Do you keep a maintenance log on your cars?

[Joel Merrill]

I started doing this years ago. Anything I did besides adding oil or things like that I wrote down in a small spiral notebook I kept in my glove box. Then if I couldn't remember when I had flushed the radiator or replaced a thermostat, I could look it up. The logs also looked good when it came time to sell the car.

Of course I had older cars then and I was working on them almost constantly. If you drive a new car, there probably isn't much to write. About the only time I open my hood anymore is to add windshield washer fluid. I use synthetic oil so I don't change it as often and there is very little else you have to do regularly, but I still keep a log.

Joel

[Wilson L. Deaton]

I have always bought old cars and I always convinced myself that keeping a log of "all" repairs and maintenance wouldn't be very helpful given I didn't know the car's earlier history.

Things changed in October! I'll be doing the first scheduled maintenance on my first new car early next week. I plan to begin a permanent log at that time!

Wilson

[Walter Thompson]

Those of us in the ministry have to keep a record for IRS or to give to our treasurer, if we want to be reimbursed. I started when I was an insurance agent in 1974.

[Wilson L. Deaton]

Those of us in the ministry have to keep a record for IRS or to give to our treasurer, if we want to be reimbursed. I started when I was an insurance agent in 1974.

I have only kept mileage logs for such purposes, not maintenance logs.

Wilson

[Joel Merrill]

I have always bought old cars and I always convinced myself that keeping a log of "all" repairs and maintenance wouldn't be very helpful given I didn't know the car's earlier history.

Things changed in October! I'll be doing the first scheduled maintenance on my first new car early next week. I plan to begin a permanent log at that time!

Wilson
Congratulations on your new car. :fav18

I tend to keep cars longer than most people and after a while I forget what I've done and when. That is the main reason I keep a log. Most of my entries are just oil changes.

I bought a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am in 2003 but it was a program car and had 17,000 miles on it. So it was new but it wasn't new. :fav03 I've been using synthetic oil in it and I probably only need to change oil once a year but I do a lot of short trips and in town driving so I change it in the spring and fall. My car has a built in computer that is supposed to tell me when I need to change oil. The car now has 60,000 miles on it and the computer has only wanted me to change the oil 3 times! That is way too long for mineral based oil and I wouldn't run synthetic that long. The idea is to change oil before it wears out or gets contaminated enough to cause wear. I still have not had to do a single repair of any kind to the car. It is still like new. I plan on keeping it for a long time.

I also use good oil filters. I have bought different brands on purpose and cut them open when I am done. Then I compare how they are made. I have no way of testing the filter paper it's self but the auto industry specifies the micron size for the paper so I assume that is right. But there is a big difference in the amount of paper between brands. There is also a huge difference in the construction of the filters. For instance, filters have a bypass system built into them for when you start your car in the cold or are running extra high volume through them. There is a spring in the top of the filter so that the oil can push the filter element back if the pressure gets too high. On good filters, that spring is an actual coil spring. On cheap filter, that spring is a flat piece of tin that doesn't have near the tension as the coil springs. On those filters, they probably bypass most of the time. Most discount store filters are junk! The best filters I have found are WIX filters. The company that makes them also makes NAPA, CarQuest and probably most other part's store brands. Motorcraft is also an excellent filter (and I am normally not a Ford man). AC filters are just average. STP filters are just average. Fram filters are below average. I only use WIX filters on my Pontiac.

Joel