Taking Care of Your Vehicle

Sure, I drive a car that's the same age as I am, 30. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try to keep it nice. I've developed a lot of respect for this WVO thing in the last year or so, and now that I'm burning a fuel that requires special attention to details I am realizing that I'm paying better attention to my vehicle overall.

The Benz may not be the cream of the crop when it comes to style, and I sure do get a lot of funny looks from people out on the road. But I respect these cars. They are built with a seriously strong Diesel engine that if taken care of can go 500,000 miles or more! I don't know how many miles are on mine because the odometer is at 150,000 and stopped working before I bought it. But it runs like a champ. Here are some things that I plan on doing on a regular basis:

1. Lube oil change: Every 3 months, which is about 3-5,000 miles the way I drive. Just got a fresh change last week.

2. Diesel Purge: A few times a year. I run it straight through the injection system and it's sure to clean out any possible carbon deposits and light coking. Using vegetable oil properly, I shouldn't be getting much of that crap anyway.

3. Checking tires, brakes, electrical connections: I just keep an eye on them regularly.

4. Transmission fluid flush: I recently drained the fluid from the pan. I didn't bother draining the torque converter. The fluid looks pretty clean now.

5. Radiator fluid: It was drained recently when I converted the car to grease. It's always good to have clean coolant.

6. Car cleaning: I like to keep it washed and for the most part clean. Like I said, it's not the most stylish and ofcourse it has it's quirks, but I can still do what I can to keep it clean.

These are some basic things to keep tuned on any vehicle. I plan on educating myself to be able to do the timing chain and other maintenance that is a bit above my level of expertise with cars. I own a Haynes manual which has been quite helpful.

Cash for Clunkers was a mistake. We can use older vehicles and learn to do our own repairs.

Have fun making other people hungry with your WVO exhaust!