Maintenance items that are time dependent regardless of mileage?

sillyrabbit

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I don’t drive a lot of miles/km’s per year. Lots of short local trips as I work close to home and rarely venture out of my small town.

So I wanted to start a thread talking about which maintenance items should be done regardless of mileage, and are more prone to degradation over time even if you aren’t driving much.

So far the items I have identified according to the manual are:

Change your oil at least once per year even if you haven’t driven enough to set off the maintenance minder. (I can attest to the fact that the MM will automatically tell you to go for an oil change if it’s been a year, my oil life was 40% but it still told me to go in at the one year mark).

Change your brake fluid every 3 years even if your mileage doesn’t set off the MM. (again I can testify that the MM told me to do this after 3 years even though I was below the recommended mileage).

Does anyone have additional items to add? I’m not sure about the air filter, the cabin filter or the CVT fluid among other things.
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arsh88

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I’ve found doing air filters once a year is just easy and cheap.
 

silverrascal

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Brake fluid, at minimum every two years, I believe.
 

Gruber

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Tires don't last forever.
But they should normally be good for up to 10 years according to mfrs. Actually this would be for me the indication of unusually low usage of the car. I never had to throw away the tires because of their age, even though I always bought rather long mileage tires.
 


kimtyson

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I vacuum the cabin air filter once a year.
Clean and lubricate caliper pins and pads once a year also.
What. What? You vacuum a ten dollar filter instead of replacing it?
 

kimtyson

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Vacuuming sounds like a good idea, actually. If it’s clean it should be good as new unless there is damage to it.
I would think the vacuum will only get the chunks, leaving small dust particles to clog the filter. Not to mention mold, pollen, etc. To each his own, I guess.
 

Gruber

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I wouldn’t vacuum if it was plugged, I vacuum the dead leaves. I replace approximately every two years. Around here they want $45 cdn for a Fram filter.
Seems like much. Walmart currently offers the FRAM CF11182 cabin filter for USD 13.97 and sometimes some numbers (like for my CRV) are even cheaper in the store.
Vacuuming the debris between filter changes seems like it may be a good idea depending on local driving conditions since it's so quick and easy to access it. As long as the flow is still good.
 


Dario1101

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As you can see, the price is before taxes, I'm sure I could get cheaper prices on Amazon, but I still like to give it a check once in a while.

Cabin Filter.JPG
Huh, wow. In that instance, vacuuming the filter kinda makes sense, economically at least haha.
 

fitter_here

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I know I could replace for cheaper but I prefer to remove the big chunks from the filter, there isn't much dust during the winter around here.
In the old days there was no such thing as a cabin air filter and nobody died of mold or pollen..lol A tune-up in those days required more then today: spark plugs, cables, distributor cap and rotor, points...just to name a few.
Nowadays changing liquids and replacing filters are just about it, but the dealers will charge you an arm and a leg for this.
 

Dario1101

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I know I could replace for cheaper but I prefer to remove the big chunks from the filter, there isn't much dust during the winter around here.
In the old days there was no such thing as a cabin air filter and nobody died of mold or pollen..lol A tune-up in those days required more then today: spark plugs, cables, distributor cap and rotor, points...just to name a few.
Nowadays changing liquids and replacing filters are just about it, but the dealers will charge you an arm and a leg for this.
Well, non-filtered systems could possibly lead to health problems down the road. I mean if nothing else, at least those rocks and leaves aren't flying in your face haha.
Very true on that last point, which is why I am very grateful to learn how to do my own car maintenance!
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