Maintainance tips for a hard driver

[WeaselBirdW68]

Hey guys, i was just wondering what are some good maintainance tips for someone who drives there car harder then it should be driven. I love my birdie, adn i want to keep her alive as long as possible. But i also love driving her aggressivly and honestly, i couldnt stop drving the car like that if i tried. So other then teh standard 3k oil cahnge, what else should i be looking to do. Anything Extra for extra wear and tear im puttin on?

[HokieBird]

Check/replace all your fluids:
brake, trans, diff, clutch

Check/replace filters:
air, fuel, trans

Keep an eye on things like bushings, serpentine belt, brake pads, rotors and O2 sensors. Check for even tire wear and track down any unusual sounds or squeeks (pretty much a full time job in most f-bodys).

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure other people will add to that.

[grayman]

here are some owners manuals.

http://home.comcast.net/~grayman99/gmtech-ref.htm

there are service intervals for normal driving and hard driving (tow vehicle)

I plan on changing tranny fluid every 25000 miles instead of 50,000. I also use synthetic motor oil and oversized oil filters.

owners manual recommends to rotate tires every 7500 miles. when you do rotate tires check the brakes. if the pads are getting thin plan on changing them soon.

if you are using paper air filters plan on changing those more often, etc. basically take a look at an owners manual and use the tow vehicle or police/taxi vehicle service schedule.

[V8 Killer]

synthetic fluids maybe

[terminaldegree]

As you change out fluids for maintenance, you could take a sample of them for analysis. Results of that can show impending failures, and minor problems that [if corrected] can hold off major $$$ problems. Or, it could tell you when to [img]graemlins/naughty.gif[/img] sell the car before something big craps out on you.

I send off my motor oil samples to Blackstone Labs in Indiana. It costs me $20, and they send back a report detailing the condition of the old oil, wear particles [metals] in the oil, contaminants [coolant, fuel, water], and their comments on the health of my engine.

[95 camaro]

I send off my motor oil samples to Blackstone Labs in Indiana. It costs me $20, and they send back a report detailing the condition of the old oil, wear particles [metals] in the oil, contaminants [coolant, fuel, water], and their comments on the health of my engine.

Wow That is pure love and obsession for a car.

[shenanigans]

for our f-bodies? keep an eye on the clutch/tranny, keep an eye on the power steering fluid and repalce often.

[terminaldegree]

Originally posted by 95 camaro:
Wow That is pure love and obsession for a car.

Thanks. I'm one of those sort of people whose friends all want my cars when I sell 'em. Sold the first one to my mechanic, and the second one to a close friend [she still drives it].

Taking a sample is easy. They send you a kit for free and you just catch some old oil in the supplied bottle while you are changing the oil. You can actually send the stuff legally via US mail. Only reason I do it is I bring my 'bird to the strip every now and then and I want to know if I'm hurting the motor enough that I should stop. So far, so good.

[Chet Mo and the Camaro]

hmmmm might have to look into that, that is when i get me a new car, cause mine died, but hey 20 bucks for a 100k motor could be worth seeing what it looks like inside!!!

[MPe488]

I highly recommend amsoil. MY dad switched to it for his turbodiesel truck, and the company reports you can keep the same oil in it for 50,000 miles easily, and it will still be working better than most oils are after 5,000 miles. It's used by many Semi's and the companies that use it report that they don't change their oil for the entire lifetime of the truck...over 600,000 miles!

They also analyze the oil after it's been taken out of your car relatively cheaply. Someone else mentioned that. As for tire rotation and brake pads, thats very important. Change fluids, get the tranny looked at, spark plugs, and air filter and little crap like that. Also make sure your timing belts and piston rings are working well, those are 2 small components that can cause big trouble if they go bad. And they're not hard or expensive to replace at the mechanic.

And for god sakes listen to your car, if you use some common sense it's not hard to realize theres something wrong with the way its running and you need to get it checked out. I know a kid that didn't change his oil on his brand new Jetta till it had 17,000 miles. This was regular oil mind you, nbot amsoil. So his engine was knocking for weeks before he finally got it checked out. Cut his car life in half.