How to Maintain a Car at 100,000 Miles

Video Transcript

"Dave Erb here from Dave's Ultimate Automotive in Austin Texas and we'll be talking about how to maintain a car at one hundred thousand miles. A hundred thousand miles, in old times, used to be about the point where people thought about getting rid of a car. They way cars engineer today, that's just not the facts. The cars last much longer, they're designed to last much longer and they're much better built than they used to be. So, at one hundred thousand miles it would really depend on if I had any history on the car, how long have I owned the car, what's my maintenance history up to this point or did I just buy the car and it has a hundred thousand miles on it? If I just bought the car and it has a hundred thousand miles on it, I would do a complete check over on the car, fix any physical aspects, whether it be the brakes or torn CV boot or whatever it might be. I'd fix those things then I'd do a complete maintenance run on it and that would be all the fluids changed out, the automatic transmission fluid, the cooling system flushed, I'd check the condition of the hoses, replace those if necessary, take a look at the belts, change out the brake fluid, power steering fluid, change the oil, all the fluids. Get you a fresh starting point on all those and look at what type of car is it. Does it have a cabin air filter, is that been checked or changed, timing belt is a big issue. A lot of manufacturers build cars with timing belts today and if it has a timing belt, most are due either sixty, ninety, or a hundred and five thousand. So if you just bought the car and maybe someone didn't do it at ninety and it's due to be done or you have no history on it, that's not something you want to let go because that can leave you stranded or cause serious engine damage. So I'd look at it from that stand point and how long I want to keep the vehicle so, once again, a hundred thousand miles, if I had history on the vehicle, I'd rely on that history and then what to do at a hundred thousand, ninety or a hundred and five, what has or has not been done, and do those items. If I don't have any history on it, I just bought it, I want to start fresh on everything, rotating those tires, check the alignment, flush all the fluids, change the oil, if it has a timing belt get that changed out and get your stuff to a fresh starting point so then you can start your oil changes every three or five, after that. You can do your thirty thousand mile maintenance, thirty thousand from that point. You can rotate your balance and tires and extend the life of those, on time, as needed. So start yourself on a program but based on a what you know and where you want to go and that's what I'd do at a hundred thousand miles."