The other day, I became obsessed with a batch of YouTube videos in the How-to-make-your-car-last-for-300,000-miles-or-more genre. These good populist YouTube patriots are here to help us thwart the corporate conspiracy to make us think modern cars should only last for 150,000 miles. Here are some of the more frequent recommendations, starting with the ones that are easiest, free, and couldn't hurt. If you want to know why these things are good, you'll have to watch the videos yourself.
1. Apply the emergency break before putting the shifter in park on an incline.
2. When starting in cold weather, let the car run for just 20 or 30 seconds before driving away. Idling is bad for engines.
3. Anticipate stops so you don't have to jam on the breaks.
4. Use only Top Tier (high detergent) gasoline. Apparently it's sold at Shell, Chevron, Mobil, Sunoco, and Valero (near us in Twin Mountain and Lancaster). Look for this logo on the pump:
4. Never "top off" the gas tank.
5. Don't let the gas tank go below one-quarter full.
6. Check battery connections and clean any that are corroded.
7. Change oil more frequently than recommended, every 3-4,000 miles (5,000 if you do mainly highway driving).
8. Use only high quality synthetic oil and high quality oil filters.
Now we're getting into things that might cost you some money and could, I suppose, do more harm than good. I am merely passing on these things, so don't take my word for it--ask your mechanic, or watch the videos yourself.
9. Add a PEA-based fuel-injector cleaner to the gas tank when you get an oil change. One of the YouTubers recommended Amsoil P.I. ($17). He also mentioned BG 44K ($24) and Royal Purple Max-Clean ($12). Heres what AI said about those two: "BG 44K is often seen as a professional-grade, heavy-duty cleaner for significant restoration, while Max-Clean offers a synthetic blend for cleaning and stabilization, with BG 44K generally considered more potent and expensive, making it ideal for deep cleaning every 6-12 months versus Max-Clean's more frequent use."
10. Change your air filter with every-other oil change (this used to be easy in old cars).
11. In snowy climes, get an undercoating or wash the road salt off once a week in winter. AI estimate: $300-$1000.
12. Change Transmission fluid every 50,000 to 60,000 miles. Careful here. In some cases it's best to do a Flush $250-$400); that might be bad for some cars, which only need a drain and fill ($150-$250). CVT transmissions (like my Honda fit) need more frequent fluid changes. This is expensive, but we've had a couple of Hondas whose transmissions wore out around 200,000 miles and maybe if we'd changed the fluid . . . . . (Manufactures don't tell you to do this so you'll have buy a new car at 150,000 miles, hence the conspiracy).
13. Flush and refill the coolant every 3-5 years.
Here are the videos in case you want more details, explanations of why these things are important, or the recommendations I left out.
6 Rules that will make your car last 300,000 miles: A parts guy's maintenance schedule (re: which injector cleaner, see this one)
Proven habits that will make your car last over 500k miles without repairs This one has 15 recommendations, some of which I didn't include above.
