Vehicle Maintenance Habits -- Yours. (Please Help!!)

AllWeatherGal

Not Just for Fair Weather
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10 Aug 2007
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253
Hi Folks ... I need some help gathering data to support a school project. I'd be so grateful to all of you who answer the following questions for me, either posting here or PT!!

1. Do you routinely check the fluid levels and tire pressure (including the spare) in your car?
yes
no

2. If not, why not?
- I don't know how
- too messy
- not important
- someone else does it
- never any time
- don't think about it
- do before long car trips
- aother (explain please)

3. Did you purchase the car you drive, or did someone else, or is it someone else's car?
mine, purchased myself
mine, purchased by another
not mine

4. Do you know where the owner's manual is?

Feel free to throw in any other comments, observations, thoughts or discussion.
 
1. Yes.
2. -
3. I purchased both of them, for me.
4. Yes for both cars.

Just out of interest, what is the school project relating to? As in, what is the study?
 
Great photo, Unleashed :) ... and thanks so much for your reply!

I need the data for my Instructional Design class project.

I've done horse-related projects for all my other classes and find that most of my classmates can't relate to the material and therefore don't give comments. So, I chose something that I thought more people could relate to.

I also chose a topic that I'm not familiar with, so I have to work with a "subject matter expert" which is what I hope to do when I get a real job doing instructional design and training.

I'm reverse engineering the process ... we're supposed to have a client, identify a performance gap (the difference between how employees/people/etc are doing something now and how they should be doing it), or opportunity (new process, product etc.) design a training intervention to close the gap, and then design the training evaluation.

I'm starting with the training intervention -- a class that teaches regular people how to do a pre-drive check in less than 10 minutes (just how the old time gas stationed used to do) and need data to be sure I'm addressing peoples' "real" concerns.
 
1. no
2. don't think about it.
3. I purchased mine.
4. they are in the glove box.

good luck!
 
1. No
2. Other- Don't own a car
3. Not applicable
4. Not applicable

:laugh:
 
1 Yes
2 -
3 My wifes car, we kinda traded, but I still paid it off. So I guess mine.
4 In the house, I read it, and my other op manuals. And i have the Haynes service manual for her car. read that too.
 
1. No
2. Dealership
3. I purchased my car
4. Glove box
 
1. Yes
2. -
3. Purchased it myself
4. Glove box & a second one in my filing cabinet
 
1.Yes
2. -
3. Purchased myself
4. right here in my bookshelf
 
1 - No
2 - Don't know how and no time, I'm always a few thousand miles behind on oil changes too - like I am now :eek:
3 - Yes, and it will finally be paid off next March!
4 - Glove box
 
thanks everyone ... I got a total of 25 survey responses from here and two other message boards. No surprise ... men are more likely to perform the preventative maintenance checks than women (including Marge who doesn't have a car to worry about)!

I have to wonder tho ... would you guys let your PCs get as crapped up as some of you must let your cars?!! And whose life depends on the PC working optimally, as opposed to your vehicle in motion?

Just food for thot.
 
I think a lot of people have the mentality with cars of "out of sight out of mind". They don't worry about it before its to late and they have to take it to a shop. Which is unfortunate because it does not take much effort at all to keep your vehicle in top running condition. (unless you have an American built car... :eek:)
 
My wife lives out of the car, which is why I hate getting it back from her. Trust me if it was just me and the kids the car would be like my computer, lean and clean.
 
When it comes to the maintenance of a vehicle man and women are the same. Many know what to do and many have no clue. I work in the Automotive Industry as an Automotive Technician and I see a balance of men to women that have no clue as to any for of maintenance. Some know how to put gas in their vehicles others even though they have done it still have problems doing it. I have seen women that know their vehicles inside and out but can't do serious work on them. Not for lack of knowledge but for lack of tools and the info to do it. And I have seen men that couldn't tell you where the hood (bonnet for the "across the pond" bunch) release is let alone where to put coolant, oil, or anything else. I see people come in with complaints of noises emanating from under the hood/bonnet and the majority of the time it's the engine ticking and clacking away due to low oil level. When the customer is told this they stare at me with this blank face and many times the question that follows is, "It needs oil?" Other times we get vehicles that are steaming and overheating or already overheated and come in on a "hook" (tow truck). We see that the coolant is so old and/or that a cooling system hose has ruptured due to lack of maintenance. When we tell them about the coolant and ask when was the last time the vehicle was serviced they again look like a Deer caught in the headlights.


Here's a story for ya. True story, since I was in it. :D

About 10 to 12 years ago, around the time the Space Shuttle went "boom" after launch, we had a customer come by with a used automobile she wished to buy. This was an import but I don't recall what brand or model. Anyway, the owner of this car was a NASA Scientist that worked at the Ames Research Center down on the Peninsula (I'm in San Francisco) here in the Bay Area. So we began to evaluate the car and also asked questions as to work/repairs that had been done to the car. We went over the car considerably but no "white glove" treatment. The car had some mileage on it, over 100,000 miles but not much over that. I began to ask the lady Scientist about the periodic/preventive maintenance that she had done to her car. She looked at me in a confused manner. So I rephrased the question. I ask how often she had the engine oil changed. She could not remember, but she did know that it had been changed just not how long ago. Hmmmm, red flag pops up in my mind. Then I asked her about the other fluids in the car, coolant, power steering fluid and such. Again she was lost. Now this was becoming really weird, and I was starting to wonder if this person ever did anything to this car. Well this car had an automatic transmission, so I as her when was the last time the transmission had been serviced and the transmission oil replaced. A long silence... then she asks me, "It uses oil...? It needs oil?" When I heard this I basically almost lost it. I excused myself and walked to the back of the shop and went into the back room and damn near died from laughing so hard.

Well needless to she we calmly and quietly told our customer not to buy the car (away from the "Scientist") and sent them on their way. A NASA Scientist, damn.
 
Thats funny gonaads, it really shows that intelligence has nothing to do with it. If a nasa scientist can be naive to the maintenance of a car, then anybody can. Its just a matter of being aware and being taught by someone that certain things need to be done.

When I got my first car my dad had me do mostly all the maintenance on it so that I would learn how to do it for one. As well as save money and just be able to take care of my vehicle myself. It was mostly simple stuff like changing the oil & filter, tire rotation, air filter, fluids and other minor under the hood stuff. I changed my Distributor cap all by myself out in the pouring rain so that I could get to work one day. The only reason I felt confident to do it was because of my experience from the stuff my dad had made me do previously.
 
1. Yes.
2. -
3. I purchased my truck and my wifes' Camry
4. Yes - both are in the glove box of each vehicle.

I am a fanatic on changing oil every 3,000 miles and doing all the routine maintenance. I also throw in injector cleaning, radiator flushes and transmission servicing. I figure it's all money well spent to have a fine running and reliable vehicle.
 
Thats funny gonaads, it really shows that intelligence has nothing to do with it. If a nasa scientist can be naive to the maintenance of a car, then anybody can. Its just a matter of being aware and being taught by someone that certain things need to be done.

When I got my first car my dad had me do mostly all the maintenance on it so that I would learn how to do it for one. As well as save money and just be able to take care of my vehicle myself. It was mostly simple stuff like changing the oil & filter, tire rotation, air filter, fluids and other minor under the hood stuff. I changed my Distributor cap all by myself out in the pouring rain so that I could get to work one day. The only reason I felt confident to do it was because of my experience from the stuff my dad had made me do previously.

The other reason for knowing things about your car/truck and the maintenance involved is so if you ever get stuck somewhere because your car/truck stopped running. You get towed to the nearest repair shop that could be in the middle of nowhere and they see dollar signs as soon as you get there. They could try to take advantage of you if you were as dumb as a fence post about you car/truck. But if you have knowledge then they are leery of you and will be more careful of trying to screw you over. But if where you are at is really the middle of nowhere and they are the only game in town then you are at their mercy.
 
Hi Folks ... I need some help gathering data to support a school project. I'd be so grateful to all of you who answer the following questions for me, either posting here or PT!!

1. Do you routinely check the fluid levels and tire pressure (including the spare) in your car?
yes
no

2. If not, why not?
- I don't know how
- too messy
- not important
- someone else does it
- never any time
- don't think about it
- do before long car trips
- aother (explain please)

3. Did you purchase the car you drive, or did someone else, or is it someone else's car?
mine, purchased myself
mine, purchased by another
not mine

4. Do you know where the owner's manual is?

Feel free to throw in any other comments, observations, thoughts or discussion.

1. Yes
2.
3. Yes, mine
4. Yes
 
1. Yes. Especially freon. Want the A/C to keep running :p

2. -
3. Purchased
4. Owners manual is unnecessary. Shop manual absolutely.
 
My wife lives out of the car, which is why I hate getting it back from her. Trust me if it was just me and the kids the car would be like my computer, lean and clean.

My ex-husband used to call my vehicle "an extended handbag". :s:s
 

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