Every car has a service schedule – based on miles or months, whichever occurs first. Something else may occur first, though – like a “peaceful” protest in your town. Or a new Gesundheitsfuhrer-decreed lockdown based on the increasing number of WuFlu “cases” (never mind the decrease in deaths – which were never unusually many to begin with and are even fewer now).
Which could trigger a meltdown.
Might be a good idea to service your car now – while you still can. In order that it’s ready to go when you need to go. And less likely to stop before you get there.
And stop when you need it to.
Brakes are as good a place as any to start. Once they’re up to snuff – good calipers, fresh pads and fluid – they’ll be good to go (and good to stop) for at least the next 30,000 miles, which ought to be enough to carry you through what’s very possibly coming. Good brakes are especially important if you’re pulling a trailer – something else that may become important in the months ahead.
Right now, it’s still easy to run down to the parts store and get the parts you may need. It may not be so easy a few months from now. Or even weeks. It may become a lot more expensive, too – if the value of those pieces of paper in your wallet collapses.
Even if you don’t need brakes right now, buying the parts right now means you will have them when you do – when the parts stores don’t. And you won’t be spending $500 (maybe $5,000) for a set of new pads, either. Plus, parts are fungible. If things get really bad, having parts will amount to having value in a form that can’t be debased and can be traded.
Same goes for things like oil and filters, tires, drive belts and other things your car will need – but which may be hard – or expensive – to come by soon.
Some service items are easy to neglect – or forget about altogether. Which – if you do – you may be reminded about at a very inconvenient moment. One good example is your vehicle’s fuel filter – which in many modern cars is hidden away inside the fuel tank. Eventually, it will get clogged – and then your car won’t run.
But the fix won’t be quick or easy – as it once was, when cars generally had the fuel pump mounted on the engine and therefore at least busted-knuckle accessible and removable with basic hand tools, with just the hood up.
With in-tank filters, the car will probably need to be up on a lift – easy to find now, maybe not so much tomorrow – and the tank may have to come down. More than busted-knuckle work. And if you haven’t got the new filter, it won’t matter – even if you have access to the lift.
If your car’s filter is the same one that’s been in there for more than the past six or seven years, replacing it now could pay off later.
Now is also a very good time to service the cooling system – while coolant and hoses and so on are still easy to come by. The upside to doing it now is that – as with brake work – once it’s done you’ve bought yourself a lot of time.
Several years, at least. And that could be just long enough to make it through what appears to be on the horizon.
Some cars need specific service – a timing belt change is a good example – that must be done by a certain odometer reading. If not done, the belt will inevitably fail – probably, per Murphy’s Law, when you are needing to get away from “peaceful” protestors.
And then it may not be easy to find a shop that can do the job.
Your car just became useless over a $700 (or so, depending on the car) repair. Given the lunatics are now running Arkham, it might not be a bad idea to get this service done before the specified odometer reading. So that’s done – and you don’t have to worry about it later.
Certain peripherals may also prove worth their weight in gold – possibly literally. Things like air compressors, for instance. And necessary tools. If you buy them now, you will have them later. Even if things don’t go sour, the value of these tangible goods remains – unlike the tenuous value of the paper you used to buy them with.
There’s one more thing to think about, too – without which your car won’t go no matter how tip-top its condition:
Fuel.
It has always been a good idea to keep the tank at least a quarter full, in order to keep the in-tank fuel pump running cool. Many people are unaware of this fact. That in-tank electric fuel pumps are cooled by the gas in the tank – and that they run hotter (and live shorter) when the tank is run dry – or nearly – regularly. Keeping the pump cool extends its life.
Keeping the tank full may extend yours. Because you never know when a “peaceful” protect may erupt.
It’s also a good idea to extend the shelf-life of the fuel by using fuel stabilizer, especially if you’re using ethanol-dosed “gas,” as most people are essentially forced to – because it’s often not convenient to drive to one of the few remaining stations that still sell gas, without any ethanol.
For long-term storage, marine stabilizer is best. The stuff is specifically designed to prevent the water ethanol attracts from separating out – and rusting out your fuel system and making starting hard and possibly impossible.
A few five gallon jugs in the shed – also dosed with stabilizer – is sound policy, too. Since you might not be able to get more on the day you really need it.
Which may be coming next week given how things are going.
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Don’t forget about the very real advantages of using Amsoil lubricants. The sorry power steering units they have these days can be “fixed” with Amsoil lube. The roller rockers and lifters that don’t seem to last very long these days can get new life with the proper Amsoil engine oil, also the oil pumps too. I couldn’t say how many leaks I’ve stopped on various vehicles with Amsoil lubricants.
My Z 71 had 200,000 mile exactly when I bought it and had a lot of lifter noise. I used some Amsoil crankcase cleaner and drained it(20 minutes of running). All sorts of nasty stuff comes out. I refilled it with a Amsoil filter and Mobil 1 because it’s cheap and ran it 3,500 miles which had used nearly a quart of oil. I changed to Amsoil and another Amsoil filter and it went about 5,000 miles before using a quart. The second change on Amsoil it didn’t use any oil to 6,000 miles and all this time the lifters are quieter all the time. After that I began running 10,000 mile oil changes and have not ad to had any oil.
BTW, when you change coolant, throw in some Bar’s Leak when you do. It slicks everything up so well I’ve yet to have a water pump wear out running it and that includes the wife’s car with 284,000 miles+. It also increases the ability of the coolant to exchange heat. If I every have a new engine I’m going to change to a waterless coolant that lasts forever from what I’ve seen.
BTW again, I just thought about that brake job. If you have a breast pump around, it’s most likely made by the same company and looks identical to the pump they make for changing brake sluid and even has close enough adapters to use it instead of spending big bucks on the same pump for automotive use. A friend found one that appeared to be new for $5 in a garage sale.
I have vehicles that sit for months at a time. I make sure I put non-ethanol fuel in them before they sit. Has worked well for me.
Interesting on one of them, an old ’02 truck, I disconnect the battery cause it has a load loss I can’t find. When I go to restart it, it struggles to stay running for about 2-5 minutes, I’m assuming because the computers have to re-learn their fueling maps. Then it’s good to go.
Also, there’s a newer air filter out there, that only requires water to clean off. I have been skeptical, but it seems to work pretty well. This is vs those gause oiled filters that a lot use. That’s what came on a used truck I got, and I don’t like them, but the previous owner had scrapped all the OEM air plumbing so I was pretty happy I found this new non-oiled membrane filter. I’m still a believer that OEM paper is best though.
Eric – Thanks for this tutorial on routine maintanenace. My truck needs it.
My pleasure, MB –
It’s a good time to get things like this done; god only knows how much time we have left…
Air filters are another area. Might want to pick up one of those K&N reusable types. But all preventative maintenance may end up being academic.
Remembering the first lockdown they had to force skeeerred workers to return to interstate truck stops. They almost shutdown the entire transport industry. With the high probability of a upcoming second total lockdown they could easily make them stay home,,, thus no fuel,,, No trucking. This would cause the food shortages within days and the subsequent deaths the Marxists so long for. Even just fake news of it would work. When they announce a hurricane approaching here in Florida most food, water and fuel disappears within a few hours.
As for cases,,, Cases,,, CASES!!! here is a cut and past from today’s Martin Armstrong:
” I’m in Utah. A friend of my wife told her that she and her husband signed up to get the Covid-19 test. The line at the testing facility was so long, they gave up and went home. They got a call two days later from the testing facility saying that they tested positive for Covid-19.—they never had the test. Another friend had the swab test. Her mouth was swabbed four times and was counted as four tests. How can we believe any of the data? How much of it is being inflated?”
His answer:
I have spoken to several doctors, and, off the record, they all say the same thing — these tests are not valid. The abuse by the medical profession to cash in on COVID cases is threatening all of our rights just so they can line their pockets. You cannot create an incentive that only pays if they have COVID, and then not require an actual test if the patient shows possible symptoms.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/qa-backfiring-lockdowns/
Is it true?,,, Who knows,,, Given the present situation with government paying for positive tests I’d say, yes.
I have personal knowledge of this- a neighbor is undergoing cancer treatments at Mayo clinic. She’s been tested 4 times, came back positive 4 times and BEEN COUNTED 4 TIMES!
Yes, the deaths were never that high to begin with. But then when you consider the inflation of the number of deaths, from other direct causes, its even fracking lower. Scamdemic
Hi Matt,
Notice that one almost never hears anything about the total number of confirmed WuFlu deaths. Or even the presumed plus the confirmed – about 125,000 last time I checked.
Out of 330 million.
Math is hard.
Eric,
More …. How exactly is “confirmed” corona determined? Deferential diagnosis of symptoms? The symptoms are too general in common with literally hundreds of other illnesses. So, no confirmation there. Testing, either by PCR or antibody? Both so fraught with errors, contamination, and cross reactions as to be useless. No confirmation there either. How about Ouija boards and reading tea leaves? Dice? A spinner? Or, let’s cut to the chase, let’s just make shit up.
The only way to “confirm” a corona case/death would be to isolate the virus from the sick individual and compare it to already accomplished/determined findings that have scientifically demonstrated via Koch’s postulates. The first step, “The microorganism must be found in abundance in all organisms suffering from the disease, but should not be found in healthy organisms,” has never been accomplished. There are claims to this being accomplished, but as far as I can determine, they are false claims based on unpure isolates. There are also claims to having the RNA genome sequenced. But if said sequencing is accomplished with contaminated sources, how is that possible? It’s not.
Long story, short, but one that very few can even begin to accept, is that COVID-19 is imaginary. It does not exist! All the sickness and death has been caused by other factors, some by normal everyday occurring events and and some imposed by medical/government procedures and mandates. Not a single case/death by COVID-19 can be proved!
Btw, the new “case count” bravo sierra is a contradiction of Koch’s first postulate, i.e. the causative agent must not be found in healthy people. What the elevated case count means is that “corona” is everywhere and is completely harmless.
Apparently coronavirus causes motorcycle accidents now.
i wish gravatar had up votes
permission to copy/pasta your factual prose?
From CDC
Death from Covid 19
Deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, coded to ICD–10 code U07.1
Confirmed:
Have no idea how they confirm Covid 19. As far as I know there are only 2 tests. The RT-PCR ( extremely unreliable ) and the Antibody test. Sates you had a Coronavirus sometime in the past.
Presumed: Yep,,, sure looks like Covid to me….
With wuflu or scamdemic, if they really want to scare the people, they should put up the kill numbers for cancer deaths. But big pharma doesn’t want that, bc that might end up with people actually trying to lead a healthy lifestyle (doubtful but you never know).
Indeed, Anon –
This is about politics – not health. Submission – not “stopping the spread.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHA rofl. Exactly.
Hi Annon
How about Medical ‘errors’
A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000.
Kind of eclipses the 128,000 Covid Deaths… no?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html
yes, this is old news
it’s useful to point this out to any one that blindly trusts these state agents called doctors
medical errors do not include overdoses or nosocomial deaths either
Wanta see how stupid the sheeple really are? Just watch this bullshit. Sickening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQHu-M2LHCg
heh, surreal
why would anyone believe anything that the minions of the lying, thieving, murderous state claims?
u.s. citizens are legally declared enemies of state under the war powers act, as amended.
the state has been waging a ‘mixed’ war against us for generations
this covid scam is just the newest ‘front’ of the war
In the State of Washington, they were counting murder victims as Covid Deaths if the body tested positive.
And don’t forget to maintain your lead dispensers, and stock up on fuel for them too.
All good advice Eric, but I fear if things get that bad, driving away from the problem may not be an option. Best to get the hell out of places racing down that track, ASAP. There are places aplenty where the inhabitants aren’t swallowing the male bovine fecal matter. The nearby college town, Columbia MO, has gone full collectivist, but none of the surrounding smaller towns demonstrate anything out of the ordinary. Well, except for a few of the more gullible diapered. There is hope. Just don’t look for it in the CIA infiltrated Mockingbird Media.
Just one quibble, JWK, it’s not infiltrated by, but in fact wholly owned by our beloved Christians In Action. Something wicked surely this way comes.