Repair and continue driving or buy replacement vehicle?

[Chuckanut]

To others.... do not just think of miles when it comes to timing belts.... there is also a time component...

An interesting comment and it makes a point about the differences betweeen consumer automobiles and things like aircraft, trucks, ships, etc. My understanding is that the later are usually maintained on a time basis. Change the oil after 400 hours of operation. Replace the frammit every 700 hours. Never let the gridget go past 140 hours without lubrication.

I have always thought that time makes more sense since it more realistically reflects what is going on. I can drive two cars 15,000 miles a year - one on highways at speeds near a constant 60 mph, and the other in stop and go city traffic. Obviously, the first car operates for a far shorter time than the second and experiences much less wear and tear overall.

Of course, modern automobiles require very little maintenance compared to the ones of 20+ years ago so this is possibly is academic.

Maybe the engineers in the group can comment on this.

 

[Mulligan]

So you are telling us you no longer drive a bitchin Camaro?

When the wallet got weak, and the skin started to sag, it was time to move on to old peoples vehicles....

 

[ERD50]

...
I have always thought that time makes more sense since it more realistically reflects what is going on. I can drive two cars 15,000 miles a year - one on highways at speeds near a constant 60 mph, and the other in stop and go city traffic. Obviously, the first car operates for a far shorter time than the second and experiences much less wear and tear overall.

Of course, modern automobiles require very little maintenance compared to the ones of 20+ years ago so this is possibly is academic.

Maybe the engineers in the group can comment on this.

Not an auto engineer, but.... the oil life monitors in most newer cars are even more advanced than this. Time, temperature, starts, running conditions all factor in.

And to a degree, time is addressed in other ways. Most car maintenance is x miles or Y months, with a 'normal' and 'severe' driving schedules.

But I agree, a running hour meter would be a good thing, and actually probably is in most cars, even if not displayed. Those computers track everything.


-ERD50

 

[easysurfer]

I've always done maintenance like oil changes according to miles instead of time.

The reason: IMO, It is too easy to got confused like did I change the oil a month ago? two months ago? four months ago?

 

[JOHNNIE36]

It is the same program offered by USAA and perhaps others. To qualify for the 0% rate you must purchase the vehicle through PenFed's buying service, where the seller obviously provides some sort of financial incentive to PenFed for bringing them customers.

Gotcha! Gotta make money somehow.

 

[travelover]

An interesting comment and it makes a point about the differences between consumer automobiles and things like aircraft, trucks, ships, etc. My understanding is that the later are usually maintained on a time basis. Change the oil after 400 hours of operation. Replace the frammit every 700 hours. Never let the gridget go past 140 hours without lubrication.

I have always thought that time makes more sense since it more realistically reflects what is going on. I can drive two cars 15,000 miles a year - one on highways at speeds near a constant 60 mph, and the other in stop and go city traffic. Obviously, the first car operates for a far shorter time than the second and experiences much less wear and tear overall.

Of course, modern automobiles require very little maintenance compared to the ones of 20+ years ago so this is possibly is academic.

Maybe the engineers in the group can comment on this.

There is running time as noted by an hour meter and then there is chronological time as measured by a calendar. Something like a tire or timing belt might be sensitive to chronological time, as it suffers from ozone exposure. Something like a bearing might be more sensitive to running time as it is good for a finite number of revolutions.

Generally machinery like tractors and forklifts use an hour meter to estimate service intervals. Modern cars use both if you have a service interval display on your dash. It takes into account hours of idling, for instance, to tell you when to change the oil.

 

[mpeirce]

a running hour meter would be a good thing, and actually probably is in most cars, even if not displayed. Those computers track everything.

Here's picture of the trip computer at the end of a recent road trip we took:

It shows miles, hours, mpg, and mph.

So yes, it's starting to become easy to track the hours driven in new cars.

 

[Hermit]

I went through a similar situation recently, but mine was an Acura TL (basically, a luxury Accord). The difference is that I bought mine used with 90K miles on it, almost 10 years ago, and it served me really well. 88K miles in a Honda is peanuts! That car will run to 150K miles easily, possibly 200K miles. I just sold my Acura and it had 152K miles. It also needed work (new tires, new timing belt/pump tensioner, new brakes, new paint job!), so the repairs would have totaled at least $2K, for a car that was by then 15 years old. But in your case, I would definitely keep the car and drive it at least another 2-3 years. It won't depreciate much further, I assume.

It always pays to check the make and model before you buy a used car. I had a 2000 Honda Odessy. A co-worker also had one. He had to replace the transmission at 80,000 miles. My transmission went at 140,000 miles. Turns out that model had a well-known transmission problem. Of course it was not known when we bought the vehicles new. Not all Hondas (or any other brand/model) are created equal.

 

[gerntz]

Who's winning?

The current Lincoln till I get off my butt.

 

[Walt34]

The reason: IMO, It is too easy to got confused like did I change the oil a month ago? two months ago? four months ago?

That's why I keep a written log in addition to any shop receipts. Both vehicles have oil monitoring systems but it's interesting to see the variation when a change is due. As expected, much more often in colder weather than summer even when trips are the same. So it is monitoring engine/oil temperature as well.

 

[ls99]

DW's CTS and her previous LeSabre had oil life monitoring. I used them for oil change interval on my 3 vehicles which do not. Typically 6 to 8 thousand miles.

 

[brett]

No question about it. Repair....or should I really say maintain.

We are giving our '97. Camry to our son. Had it since new-never a problem but always did the scheduled mtce item sum-especially fluids/oils. We did a few timing belts on that baby!

We just did the timing belt in our 06 Accord. We expect to keep the car for another ten years and do one, possibly two more timing belt replacements during that timeframe.