60K Mile Service

GJ-Molestor

Banned
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2011 BMW 528i, 2015 Mazda 6, 1995 Nissan Maxima Manual
Lets make a thread talking about what sort of maintenance might be necessary as your mileage increases. Any tips, suggestions or ideas are most welcomed - lets collaborate together on making a good useful thread.

- paint wash/detail. Rinse car, wipe off with soapy mitt, polish and then wax car when done

-pressure wash the mats/carpets, clean interior and seats with interior/plastic cleaning solution and a microfibre

- spray the pressure washer directly into the wheels to clean off brake dust. This, along with one firm braking motion from a higher speed will ensure your pad is worn evenly and keep things clean to reduce brake noise and improve performance.

- inspect your brakes. Rotors should look nice and smooth with no noticeable lines/score marks in the material. You can check how much pad you have left by peeking in between the rim to the side of the caliper.

-inspect and inflate all tires when they are cold. If your front tires are at roughly 50% tread, rotate them to the back (as long as your rear tires have more tread)

-Change spark plugs

-inspect engine air filter. If it is dirty or you have never changed it before, after getting a clean one you may want to take apart your airbox and give your throttle body a good clean with some throttle body cleaner. Focus on the edges of the butterfly valve, and where the valve physically touches the metal cylinder part.

-change your oil. If youve done so recently, change your oil filter again. If you change less frequently than every 5000miles, I recommend using a bit of sea foam in your crankcase to help clean out your engine before draining the old oil.

- if you dont do so already about once a week, or if you drive slowly I strongly recommend to do one full throttle pull to redline every so often. You will notice a very strong smell from the exhaust after you do this and the engine will run better - you are simply cleaning the direct injection system by doing this. You can use a fuel system or injector cleaner while you do this, but its not completely necessary. those who have never revved their car out before will note that even after 2-3 full throttle pulls, the exhaust will still smell and the engine will start to run better.

-coolant. Check your expansion tank when your car is cold. If it is at minimum, top up with Mazda FL-22 coolant. Alternatively, it is safe to use up to 500ML of distilled water if this is all you have at hand.

-change transmission fluid. Whether you do a drain/fill or drop the pan so you can replace the filter, this is important. Drain/fill is the safest bet, but your best bet is to get a new pan filter and properly seal it with some sort of gasket.

-dont forget your cabin air filter! These get dirty very quick. Very easy to replace yourself, I recommend getting a new one every 2-3 oil changes or every 10-15k Miles.

Im sure that I am missing some stuff, so please add whatever else you guys think is missing. Cheers and happy driving!
 
1. check your tire
2. check brakes and rotors
3. tire rotation every 8k miles
4. fuel injection cleaning
5. alignment
6. check belts
7.battery (Personally I never had a vehicle goes out before 75K)
 
- if you don’t do so already about once a week, or if you drive slowly I strongly recommend to do one full throttle pull to redline every so often. You will notice a very strong smell from the exhaust after you do this and the engine will run better - you are simply cleaning the direct injection system by doing this. You can use a fuel system or injector cleaner while you do this, but it’s not completely necessary. those who have never revved their car out before will note that even after 2-3 full throttle pulls, the exhaust will still smell and the engine will start to run better.

GJ - would you mind detailing the procedure please? From stand still full throttle till torque goes to RED/touches red line? How long to hold it there? Or - when driving? Etc. Etc.

Also every 10,000 miles = 2nd. oil change I usually drop a can of Techron which BTW has never failed me.
 
1. check your tire
2. check brakes and rotors
3. tire rotation every 8k miles
4. fuel injection cleaning
5. alignment
6. check belts
7.battery (Personally I never had a vehicle goes out before 75K)

Yes, checking belts is important past 60k. I dont recall fin we can physically see the belt and tensioner on the 2.5 engine (I think its hidden) but that should be spinning nice and smooth with no movement. I would also have the original spark plugs changed out by 60k.

GJ - would you mind detailing the procedure please? From stand still full throttle till torque goes to RED/touches red line? How long to hold it there? Or - when driving? Etc. Etc.

Also every 10,000 miles = 2nd. oil change I usually drop a can of Techron which BTW has never failed me.

It doesnt necessarily have to be from a complete stop. I think the safest way to do it while causing the least amount of stress on your transmission is to leave it in manual mode while using third gear and just keep gradually increasing the throttle position while merging onto a highway until like 5000rpm where you can floor it and bring it as close to redline as you can. No need to hold it there. If you havent driven the car like this in a while, you may want to do that 1-2 more times while the engine is still heated up from that initial redline - this is how you do it effectively. Now if you rev the engine out regularly, one full throttle pull to redline a week is totally sufficient and any more than that I wouldnt recommend doing.

You mentioned you use Techron which is a great idea. I remember using a fuel system cleaner in my high mileage Nissan which helped tremendously. How exactly do you use the stuff? The best way is to wait until youre almost out of gas and dump the bottle in. This way when you refuel your tank again it will mix together pretty well, but make sure you shake the car left and right while its parked to just let the mixture slosh around as best as you can. Using techron along with that full throttle pull is your best bet. Ensuring that you bring the engine up to redline regularly will ensure that your injectors dont get clogged or dirty at higher mileage because when they do, then it will be more difficult to fully clean them. The techron is also really helpful with keeping ethanol deposits out of your fuel system.

The Mazda 6 is now my dads primary car, and he is a very conservative driver. I remember I was driving it back from the car wash and some Subaru BRZ conveniently reminded to clean out the fuel injectors by trying to race me. It smelled awful! I stunk up the whole street with whatever it is I cleared out from the injectors/exhaust system. I dont recall such a smell when any of my cars regularly see higher RPM, but this mainly applies to direct injection however.
 
I happily ran my Honda Element to 175,000 kms (105,000 miles) over 15 years by following the recommended service intervals and taking Elsie to the dealership I trusted. There were a couple of small mechanical issues to deal with and tires that needed replacing but the regular service intervals caught these.

I'm intending to do the same with Madge in hopes that I can i can approach the same number of kms / years. I'm a strong believer that regular checkups on the car do keep it running well.
 
Yeah, they shouldn't need to be changed until about 100,000 miles, and even then, that is for preventive maintenance.

I kept the OEM plugs in my 2001 LS1 Trans Am for 149K miles. It still got 27mpg highway and still ran just as good as the day it left the factory, based on how it stomped ass on the skreetz!
 
I happily ran my Honda Element to 175,000 kms (105,000 miles) over 15 years by following the recommended service intervals and taking Elsie to the dealership I trusted. There were a couple of small mechanical issues to deal with and tires that needed replacing but the regular service intervals caught these.

I'm intending to do the same with Madge in hopes that I can i can approach the same number of kms / years. I'm a strong believer that regular checkups on the car do keep it running well.

Wow! That's crazy low miles for 15 years. I'd be more about checking rubber parts for rot at that age/mile juncture, lol
 
I guess I have something to look forward to as I figure we will only put about 5000 miles a year on ours.

Are you retired/stay home, or do you just live in an area like Manhattan where you can literally walk anywhere you need to go, or is it a 4th or 5th vehicle rarely to be used?
 
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