Time for Fluid Change

[pitbullowner_2]

I just bought my car and it has 92k what fluids should i change i'm not for sure when they were changed? Also what kind would you recommend and the weight for oil? Also how do you change your differential fluid, how hard is it and what should i put in? Thanx....

 

[lasertim]

With 92k and no idea what has been changed I would do everything. Obviously change the oil, tranny, t-case, and diff fluid. Check the antifreeze and see if it is still good as well as the brake fluid.

I am a fan of Mobil 1 oil and Redline drivetrain fluids.

 

[kenamond]

I'd change the coolant, too. It builds up a charge over time which causes the aluminum to corrode. May look clean as a whistle, but it could be eating things.

Consider Lucas oil treatment before you drain the oil.

As far as weights, there isn't one answer. I'd search around for some input in that area.

I'd recommend synthetic motor oils as their thermal breakdown temperature is higher which reduces coking in the turbo.

If you can talk to the previous owner, you need to find out if the timing belt was ever replaced. It's supposed to be changed every 60k miles, and if it breaks, your total your valves. Perhaps someone knows if there are markings on the belt which can identify it as factory or not.

Get a shop manual for your car. It will give you the lo-down on all of the scheduled maintenance.

I'd also recommend doing all of this yourself just to get more familiar with your car

 

[pitbullowner_2]

i bought my car from the dealer. My timing belt looks pretty good. For the the coolant change do you think 50/50 would be good during the summer time or what. and as far as the oil use a synthetic blend like mobil 1, and should i use 10w-30?

 

[DGajre777]

I use 10W40 Castrol Syntec for oil and 50/50 coolant. I added a bottle of waterwetter to it, it "seemed" to run a little cooler after I added it. For the tranny, I recommend Pennzoil Synchromesh and for the diff and x-case I recommend Redline Heavy Shockproof gear oil. To change them the car needs to be on a flat surface, take the drain bolt out, let it all come out, put the drain bolt back on, remove the fill bolt and fill it until it starts to come out. Then put the fill bolt back on.

Don't forget a new oil filter when you do the oil change. And while you do all that, look for leaks.

 

[kenamond]

i bought my car from the dealer. My timing belt looks pretty good. For the the coolant change do you think 50/50 would be good during the summer time or what. and as far as the oil use a synthetic blend like mobil 1, and should i use 10w-30?

Yes, 50/50 water/antifreeze. There is a white plastic drain petcock on the back of the 2g radiator (not sure about the 1g). You can see it if you look down the inside face of the radiator with the hood up - it's on the driver's side at the bottom facing the back of the car. Put a large enough container to catch 2 gallons total, use pliers to turn the petcock, and open the coolant cap on the front-passenger side of the motor. Of course, do this with a cold engine, and dispose of the old coolant properly and quickly (so you don't kill your cat or dog or kid or neighbor's kid, dog, or cat). You might ask around to see what people think about additives that you can add for a few minutes before you drain the old coolant. There might be something that will clean things up a bit and flush the crap out with the old coolant.

I've always run Mobil 1 synthetic - either 0w30 or 5w30, but 10w30 is okay for warm weather conditions. I'm not sure why folks run 40 weight oil, but there might be a good reason to do so.

Also, you should do oil changes every 2k miles despite what the manual says. Turbos are very hard on oil, and if you change it more frequently, your turbo will last longer. Oil will "coke" on the hot (turbine) side of your turbo if it gets too hot and breaks down. This deposits itself inside the oil passages. This happens alot more when you shut down the car and the oil and coolant flow stops pumping through the turbine's center section but the heat in the turbine housing is still soaking into the center section. Some people use turbo timers which will keep the motor running some period of time after you pull the key out of the ignition for precisely this reason. Others give the motor 30 seconds or more before they shut down (and I take it easy the last couple of minutes before I get where I'm going). If you just got done with a very hard, high boost haul-ass through town or on the track, you should give it a minute or two. Nevetheless, the coke in the lubrication system of the turbo will eventually block oil flow and lead to bearing failures. Changing the oil more frequently and using synthetics which operate properly at higher temperatures decreases the rate at which coke is deposited inside the turbo.

 

[pitbullowner_2]

thanx everyone for the suggestions i'll have to change those and get back to you.