horrified

[Dominic]

A woman at work took her car to a local mechanic - it was suffering from an oil leak unexpectedly. (Ford focus about 10 yrs old) She reported back that the oil filter had rusted through!
Turns out it's been in place for at least 5 or 6 years... she's never had it serviced or oil changed in all that time!
I was lost for words.....

[C6Dave]

Just to balance this, it's not only women who do that.

Men have been known to ignore maintenance as well and wonder why somethings gone wrong with their car......

[bmcecosse]

^^^^^ Aye right.....a man would never do that....

[morris van]

My dad worked at garage and he had to move a 18 month car which had been part exchanged as it was a company car.It had 68000 miles on it and the engine had no oil in it the brake pads never replaced and was making a awful noise he put some oil in it and my dad looked in the service book and it had never been servived.The man who got the new car had never checked anything.He got the sack.The 18 month old car was scrapped as it was totally worn out and needed to much work done to it.

[drivewasher]

It never ceases to amaze me. We get cars presented for test Been polished that much they dazzle me, boom boxes as big as the boot, fancy seats and harnesses led lights big box silencers (on a 1000 corsa ROFL) Tv screens in seat backs etc, etc. I pull out the dip stick on pre test inspection. NO OIL on the dipstick at all.
AND when I tell the presenters they usually say "well, the oil light hasn't come on" That's when I need a Choccy hob nob and a brew.

[chrisryder]

Natural selection.

Don't know how to look after a car? Don't bother to check it over (or even get it checked over)? You don't deserve to keep it!

[morris van]

With my Morris,MG and my Focus I check the levels every week and I always service my Morris and MG myself and my 08 Focus has just had its 50000 mile service.

[chrisryder]

The sump on my girlfriends fiat punto had gone rotten, so oil was soaking through the metal! I elected to change it myself... how hard could it be?

On a minor (despite the fact that the sump wouldn't have rotted out anyway...) you'd just drain the oil, drop the sump, refit and refill... easy!

Not so easy on a punto... What with the exhaust going right under the sump (bloomin' front wheel drive nonsense...) I had to drop the exhaust manifold off. No downpipe like a minor, the cast manifold is welded to the cat, and the cat is welded to the downpipe which goes all the way under the sump to its first bolted joint.

Easy, take the whole manifold off... No, that's got a heat shield bolted to it, which covers the manifold nuts.

Brass nuts so they are easier to undo (like a minor)? No chance, shear half the bolts off, drill them out and tap them later.

Lift the manifold/cat/downpipe up through the engine bay? No chance, has to go down and out.

Ok, all that's out now. Easy access to the sump... No chance! A cross brace to strengthen between the block and 'box means you can't get to all of the sump bolts. So you have to take that off too. And then there's a cover plate to keep stones out of the flywheel/ringgear... and you have to take that off to get to some more bolts...

Plain sailing from now on... right? No. Sump is GLUED to the block with silicone sealant, so you have to thump, whack, swear and cry, and finally use a wall paper scraper to tease the gap open and chisel it along to break the seal.

After all that, having taken the exhaust off, i needed a new gasket (well could have reused, but it was looking thin and dodgy). New manifold gasket for a minor... £2? £3? New exhaust gaskets for a fiat punto. £4.19... each! Plus VAT! A tenner!

Finally managed to get the new sump fitted in the end... It still drips

The 90's were not a good year for car designing... well not for the italians anyway...

[santadawes]

Just to balance this, it's not only women who do that.

Men have been known to ignore maintenance as well and wonder why somethings gone wrong with their car......

I am not saying anything

[drivewasher]

Being in engineering all my life, the very first thing I was taught (my ear lobes still hurt lol) was before attemting to start any engine first job is to check/dip the oil level. The second thing was to find out how to stop it.
That's what I preach to anyone who will listen!

[jfs52e]

My brother in law who has been driving for over 20 years recently tried to top up his oil. He kept spilling it all over the place and I wondered why. I found he was trying to top it up via the dipstick hole!!! Laughed so hard it hurt.

[ptitterington]

I am pretty sure that you can buy dipstick extenders on E-bay so you dont have to actually buy any oil.

[DaisyMayFozz]

Bringing this back up, I have a friend ( its true don't laugh) who's Renault Laguna was at about 83,000. the cam belt needed changing at 80,000. I told her that she needed to replace it. Of course she new best and on day on the M1 she was overtaking in the middle lane when there was a rumble/screech noise. SO she turned the radio Up.

Unsurprisingly about a mile later, the belt snapped leaving her stranded in the middle lane of the M1.

She listens to me now!!!

[morris van]

When my VW Golf went in for its 40,000 mile service the car was just under 40,000 miles at a VW main dealer I asked when should the cam belt be replaced he said 60,000 miles.A month later I had only done about 800 miles the cam belt went,and when the car went to the VW garage to repaired the man on the service desk ment to say it should be replaced at 40,000 miles and wanted to get more money from repairs