Car D.I.Y.

[Deleted member 26715]

I don't do any DIY on the car nowadays that involves jacking up and removing things, or laying on my back with dirt dropping on me, but at the last service at the garage, they said your front brake pads will need renewing before the next service.
They sent me a reminder which also said 2 new rear tyres will be required, I checked the tyres they will easily last until September (the next annual service) so I took the front wheel of to check pads, loads of life in them. I think they they have based there assumtion on us doing 18,000 a year and not the circa 4,000 we do, of course they know our annual mileage they service the car every year, I suppose it easy money for them if you don't question it.

Many years ago 1980's the FIL had a BMW, took it in for it's first service with only 8-10K on it, they told then it needed new discs pads all round at a cost of over £800, always wondered if one of the mechanics was doing a moonlight job & needed the parts.

 

[Adam4868]

Recently did a service,well fluid and filters on a auto box...since when did they stop putting drain plugs in the pan ffs.
What a mess,glad it wasn't on my driveway 😁
Asked a friend who's a mechanic and he said it was to make people/mechanics change the filters and not just the fluid

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Recently did a service,well fluid and filters on a auto box...since when did they stop putting drain plugs in the pan ffs.
What a mess,glad it wasn't on my driveway 😁
Asked a friend who's a mechanic and he said it was to make people/mechanics change the filters and not just the fluid

But surely it wouldn't take a design genius to make the filer easily accessible from underneath the car which is what normally puts people off changing them.

 

[Drago]

I think that might be tricky on a slush. As you know, valves open and close and allow fluid to flow along various tortuous galleries in order to make the witchcraft happen, and the filter often forms the 'lid' that closes the galleries and makes the filtering work. Its different to a fuel or engine oil filter that sits a single point within a neat and tidy circuit.

 

[Adam4868]

But surely it wouldn't take a design genius to make the filer easily accessible from underneath the car which is what normally puts people off changing them.

That'd be far too easy !

 

[Adam4868]

Thinking about it,I'm so far behind on car maintenance...hate the whole obd/plugging cars in etc.Seems more and more like they don't want you to fix things yourself,even changing a bulb on some cars takes YouTube and losing skin ffs.
How much do you think local auto transmission garage wanted to service the transmission...basically oil and filters ? Filters and pan seal and 2 cans of 5 litres of fluid cost me just short of 100 quid.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Thinking about it,I'm so far behind on car maintenance...hate the whole obd/plugging cars in etc.Seems more and more like they don't want you to fix things yourself,even changing a bulb on some cars takes YouTube and losing skin ffs.
How much do you think local auto transmission garage wanted to service the transmission...basically oil and filters ? Filters and pan seal and 5 litres of fluid cost me just short of 100 quid.

BMW quoted the son £450+vat just for the oil I think it was

@Drago I know what you mean, but the oil is always in a chamber under pressure, they could pipe it outside the box into a remote filter. I did the Shogun slushbox on Saturday before the son brought his X3 over, to get the oil out you took a pipe off the bottom of the radiator which is also the oil cooler, started the engine & it pumped it out for you. On his you had to undo the sump & hoped you caught it all, luckily we did 'mostly'

 

[Drago]

They'd potentially need 8 filters for 8 different circuits (on an 8 speed car) if they mou ted them remotely.

 

[Adam4868]

BMW quoted the son £450+vat just for the oil I think it was

@Drago I know what you mean, but the oil is always in a chamber under pressure, they could pipe it outside the box into a remote filter. I did the Shogun slushbox on Saturday before the son brought his X3 over, to get the oil out you took a pipe off the bottom of the radiator which is also the oil cooler, started the engine & it pumped it out for you. On his you had to undo the sump & hoped you caught it all, luckily we did 'mostly'

380 plus vat !

 

[Deleted member 26715]

They'd potentially need 8 filters for 8 different circuits (on an 8 speed car) if they mou ted them remotely.

No you wouldn't they all come to a common point now as it's fitted with a

"combination double pass oil-to-air cooler located in the top of the A/C condenser"

No reason why it could not be re-routed at that point if they wanted it to, the issue they don't.

 

[Drago]

How would you bring 8 pressure circuits to a common point without even more valving? I think that's perhaps the issue - not that it couldn't be done, but rather that it's impractical.

 

[fossyant]

Dare I say I am on the original front discs at about 140k and 22 years on my Nissan. Rears replaced last year. They are lipped of course, but are smooth and not pitted or scored and fine on MOT and braking is perfect. I shall probably change them on a nice day in the summer (not sure which year).

 

[Jameshow]

Mini is making a gearbox thrum noise hope it's not serious. Only happens when engaged not coasting or in neutral??

 

[Deleted member 26715]

How would you bring 8 pressure circuits to a common point without even more valving? I think that's perhaps the issue - not that it couldn't be done, but rather that it's impractical.

They already do for the cooling circuit so put the filter in at that point

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Dare I say I am on the original front discs at about 140k and 22 years on my Nissan. Rears replaced last year. They are lipped of course, but are smooth and not pitted or scored and fine on MOT and braking is perfect. I shall probably change them on a nice day in the summer (not sure which year).

That does surprise me, backs yes, but fronts surprises me, are you sure somebody didn't sneak a set on?