Chapter Nine
Is car maintenance a SCAM?
NOT if you educate yourself!
Many an article is written that doing maintenance on your car is a scam. Is it? Let’s take a look. Since the advent of the automobile, the world has chosen to use fossil fuels (fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms.) to run its cars. I don’t know about you, but if it was once alive and is now dead I’m pretty sure there is going to be some sort of issue with it.
Fact " burning fossil fuels creates carbon buildup in your engine. All the detergent fuel you put in your car does help in the cleaning process but it doesn't get rid of ALL of it.
Modern cars come with a manufacturer maintenance regimen. You can look it up in your owner’s manual (if you still have it clunking around in the glove box.) You will hear writers all over the web stating their opinion towards this. First off, let’s look at their expertise. Do they have the training to work on cars? Some of them can’t even spell Camaro right (Camero), let alone give you proper advice on maintaining your vehicle.
What constitutes a Severe Maintenance Service?
Condensation from an engine cooling off is another factor of car maintenance. If you drive on the freeway just a few minutes at freeway speeds, this allows the moisture in the oil to evaporate. Very short trips, or trips of less than ten miles when it's very cold, don't allow the engine to heat up enough to get rid of the water. And water in the oil leads to damaging sludge. Also, towing and heavy loads raise operating temperatures and quicken fluid breakdown. Dusty and muddy driving means that more dirt will get past the air filter to contaminate the fuel system and engine oil.
The bottom line is that YOU need to decide for yourself if the regular or severe service schedule is right for you, based on your driving.
Are there fraudulent services in the auto repair industry? Absolutely! Is it your responsibility to understand what needs to be done to your vehicle, and when?
Absolutely? I know some people are lazy and chose to depend on others to invest their money, raise their children"
" yet expect it all to work out to their favor in the end. Let’s be real; if you truly care about these items along with overpaying for car repair, you would research and ensure you are doing what is proper for you and your family rather than depend on someone making their living off your money.
A mechanic that tells you your car needs an Internal Top Engine / Fuel Injection Clean may not be lying to you. Ask him to show you how he knows that. Some areas he should point out will be the throttle plate where you can see all that black sludgy crap from Victor the Dinosaur that has built up on your intake throttle plate, or the Idle Air Control Counts on your mechanics scanner (not a cheap diagnostic scanner that doesn't give you live data). Trust me, if the throttle plates looks like Victor has been there recently, so does the intake manifold, Idle Air Control Valve, back of the valves, top of the piston, and Oxygen sensor.
I know someone reading this right now will totally disagree with me, so for those bozos do this test yourself. An engine is a vacuum pump. It pulls in air and fuel then ignites that mixture to create power. At sea level the vacuum of a good running engine at idle will be steady between 17" and 21" HG. I personally have discredited many who say this service is not needed by doing a vacuum reading before and after a cleaning. I have seen an increase of .5" HG to 5.0" HG on vehicles from nothing but this service, with the customer returning after driving it stating.
"It feels better than when it was new". Carbon DOES build up in your engine and does affect gas mileage; it lowers compression which causes a drop in power and responsiveness, it creates pre" ignition which can damage an engine, and creates an uneven burning in the compression chamber causing the fuel not to burn properly creating more… you guessed it carbon.
When and how you do your car maintenance is up to
you, but remember you can pay your mechanic now or you can pay him later (at a higher cost). The choice is yours.
“When I die I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather.. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.”