Should you change your own auto/diff fluids ?

I have started to change my own engine oil for various reasons.

These two look not too arduous.

Yes change auto oil when it is no longer cherry red in colour, don't worry about diff oil it doesn't get too hot with street use it lasts a long time.

Get a pan gasket and filter for the auto when changing oil

Thanks.
Seems my camry has a drain plug.
Might just try draining it from there for the first time.

If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok.
Changing the fluid will be good for it.

The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-)

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 4:28pm:

Thanks. Seems my camry has a drain plug. Might just try draining it from there for the first time. If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok. Changing the fluid will be good for it. The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-)

If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever.
When it turns brown it's closer to varnish than oil which causes problems.

The pan has to come off to change the filter,it's easy first year apprentices don't even stuff that up.

Baronvonrort wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 5:03pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 4:28pm: Thanks. Seems my camry has a drain plug. Might just try draining it from there for the first time. If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok. Changing the fluid will be good for it. The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-) If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever. When it turns brown it's closer to varnish than oil which causes problems. The pan has to come off to change the filter,it's easy first year apprentices don't even stuff that up.

Isn't re-filling the transmission oil a bit of an art?  It is with the Ssang Yong Cab....needs to have the custom sized dip stick.

Baronvonrort wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 5:03pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 4:28pm: Thanks. Seems my camry has a drain plug. Might just try draining it from there for the first time. If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok. Changing the fluid will be good for it. The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-) If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever. When it turns brown it's closer to varnish than oil which causes problems. The pan has to come off to change the filter,it's easy first year apprentices don't even stuff that up.

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh 
Quote:

.........change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever....

exactly what I want to happen.
It's awkward for me as I don't have a pit and don't want ramps.
I drive on hardwood planks to raise the car a few inches

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 5:32pm:

Baronvonrort wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 5:03pm: Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 4:28pm: Thanks. Seems my camry has a drain plug. Might just try draining it from there for the first time. If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok. Changing the fluid will be good for it. The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-) If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever. When it turns brown it's closer to varnish than oil which causes problems. The pan has to come off to change the filter,it's easy first year apprentices don't even stuff that up. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh  Quote: .........change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever.... exactly what I want to happen. It's awkward for me as I don't have a pit and don't want ramps. I drive on hardwood planks to raise the car a few inches

Get y'self a trolley jack and a couple of axle stands. Never get under a car only held up by a jack.

setanta - the stands and everything looks like a big nuisance.
I'ld rather take t to a garage.

the hardwood planks work well.
Drive it so all 4 wheels are on 50mm of hardwood.
Gives that wiggle room.
The ground there is a bit of a hollow, so I have even more space !!

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 6:22pm:

setanta - the stands and everything looks like a big nuisance. I'ld rather take t to a garage. the hardwood planks work well. Drive it so all 4 wheels are on 50mm of hardwood. Gives that wiggle room. The ground there is a bit of a hollow, so I have even more space !!

just drive one side up the kerb while leaving the other side on the road. That should leave you plenty of clearance.

Diff oil should never need replacing unless you have a leak.

gearbox oil, try ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW28XYZhwMA&feature=player_detailpage

you should be able to find the right video for your car

taking a car to a garage is so time consuming.
then they charge 'whatever they want' .

I am thinking take it to them every 2 - 3 years for a general check over/new brakes/whatever.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 7:03pm:

taking a car to a garage is so time consuming. then they charge 'whatever they want' . I am thinking take it to them every 2 - 3 years for a general check over/new brakes/whatever.

I used to believe that but after ten plus years dealing with them almost weekly....

You have to take charge.  You tell them the car is coming in for a specific job....no more no less than that precise job.  Ask them for their quote including all parts....and then shop it.  Get the job done...and pay them no more and no less than their quote.  Don't fall for the "Oh we found this other problem......"  You say..."Nothing to do with me.  I wanted this done for this charge as agreed, and here is your money."

You have to train them to understand you are not their pansy.

Baronvonrort wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 5:03pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 4:28pm: Thanks. Seems my camry has a drain plug. Might just try draining it from there for the first time. If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok. Changing the fluid will be good for it. The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-) If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever. When it turns brown it's closer to varnish than oil which causes problems. The pan has to come off to change the filter,it's easy first year apprentices don't even stuff that up.

Quote:

........If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever.........

ugh, it's pretty black on the dipstick.
Will do it this coming weekend and again in a month or so too.

tx baron

Power steering fluid would need to be changed, its heavily used, mostly it gets ignored completely.
Synthetic gear lube is the best way to go, make sure its the right type, and if you traverse deeper waters you may get water in your differentials if the hoses or breather caps are broken.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 7:03pm:

taking a car to a garage is so time consuming. then they charge 'whatever they want' . I am thinking take it to them every 2 - 3 years for a general check over/new brakes/whatever.

You're on the right track.

Changing the oil every 6 months is just ridiculous.

If you just drive to work, and down to Grandma's on the weekend, every 12 to 18 months is fine.

We over service our cars.

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 12^th, 2015 at 7:14pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 7:03pm: taking a car to a garage is so time consuming. then they charge 'whatever they want' . I am thinking take it to them every 2 - 3 years for a general check over/new brakes/whatever. You're on the right track. Changing the oil every 6 months is just ridiculous. If you just drive to work, and down to Grandma's on the weekend, every 12 to 18 months is fine. We over service our cars.

Transmission oil ~ every 100,000 klms.

Found a very good site for the auto fluid change and flush !

http://hubpages.com/hub/Toyota-Camry-5SFE-ATF-Transmission-Fluid-Change

if its not broke...

DON'T FIX IT....

leave the dam thing alone...

don't do engine services unless they've done the kilometres... 10,000 ...

if its using oil over the period of 10K then drop it back to 8K

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 12^th, 2015 at 7:14pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 7:03pm: taking a car to a garage is so time consuming. then they charge 'whatever they want' . I am thinking take it to them every 2 - 3 years for a general check over/new brakes/whatever. You're on the right track. Changing the oil every 6 months is just ridiculous. If you just drive to work, and down to Grandma's on the weekend, every 12 to 18 months is fine. We over service our cars.

My every day car is only supposed to have an oil change every 12 months, which I believe is a fairly common interval between changes these days.  As it's under warranty, I will be adhering to the scheduled service intervals.

My other car is supposed to have the oil changed every 3,000 miles (no time limit is specified) - which probably would equate to a year or two's use at least.  Offhand, I cannot remember when it was changed last.

I don't do the oil changes myself, mainly because it is potentially a messy job and my house has a short, paved driveway and the garage is attached to the house.

It's all done. All worked out ok.
Was a bigger job than the '10 minute auto fluid change' as seen on the clip.

A few interesting pts.

I checked the fluid level on the dipstick before I begun.
It was too high I thought.
Got the drain plug out and caught the old brown fluid.
Manual said 3.4 L should come out, I measured what came out, it was 4.3 L.
So there was too much in it.

Put drain plug back in, checked level on dipstick. Good, it was empty, I had drained the right stuff.
Refilled it with 3L of auto fluid. It was a bit low, put 400 ml more in, it was right.

This changes only 1/2 the fluid in the auto. Does not do the radiator or torque converter.
In a car that has had a few kms, and the fluid is not good it is safer to just change 1/2 now. 1/2 again in 6 months time.

All the seals are used to the fluid that has been in there for the past 5+ years and 100,000+ kms.
If you change 100% of the fluid it may find the change too much and leak from a seal.
If you change 50% now it should be ok with that.

It's still a good improvement on what was there.

Setanta wrote on Apr 11^th, 2015 at 5:49pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 5:32pm: Baronvonrort wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 5:03pm: Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 4:28pm: Thanks. Seems my camry has a drain plug. Might just try draining it from there for the first time. If it's not got debris in it, the filter should be ok. Changing the fluid will be good for it. The auto still works perfectly. Which is how I like things to go :-) If you keep the auto oil cherry red and change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever. When it turns brown it's closer to varnish than oil which causes problems. The pan has to come off to change the filter,it's easy first year apprentices don't even stuff that up. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh  Quote: .........change it before it turns brown the auto will last nearly forever.... exactly what I want to happen. It's awkward for me as I don't have a pit and don't want ramps. I drive on hardwood planks to raise the car a few inches Get y'self a trolley jack and a couple of axle stands. Never get under a car only held up by a jack.

Damned good point, which can't be highlighted enough.

And do NOT be tempted into thinking that a stack of bricks or similar
is a substitute for a good set of stands. It's not, and it WILL collapse.

Also, always make sure the stands are on a hard level surface, not on
the lawn or on a slope.

Diff oil does not need to be changed as a rule, BUT the level does need
to be checked occasionally. There is no dip-stick, the accepted procedure
is to remove the filler plug and insert your little finger into the hole and
point it at the oil. If there is oil on your finger when you remove it, the
level is OK. It needs to be approx. ½" below the level of the plug.

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 12^th, 2015 at 7:14pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 11th, 2015 at 7:03pm: taking a car to a garage is so time consuming. then they charge 'whatever they want' . I am thinking take it to them every 2 - 3 years for a general check over/new brakes/whatever. You're on the right track. Changing the oil every 6 months is just ridiculous. If you just drive to work, and down to Grandma's on the weekend, every 12 to 18 months is fine. We over service our cars.

Well, yes and no.

Modern oils can extend the time/distance between oil-changes, but can't abolish the need
altogether. Years ago, changing oil every 1500 miles was common, AND you'd also have to
change grades of oil depending on whether it was summer or winter. Nowadays changing
needs to be no-where near as frequent, but must still be done, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, oil will deteriorate and absorb moisture and impurities much quicker on lots of short
journeys than it will on several longer ones for the same total distance travelled. So more
frequent changes are indicated, not less frequent.

Secondly, oil does deteriorate over time (although not so much modern synthetics with all
the additives) which is why manufacturers will say something like 'Change the oil at 6,000
miles or 6 months, whichever occurs first'.

Owners of 'performance' and race cars will, of course, change their oil much more frequently
and will also tend to use top-quality oils, but this is false economy in a high-mileage bomb.

Somewhat outside the scope of this discussion, but worth mentioning, is that some oils
(such as brake-fluid) are hygroscopic (meaning they absorb water from the atmosphere)
and so need to be changed occasionally for this reason. Ever dismantled a brake and won-
dered how the hell rust could form inside a sealed system full of oil? That's how.

I've got a Toyota Commuter in my fleet thats done over 600,000 kilometres. ..

Same gearbox oil
Same diff oil
Same brake fluid

Take it from the Mechanic. ... if you are changing these fluids every 6 months then you have more money than brains...

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 26^th, 2015 at 12:25pm:

I've got a Toyota Commuter in my fleet thats done over 600,000 kilometres. .. Same gearbox oil Same diff oil Same brake fluid Take it from the Mechanic. ... if you are changing these fluids every 6 months then you have more money than brains...

That's amazingly good.
I've had a few Toyotas and they have been faultless cars.

I guess the gearbox/diff/brake areas don't have the same heat applied as the engine oil does.

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 26^th, 2015 at 12:25pm:

I've got a Toyota Commuter in my fleet thats done over 600,000 kilometres. .. Same gearbox oil Same diff oil Same brake fluid Take it from the Mechanic. ... if you are changing these fluids every 6 months then you have more money than brains...

And apart from engine oil, as indicated in my previous comments, I would generally have to agree.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 26^th, 2015 at 4:35pm:

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Apr 26th, 2015 at 12:25pm: I've got a Toyota Commuter in my fleet thats done over 600,000 kilometres. .. Same gearbox oil Same diff oil Same brake fluid Take it from the Mechanic. ... if you are changing these fluids every 6 months then you have more money than brains... That's amazingly good. I've had a few Toyotas and they have been faultless cars. I guess the gearbox/diff/brake areas don't have the same heat applied as the engine oil does.

You get blow by past the piston rings with combustion which contaminates the oil, the black carbon line below the piston rings on the piston proves this happens,with LPG the oil lasts a bit longer.

As for brake fluid you don't have to change all of it, I just bleed off what is in the caliper until clean fluid comes out,it absorbs water and the brake pistons will corrode if not done.

baron - do you let it dribble out by gravity or have someone else there to push the brake pedal down ?

Brake fluid may be my next game, if it's easy looking.

Did the auto fluid flush this arvo.


All went well and according to how it should go.
Measuring the amount of fluid I drained out was important.
Watching it on utube first was very helpful.

I have a Mercedes A160 which is a clutchless manual and I have a problem.

It's started revving by itself all of a sudden. It doesn't matter if I'm idling or in gear - it just revs to about 3000 then drops back to normal. After I turn the car off, there's a soft clicking sound. This has only been happening today. Could it have something to do with the big rain we had here yesterday?

Annie Anthrax wrote on May 2^nd, 2015 at 7:00pm:

I have a Mercedes A160 which is a clutchless manual and I have a problem. It's started revving by itself all of a sudden. It doesn't matter if I'm idling or in gear - it just revs to about 3000 then drops back to normal. After I turn the car off, there's a soft clicking sound. This has only been happening today. Could it have something to do with the big rain we had here yesterday?

That's  a scary one.

Found this on google for you


Quote:

like john said change the engine harness. Had the same problem last year and worked like a charm. Read more: http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/454900-car-revving-up-down-no-throttle-response-po120.html#ixzz3Yyisyanx

http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/454900-car-revving-up-down-no-throttle-response-po120.html

Perhaps ring an auto electrician. Tell them the story and what you have googled.

For them to diagnose it is expensive and does not solve the problem.
For them to 'supply and fit an engine harness' is expensive and may solve the problem.

Good luck.
I have got into he habit of 'googling' or 'utubing' for problems like this.
Very handy

theres a few other causes for it there.

maybe moisture got in somewhere with the rain.
Can you leave it in the back yard when the sun is out tomorrow with the bonnet, doors and boot open and let it all 'dry out' for 3 hours ?

Quote:

....Ammar was able to recreate the bouncy RPM problem by disconnecting his throttle body wire. He already cleaned the throttle body the day before,... but there was already quite a bit of oil there (car has about 212,000 km),... so we cleanned it again with CRC ThrottleBody cleaner. Bouncy RPM could also be caused by oil in main wiring harness from leaking cam sensor getting to sender unit of post cat O2 sensor. Bouncy RPM could also be caused by bad or dirty MAF sensor. Cam sensor magnet has been changed and pig tails installed and there is no sign of any leaking oil,... main wiring harness plugs are clean at ECU. We took the MAF Sensor out of and cleaned it with CRC MAF Sensor Cleaner,.... MAF Sensor was reasonably clean to start with but there was quite a bit of oil downstream in the tubes closer to that infamous %#@*& clamp. Read more: http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/454900-car-revving-up-down-no-throttle-response-po120-2.html#ixzz3YymnYSt3.............

http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/454900-car-revving-up-down-no-throttle-response-po120-2.html

A spray of 'throttle body cleaner' sounds a cheap try

Quote:

Got my ride back today....it was the airmass sensor that was causing the revs.....got that switch out to a new one and it seems fine now....The guy at the dealers didnt really know how to explain the reason for the perculiar behavior but he said that it was the massair sensor that messed up the throttle....so as long as everythings fine, im happy now

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w204-c-class/1389598-help-engine-revving-its-own-park.html

I have heard of 'air mass sensors ' causing problems.
Though that'ld be a more permanent fault.

I don't think this solution is correct

Sprintcyclist wrote on May 2^nd, 2015 at 9:16pm:

theres a few other causes for it there. maybe moisture got in somewhere with the rain. Can you leave it in the back yard when the sun is out tomorrow with the bonnet, doors and boot open and let it all 'dry out' for 3 hours ?

Thank you for your help, Sprint. It's outside now in the sun, but I hadn't thought about opening the bonnet. I'll do it now.