Long Life Tips

Use Good Oil and Filter Use a top brand synthetic oil and change the filter every oil change. Amsoil, Mobil1, Royal Purple, and Shell Rotella are the best synthetics. The Shell Rotella-T 5w40 synthetic is made for abused truck diesel engines, and works great in cars. It is the cheapest good synthetic oil and is available at Wal-Mart and most truck stops. The better mpg you get using synthetic will normally offset the cost difference. You will experience a little more power too.
Napa Gold is the best oil filter you can get. If you get your oil changed at a service facility, bring your oil and filter with you. You should get a discount for bringing your own.
Using synthetic, you can change your oil and filter every 7,500 miles. The diesel trucks go 25,000 miles or more on a oil change using synthetic.

Keep your tires properly inflated and in good condition. Under inflated/overinflated tires or worn out tires cause stress on suspension components, steering, wheel bearings, and CV joints. With bad tires, it is just like driving on dirt roads all the time and will beat the car to death. Avoid the cheap models of tires. Spend some money, as you will get it back in longer tire life. Make sure the same brands and sizes are on the same axle. If you get a flat and must use a temp tire, don't put it on a drive axle.

Change your air filter. Change it every 2 years. If you live in dusty conditions, change it every year. While you are at it, spray some carb cleaner on a clean rag and clean out the airway. Make sure to remove the crud around the butterfly air intake valve. A plugged air filter causes your engine to run rich, adding carbon deposits to your valves and piston rings.

Change your automatic transmission fluid (ATF) and filter according to the owners manual. For most cars, this would be around every 3 years. The trick to long transmission life is using good name brand ATF such as Pennzoil or Quaker State. So many transmissions have been slowly ruined from using supermarket brand ATF. Ignore wives tales and don't worry about changing ATF on a high mileage vehicle. If changing ATF is going to cause problems, this means you already have problems.

Get the bugs out! When washing your car, spray the dead bug material out of your radiator and transmission cooler. Spraying from the back side works better. Heat is the #1 enemy of your automatic transmission. When the trans cooler is plugged up, you will slowly cook and ruin the ATF....thus causing excessive wear in the transmission.

If you have a CV joint knocking when cornering, change it! Don't wait around for the knocking to get worse. The bad CV joint pounding causes extra stress to your transaxle. If you do your own repair work, you can get a rebuilt CV joint with stub axle and boot for under $75 at most auto parts stores. I have used the Napa ones with no problems.

Replacement parts. You may use aftermarket parts to save some money. Most auto parts stores will offer good, better, and best quality. Choose the better or best. Never pick the cheapie. If you car overheats in the middle of Nebraska, you will wish you paid $5 extra for the better water pump. Same rule goes for belts, brake pads, starter, wheel bearings, and alternator. Did you know that a failed $20 serpentine belt can fry your engine in 3 minutes? Better to get the $30 belt!

Body Parts: To save money, get your auto body parts from an auto wrecking yard. Don't buy the made in China cheapies found everywhere online. The used parts are the same as on your car and have the same high quality. Sometimes you gan get one of the auto wrecking yard workers to do the labor for you at a cheap rate. I purchased an used Impala fron fender for $110 and got one of the wrecking yard workers to put it on my car for $25!