Since the car has been paid off I have not given Mr. dealer so much as a dime, and that was about 22 months ago. More importantly the bumper to bumper warrenty expires this January and from then on it its into the wild blue yonder and I couldn't be more confident about entering that wild blue yonder than I am right now.
Before you is a dismantled oil filter, as I have done since the car was new and I am happy to report that there was not any significant wear associated with the rings or bearings. This is important because it is your only way to determine if the lubricants are working properly and with 73,500 miles on the car it performs exactly as it did the 1st day I drove it.
I am in the process of installing an oil pressure gauge, for $43 and tax on $17 of that this gauge can tell alot about engine condition for many miles in the future. By watching the gauge closely now when the car is still like new I can head off future problems when the gauge starts to act differently at 2,3,or 4 hundred thousand miles. Its a direct pressure gauge and I taped all fittings to ensure a leak free system. The donut is the part between the filter and block and is where the reading is drawn from. Oil flows from the oil pump to the outside of the filter, then through the paper core and back to the block through the center hole. It then procedes to the crankshaft and camshaft where it returns to the oil pan where it is picked up by the pump again. By splitting the fins of the paper core you can observe any contaminants the core has picked up and if the car is older just do the camshaft cover test mentioned on an eariler post to determine engine wear. If experience is any guide the oil pressure gauge will read about 5 bar or 75 psi when the motor is cold and just started, it should then drop to about 4 bar or 60 psi once the oil has been heated, it could drop to 1 bar at idle depending on the type of filter you have because that is where much of your oil pressure is derived, the rest is the pressure it takes to get the crankshaft and camshaft lubricated. So far the cost per mile is 24.6 cents and the cost per day is $7.30, not including gas and oil, both of these will decrease over time,
