The Rituals of Car Maintenance

With a hefty push on the ratchet, the oil drain plug finally came loose and I was only bleeding a little. Hopefully there won’t be a scar this time.

I was completing the manly ritual of changing oil in my two cars. I learned this from my dad and brothers. Change it every 3,000 miles, including the filter, and the engine will last forever, they said. I followed those instructions almost to the mile for many years, wondering along the way if it was really that important, especially in a car that burned or leaked a quart or more between changes.

Much of my car maintenance knowledge was gained through observation followed by trial and error. We didn’t have YouTube or the internet during my formative years. I also learned a lot just by listening to the opinions and unscientific studies by relatives at holiday dinners and reunions. These discussions helped fill the silence of men staring at their feet. My dad, ever the teacher, kept it going by asking a lot of leading questions such as, “We’re pulling the trailer out west this summer. What do you think is the best gas to use?”

“No question about it. You get the best gas mileage from Standard,” someone would offer, “and I’ve tried five different kinds.” This was usually all it took to keep the discussion going, although it then went all over the place.

“Use 30-weight oil in the summer and 10-weight in the winter. Don’t trust oil like 10-30 that is supposed to do both”, someone would say. “Change your oil filter every other oil change. You don’t have to change it each time,” another would say. They each had to say something to avoid looking like a lightweight.

I heard opinions on anything that men could maintain on their cars, including spark plugs, points, and tires. Discussions on tires could fill the rest of the afternoon and your opinions on them were only credible if you knew the tire codes. This was before radial and all-season tires when most people changed to snow tires each fall.

Discussion of foreign cars elicited mostly chuckles, especially the ones with front-wheel drive. Who would want that? And to have the engine and drive train all up front would be a maintenance nightmare.

I remember someone telling me that one time when he was a kid, his dad practically overhauled their car. He changed the oil, filters, points, distributor cap, antifreeze, and spark plugs. Timing and brakes were adjusted and tires rotated. This was for a trip all the way to Iowa.

Today’s cars still have most of the same maintenance needs. You open the hood and it’s all still there if you can find it. Maintenance intervals are much longer now and some things are so difficult to get to that you are forced to have a repair shop deal with it. Spark plugs last 100,000 miles and oil changes are up to 10,000 miles on some cars. The transmission fluid in my Toyota 4-Runner is “permanent”. I had it changed at 211,000 miles just to be sure.

The arrival of stainless steel exhaust systems was a godsend. They are expensive but can often last the life of the car. I remember getting a muffler for my 1981 Plymouth Reliant at Big Wheel on Bush St. It had a lifetime warranty and I got many free replacements before I finally sold the car.

Changing oil and filter, air filter, wipers and light bulbs are about it for me now. Anything else goes to the shop. I only change oil twice a year and with today’s synthetic oil, I could probably get by with just once a year. Catherine and I usually don’t even put on 3,000 miles between changes. But it’s a guy thing and shows that you can at least do some maintenance. I even got my son to get his car’s oil changed regularly. Convincing him to clean out his car will take more effort.

The transmission drain plug is so conveniently located on a Subaru that my brother Dave and I each mistook it for the oil drain plug on our cars. I realized right away what I had done. Dave, however, proceeded to add five quarts of oil to his car. A huge trail of smoke clued him in. Apparently, this is a common problem even at service centers.

One maddening change to modern engines is that none of them seem to take just one five-quart jug of oil. No, they take 5.1 or 6.5 quarts or some other odd measure, forcing you to buy extra single quarts and do measurement conversions. The jug is usually on sale but a single quart costs about half the price of the jug.

It was after I added the 5.1 quarts of oil to my Outback (a jug and 1.6 ounces), that I noticed the oil drain plug washer on the floor. It had fallen off before I replaced the plug. I could drain the oil, fix the plug and add the oil back in. Ugh! Apparently, this happens a lot. One fix, shown on YouTube, is to connect a Shop Vac to the oil fill port and its suction will prevent the oil from coming out of the oil pan even with the plug removed.

Nope, I’m just leaving it alone. It’s not leaking and I’ve already made enough of a mess.