Seeing coyote's sad tale, of his insurance company discovering his rear tyres were bald after he had had an accident and therefore declining his claim on grounds of an unroadworthy vehicle, how often do the rest of you carry out the traditional POWER (Petrol, Oil, Water, Electrics, Rubber) checks?
Personally I was brought up to do them every day before driving the vehicle but must admit that I tend only to check tyres, visually as I walk round the vehicle, and lights every day now. I leave oil, water and tyre pressures/close inspection to once a week, unless the tyre visual shows obvious deflation. Petrol/DERV there is obviously a gauge in front of my nose all the time.
Seems that increased reliability and longer servicing intervals are possibly lulling us into a false sense of security on some things.
Come on, be honest, have you let things slide?
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>>Come on, be honest, have you let things slide?<<
Definitely. I almost never lift the bonnet, check or even glance at the tires.
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Oil, Water, Electrics: weekly
tyres: monthly
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Let me see.
In two years in the goona it was
P - never, it was a diesel.
O - never - it had a oil level ok notice on startup
W - never - it had a temperature guage, never got hot so never checked
E - never the lights at the front were all I cared about, i could see it they were out.
R - weekly.
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E - never the lights at the front were all I cared about, i could see it they were out.
Yeah and if one goes, just stick the front fogs on yeah? ;)
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Is that not what they are there for?
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Petrol-N/A,get through a tankfull every six days
OIL-every month,although both cars consume virtually no oil between 6000MILE oil changes.
Water-as above
Electrics-never,never needed to,so far.
Rubber-check pressures,and quick visual check,once a month.
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Most of stuff in your list (petrol, oil, water, electrics) I just let the gauges and warning lights/ dash info messages tell me what's going on. Will occasionally pull the dipstick - once a month, or when I remember to. Give the tyres a quick glance every morning when I get the car out the garage to make sure they're not flat, and check the air in them once every month or so.
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Well, I have these indicator valve caps which show red if the pressure drops; And I do regularly check the boost gauge on Toad to see all the horses are there; and I never let the tank go below a quarter.
Lights at the back are a problem, people tend to mutter if you back up against a wall, at right angles to the road
Oil nowadays never seems to go down, which is corrupting. I should have an RX8!
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how oftendo the rest of you carry out the traditional POWER (Petrol, Oil, Water, Electrics, Rubber) checks?
Not regularly at all. Occasionally check the lights if i think about it. The petrol guage tells me what i need to know.
I do need to check the oil on the Citroen though, the dashboard thingy keeps telling it's low. I've got to figure out how to open the bonnet now.
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On both cars ...
Oil - weekly despite having a level gauge
Coolant - weekly
Screenwash - weekly
Lights - weekly
Tyres - monthly
Diesel - when the low fuel light comes on
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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P - Every week gets the mandatory £10
O - Every thankful equivalent (which would be every 3 weeks or so)
W - Same time as oil
E - Sometimes when the cars washed. Admittedly my downfall, I should check these more often
R - Pressure every month or so, visual check every time the car is washed.
As the car only does 5000 a year, with the majority of miles during uni holidays, I don't check tread depth very regularly and even then, after 30000 miles on the front tires, I?m still not half way down on tread (its age that'll finished them off)
Those with electronic gauges; don't rely on them. My old science teacher did on his Laguna. Engine went bang, despite gauge saying everything was ok!
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p - as required
o - every week
w - every week
e - every week
r - pressures every week, visual check at least as often
I can't believe anyone could rely totally on warning lights - i'm more wary than ever now, even with our Japanese cars, after reading a thread here that mentioned how temperature gauges can be factory-adjusted to always read 'normal'.
At least my old Alfa and Rover V8 used to warn me before they misbehaved!
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Well thanks to this and the other thread on tyre treads, I checked mine yesterday on the Saxo for the first time in a long while.
This morning I had 4 new tyres fitted for £93 inc balancing etc. Yes they are cheap budget ones but they will do the Saxo.
Its not a lot of money to spend compared to the alternative of fines or nullifying insurance.
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The neglect illustrated here should be fair warning to all who intend buying a used car.
It's a tribute to the manufacturers that breakdowns are as rare as they are.
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My Renault in the last 12 months:
P - n/a it's a diesel.
O - never, got an oil level indicator. Although it's been changed by the garage.
W - never, got a temperature gauge.
E - never unless one is obviously not working.
R - monthly.
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My car - approx 500 miles week
p - rather d as required
o - Fortnightly
w - Fortnightly
e - Fortnightly
r - pressures and visual check at least twice a week
Wife's car - 70 to 100 miles week
p - as required
o - it's got a dash level device though I check it manually every few weeks
w - Fortnightly
e - Fortnightly
r - Fortnightly
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Petrol: (Diesel) rely on gauge but regular always set oddometer and know I'll get ~ 600 miles at least.
Oil: monthly,
Water: monthly with oil (thats coolant), screenwash has a low beep
Electrics: Daily, I always reverse into parking space outside the house and can see all the lights reflected in one of the windows, I watch my wife drive off most days, she has to reverse out so see those and the brake lights easily.
Rubber, visual every journey, pressures every couple of weeks.
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230 ish miles per week.
D - Whenever needed
O - I have a lovely little gauge that does it for me, but done manually once a week.
W - Mainly with oil, but the useless 306 expansion tank makes it more of a job.
E - Rear lights in garage door, Front not often (I know I know)
R - All I will say is not often enough.
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P - I use the gauge but set the trip meter
O - Before every trip, Alfas have a habit of drinking oil
W - Every trip I glance at the expansion tank when topping up the oil
E - Never unless something crops ups,last time was saturday when I was getting "johnny disco" with the dash lights on my spider
R - once a week.
:D Aren't I good? Oh and my Alfas have never let me down *hunting for some wood to touch*
;)JaB
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p - as required o - every week w - every week e - every week r - pressures every week, visual check at least as often
Me too. Weekly check also includes brake fluid, coolant, and screenwash.
--
L\'escargot.
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Petrol, Oil, Water, Electrics, Rubber)
P = whenever the light comes on.
O = whenever the light comes on.
w = whenever the light comes on.
e = whenever the light doesn't come on. [occasional checks in shop windows or the front of other cars].
r = I tend to look at whichever corner I walk past. OVer a little time that's all corners. Get down on my knees every couple of months. Check the spare when I need to use it.
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Oil, water, etc I check before long journeys.
Diesel I wait until the light comes on.
Electics checked at MOT time.
I check tread depth and tyre pressure monthly.
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Oil? Monthly.
Water? Nah, I have a temp gauge. I may glance at the header tank absent mindedly whilst leaning across to get the dipstick.
Tyres? A weekly walk round. Will check pressures if I notice anything ontoward in the handling or if it looks wrong.
Diesel? Anywhere from 40 to 95 miles after the orange light comes on. I managed to get 59.82 litres in my 60 litre tank on Friday.
$$
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