9 ways to get your car to 200K miles

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    MORE AT KIPLINGER.COM

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    9 ways to get your car to 200K miles (or more)

    By David Muhlbaum | Kiplinger Mon, Jul 15, 2013 6:57 PM EDT

    The average age of cars on the road today is higher than ever -- nearly 11 yearsold, according to research firm R.L. Polk. Thats partially a function of a sloweconomy, but also, Polk says, because vehicles are more durable and morereliable than their predecessors.

    And with the average car adding more than 10,000 miles to the odometer eachyear, its practically a given that youll hit the once-notable milestone of 100,000miles. In fact, you might even triple that without needing a big-dollar repair, suchas a new engine or transmission.

    But reaching those loftier targets requires some input from you, the owner. Squeezing maximum life out of yourride at minimum cost means being attentive to your car in a variety of ways. Weve outlined nine here. Take a look.

    Regular Maintenance Is Crucial

    Theres no getting around this one: A car thats not regularly servicedwont last as long as one that is. It might not even make it to 100,000

    miles.Regular maintenance is the key to the automotive fountain of youth, says

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    maintenance schedule of your owners manual, says Torbjornsen. Follow

    the severe duty schedule of more frequent servicing if your manufacturerspecifies one.

    But at a certain point, the manufacturers schedule may fail a high-mileage driver as it sometimes lacks specificsbeyond, say, 150,000 miles, other than to start over as if the car were at mile zero. Can [manufacturers] trulybelieve that an engine with more than 50,000 moving parts with 150,000 miles is going to replicate an engine

    straight off the assembly line? wonders Pam Oakes, a certified technician and author of Car Care for theClueless. What about a 180,000-mile engine? Would that have the same wear as an engine with 30,000 miles? Idont think so.

    Like other experts we spoke with, Oakes recommends building your own maintenance schedule with a trusted,certified mechanic who knows youre interested in going the distance.

    Use Your Senses: Sight

    If your routine is to plop into the drivers seat in a darkened garage at oneend of your trip and slam the door behind you in a darkened garage at theother end, its time to shake things up a little. Do a preflight at least once

    a week, says Tony Molla, vice-president of communications for theNational Institute of Automotive Service Excellence (and a certifiedtechnician with years of experience). Walk around your car. Have your kidstep on the brake and see if the lights come on. By spotting a problemnow, when its small, you might save yourself more than just a ticket.

    Lauren Fix, an automotive analyst and host of the Car Coach segments on Time Warner Cable, suggests looking

    back at where youve parked every time you pull away. Just take a second to look back and see if there are anyfluids left behind. If there are, next time park on some cardboard, and youll know where it was coming from, says

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    Though your sight is the most important sense when driving your car,hearing may actually be the most important one to keeping it running. Acar that sounds like its falling apart probably will soon.

    What youre listening for is anything out of the ordinary. Any bump,squeak, knocking, ticking? Dont turn up the radio turn it off! At what

    speed does it happen? Thats a really important piece of information youcan give to your mechanic, explains Fix. If you can guide a technician[with that information], you will save them hours of trying to track something down.

    Use Your Senses: Smell

    No, really, your nose can help you head off problems that could endangeryour run for 200,000+ miles. When youre checking the oil, counsels Fix,give it a sniff. If it smells burnt, that could be a sign that your engine isrunning too lean (not using enough fuel). Fixing this condition could saveyou from a costly engine rebuild.

    Smell can also come into play if your car has a dipstick to check the levelof the automatic transmission fluid (not as common as it used to be). If thatfluid smells burnt and nasty, its also a bad sign. (Well discuss stinky transmission fluid more later.)

    Say No To Short Trips

    If theres one single thing you can do as a driver to get your car to lastlonger on its original parts, its to drive it less specifically, on trips where

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    some of it gets into your cars oil and exhaust system every time the

    engine runs. Also, when your car is first started, more fuel is mixed in toget it running.

    On a longer trip, your cars engine gets hot, and the water and unburned fuel are boiled out of the oil, your engineand your exhaust-- no worries there. But a short trip wont do that, allowing the water and oil to eventually turn intonoxious sludge that eats away at your motor. So, how short is too short? It varies by temperature and how you

    drive, but AAA defines it as trips of less than five miles in normal temperatures, or less than ten miles in freezingtemperatures.

    Tony Molla, of the ASE, faces only a three-mile commute to work but often drives longer. I go out of my way, hesays. I take the long way in the winter, to make sure the engine gets up to operating temperature. That way itburns off the nasty stuff that can build up in your crankcase.

    Try to combine your short trips into a single run. And for Petes sake, dont park in front of the garage and then pullthe car in when youre going to bed. Thats a short trip to the junkyard.

    Use Synthetic Oil

    Few issues get motorheads more riled up than the question of which oil touse and how often to change it. But few will take the stand that syntheticoil isnt better than the petroleum-based stuff.

    Synthetic oil is more expensive, no doubt up to four times as much asregular. But think of it as insurance against the cost of an engine rebuild.Note that more manufacturers are specifying synthetic oil, particularly in

    performance models. And if your engine is turbocharged or supercharged,definitely go with synthetic to handle the higher thermal stress. All the experts we spoke to are big fans of synthetic

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    Change the Transmission Fluid

    If changing the transmission fluid and filter is specified in your carsmaintenance schedule, well, then, take care of it.

    But what if no replacement is specified? Increasingly, car manufacturersare either just indicating that the fluid should be checked at intervals or

    assuring you that the fluid is lifetime. To which we say, how long is alifetime?If youre looking for a long lifetime, plan on replacing the transmission fluidat least by 100,000 miles (and theres no harm in doing it earlier).

    Note that theres considerable controversy about whether it makes more sense to flush your cars transmissionfluid or have the pan on the bottom of the transmission removed and cleaned out. Flushing allows all of of the old

    fluid to be removed but doesnt do anything about the (possibly dirty) filter inside your transmission. Dropping thepan will get out any sludge that collected in it and will usually entail a new filter, but less old fluid will come out and less fresh, new fluid will go in.

    Our counsel: Never do a flush without replacing the filter first. Thats what the Automatic Transmission RebuildersAssociation recommends.

    And if you have stinky transmission fluid? Your transmission is already cooked and on its last legs. Flushing it,warns radio host Torbjornsen, will only accelerate its demise by introducing new fluid whose detergents willdissolve whatevers still holding together in there.

    Keep Your Car Clean

    Just as you keep the fluids in your cars critical systems fresh and clean,

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    time, it ought to be nice enough to look at.

    But getting up close and personal is also about looking for small problemsthat could lead to costlier repairs. Wash your own car, insists Molla. Get down on your hands and knees. Youregoing to notice things like cracked lenses, where water is going to get in and cause your expensive headlightassembly to fail.

    Be Prepared to Replace Bearings and Bushings

    Its a given that youll be replacing what are known as wear parts: tires,brake pads, timing and accessory belts, and shock absorbers. But as youhead for the land of six-figure mileage, there are some other parts youshould be looking to replace before they fail. Tackle these fixes proactively

    to avoid larger repair bills that might lead you to give up on a car before itstime.

    Lauren Fix specifically recommends looking at your suspension bearingsand bushings metal and rubber bits, often doughnut-shaped, that isolate your suspension from the rest of thecar and dampen noise. If theyre allowed to deteriorate and break, it could affect the alignment of the car, and that

    can affect the life of the tires and cost you money. The regular inspections youre having done (right?) should pickup a bushing going south, but if youre replacing your shocks and struts, consider having all the bushings done atthe same time.

    The importance of replacing timing belts, which ensure that your engines valves open and close at precisely theright time, was also driven home by our experts. And when that belts being replaced, suggests Molla, go aheadand get the water pump replaced, too, even if it hasnt failed.

    On many cars, he explained, the labor cost of reaching both of these parts is high, but the parts themselves are

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