 degrees at the center vent is good.

This is a basic list on what I would do if it was my car, but its up to you. Good luck I think i got eveything, I'm tired and haven't slept.

[Steve Caroccia]

Re: Scheduled Maintenance

There are some good suggestins in there. I am back to apt living so maybe I will have more time to spend on the car.

Mods, which may or not be in my profile:

K&N
NGK Plugs and wires
50/50 with water wetter
Lost track of the thermostat. I tried to go to the 160 during the Northeast winter, and the car got too cold and never got out of the startup mode where the computer keeps pushing fuel to heat the engine up.
Battery, Redtop Optima
High Flow Cat
3" s pipe
Borla Exhaust
HPPIII
And Haynes manuals rock for DIYers such as myself, mine is still in NJ.

The only dumb question I have is how to grease suspension parts?

[hockeyman]

Re: Scheduled Maintenance

The only dumb question I have is how to grease suspension parts?

If I recall correctly, most of the suspension parts (balljoints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, etc.) were sealed and didn't have grease fittings.

...I could be wrong though. It's been a while since I've had the 'ol f-body in my driveway.

[ssms5411]

Re: Scheduled Maintenance

Yes if they are factory A arm bushings and tie end rods they will not have fittings, but new ones come with fittings (cheap GM not wanting their parts to last) , but greasing the sway bushings and endlinks or even getting poly bushings with fittings and poly endlinks , maybe a poly Tq arm mount and poly tranny mount would be good if yours is cracking. Theres alot you can tune up and on the when doing it you can get better parts, esp. for the suspension.