# General maintenance review: what do you all do?



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Replace your blinker fluid:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GsXhBb10k

i use synthetic.


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

Tomko said:


> Replace your blinker fluid:
> 
> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GsXhBb10k
> 
> i use synthetic.


My other vehicle is a ford ranger and he has a ton of how to videos on the Mazda which is the same truck, he's great, I've yet to see that one

But lemme tell you I laughed so hard watching that lmao

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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Tomko said:


> Replace your blinker fluid:
> 
> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GsXhBb10k
> 
> i use synthetic.


So now we know why BMW blinkers don't work.


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## mikestony (Jan 17, 2013)

2012 Cruze 1LT. 1.4 turbo.

I've replaced my O2 sensors at about 100k, spark plugs at 60k then again at 100k.
When I replaced my front brakes at about 90k, I flushed the brake fluid. (Rear shoes still going strong!)
Coolant drain/fill twice since new. (once when the water pump died --under warranty)
Engine belt at about 90k.
Coolant hoses at about 90k.
Evap purge valve (?--the one on top of the intake) and turbo oil feed line at about 90k. (both for preventative measures)
Headlight assy's--- (road sandblasted terrible at about 80k)..
Wash it once a week. Polish/wax/seal it once a year. 

Haven't lubed the doors at all yet lol, perhaps I should


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

I follow the maintenance intervals in the owner's manual severe service schedule. On top of that, condition seals annually, lubricate doors/hinge assemblies as needed, rotate tires regularly, balance tires annually, correct alignment as needed or when tires are replaced, and other repairs on an as needed basis.


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## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

I do a bunch of stuff that has kept my car looking like new after 3 years.

At every oil change I lubricate all hinges and locks, including ignition lock, door lock, latches and hinges, hood hinges and latch, and the trunk hinge and latch. Many people have had problems with the ignition locks, and a little bit of grease could prevent that. Check the owner's manual for the type of lubricant to use for each location. 

Several times per year I coat all of the rubber trim and weatherstrips with dielectric grease (or Krytox GPL105 - same as GM's weatherstrip lubricant). I also put dielectric grease on the windshield trim (it is rubber), door window trims (also rubber), and the roof rails (aluminum with a rubber coating). Properly protecting these rubber trims will make the car look great much longer. Without some sort of protection the rubber will look ugly in a very short time due to sun rot and acid rain. 

I apply protectant to the plastic trim a few times per year. I also put protectant on the tires. I use Mother's Protectant. 

I clean and lubricate the sunroof tracks a couple times per year (I use white lithium grease) and remove any debris from the sunroof area so that it doesn't get into the drain tubes. I also, lubricate the seals with dielectric grease. Last year I noticed a little squeak when closing the sunroof. I found out that there are small rubber bumpers near the rear of the glass, and a little dielectric grease on those stopped the squeak. I also remove and clean the inside accordion air deflectors to make them look better and last longer. 

I clean, clay bar and wax my rims at least once a year. Rims are often neglected, and they make a big difference in the looks of the car. Also, I clean inside the rims, not just the outside. This helps the rims look great much longer and will reduce the chance of corrosion. Alloy or aluminum rims with a lot of dust inside make the car look old and neglected in my opinion. It is super easy to wipe the inside of the rims every time I wash the car. 

I put a little bit of grease on the battery terminals so they won't corrode. I clean and re-grease about once a year. I use high temp wheel bearing grease. Recently I noticed that the terminals were neglected and had some oxidation on them. I used some sand paper to clean off the oxidation and reapplied the grease. I also checked the ground points inside the engine bay to make sure they were clean and had good contact. This car seems to be pretty sensitive to ground problems due to all of the computers. 

I have rear drum brakes, and I just opened and cleaned them for the first time recently. They were about 1/4 full of dust. Cleaning them out made them perform better, and should reduce the chance of corrosion and reduce wear. I checked the brake adjustment at this time, but they were good. The drum brakes on the Cruze are automatically adjusted every time you apply the hand brake.

Every time I remove the wheels, I put some wheel bearing grease on the center hubs. It is important not to get it on the mating surface between the wheel and hub. Grease will keep them from rusting. I have seen some hubs on the forum that are almost completely rusted out. 

Once a year, I lift the car and look for any rust. I clean and paint any rust I find. I don't get much rust here in California, but it's still good to check. Also, I spray off the undercarriage a couple times a year to remove any crud. 

I keep the engine bay clean. This will help me notice any leaks while they are still small. 

I haven't bled the brakes yet. I plan on doing this sometime soon since it is about 3 years old now. I don't plan to change the coolant until I reach 5 years. 

I also put a little wax on my license plates when I wax the car. No reason not to keep them looking nice as long as possible.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

I don't think I've ever lubricated a door on anything I've owned. The door checks broke constantly on my Volvo because the doors were practically made of tank armor with a piece of flimsy metal to hold it open on the check, but haven't seen that on too many other cars.

I generally keep up with tire rotations, fluid changes (don't forget transmission (45k), brake + clutch fluid (3 yr/50k), and coolant (5 yr/100k), filter changes, and things like spark plugs. I changed the serpentine belt and tensioner on the 2012 @ 40k when the thing was chirping with AC on - tensioner's fault, but may as well do the belt. Preventative maintenance if you live in a salty/rusty area of things like brake caliper slides and parking brake mechanism is probably a good idea. If you've changed spark plugs, re-gapping and checking coil pack boots may be a 2-6 month interval based on how much you drive and what plugs you're running.

I should be better about detailing, waxing, and keeping cars paint in better shape. I just don't have the time to spend all day on a car.


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

BowtieGuy said:


> On top of that, condition seals annually, lubricate doors/hinge assemblies as needed


How does one lubricate the hinges? I've never heard of such


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## Alex V. (Sep 20, 2013)

Everything except alignments. Which is going to include valve cover and a Kaddapt motor mount over the next few months. Front brakes last month (88K), filters every 40K or so, plugs at 10K and 60K, trans. lube every 30K, etc. I've never lubed the doors, either - only do so on hinges that get squeaky.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Chevy_Country said:


> How does one lubricate the hinges? I've never heard of such


Use graphite or some kind of dry lube. A lot of people mistakenly use WD-40, but all that does is act as a magnet for debris/dust to attach themselves to the hinge and make your problem worse.

That being said, I've never once done it. I was going to on the Cav because the doors were getting increasingly loud opening/closing, but, well, it kind of met a fire hydrant, haha.


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

MP81 said:


> Use graphite or some kind of dry lube. A lot of people mistakenly use WD-40, but all that does is act as a magnet for debris/dust to attach themselves to the hinge and make your problem worse.
> 
> That being said, I've never once done it. I was going to on the Cav because the doors were getting increasingly loud opening/closing, but, well, it kind of met a fire hydrant, haha.


Fire hydrant !? Lol there's a story there I can tell 

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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Chevy_Country said:


> Fire hydrant !? Lol there's a story there I can tell


Most certainly: http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/32-c...-toys/194722-new-dd-cavalier-replacement.html


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## AzSandSlinger (Sep 10, 2015)

My maintenance is easy. I'm half retarded so I keep things easy.


I do an oil change when the display says to (7500mi?).
When I do an oil change, I also schedule a tire rotation.


every 3-4 oil changes I drain/fill tranny fluid. I also flush the radiator and bleed the brakes at this time (notice a pattern yet? lol)


I recently started adding plugs to the tranny fluid line-up. Since I switched to coppers, they need replacing more often than the platinum/unobtanium ones.


I'm coming up on the timing belt interval. Still deciding on whether I want GM to do it (for warranty purposes) or just buy the parts and have a mechanic do it. Definately won't be me, I don't do timing belts or clutches anymore. lol


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Meant to do the oil change on the Cruze this time around, but it didn't tell us until it hit 0%. So...it's at the dealer right now getting the oil changed. 

Oh well, next time.

Speaking of: Oil used is Dexos 2 (88865157) - this should be Full Synthetic now, shouldn't it?


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## Alex V. (Sep 20, 2013)

It's highly adviseable to use full syn, whether Dexos 2 is or not. The Cruze's bad reputation for blowing turbos was largely due to inadequate oil spec - especially in the 2011-2012 models that said a syn blend (dexos 1) could be run to the early OLM calibration of close to 10,000 miles. Even the later calibration of 7,500 was pushing the limits of dexos 1. I've used Synpower @ 5,000 miles with few exceptions (two changes of Schaeffer's 9000 and two of Mobil 1) and mine's still in one service-free piece at 91,000 mi. so I'm sticking with that.

Just looked it your sig and see yours is a CTD so that ^ won't apply. But I believe Dexos 2's specs warrant a full syn, regardless. It appears ACEA B3 compliant oils can be used "when Dexos 2 is not available". FWIW, I settled on Synpower before it carried the Dexos 1 cert because I trusted the oil. Then it became Dexos 1 certified, and then my turbo lasted. *taps finger on temple*


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Ours is a CTD, so a little bit different as far as the oil is concerned.

They've been switching over all AC Delco oil to Full Synthetic, but I knew the Dexos 1 oil was first, but that Dexos 2 was switching as well - just wasn't sure if it had yet.


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## Chevy_Country (Oct 16, 2015)

Alex V. said:


> It's highly adviseable to use full syn, whether Dexos 2 is or not. The Cruze's bad reputation for blowing turbos was largely due to inadequate oil spec - especially in the 2011-2012 models that said a syn blend (dexos 1) could be run to the early OLM calibration of close to 10,000 miles. Even the later calibration of 7,500 was pushing the limits of dexos 1. I've used Synpower @ 5,000 miles with few exceptions (two changes of Schaeffer's 9000 and two of Mobil 1) and mine's still in one service-free piece at 91,000 mi. so I'm sticking with that.


I agree, I've run synthetic in my '11 1.4T for the last 35k miles, I do my oil changes from 3k if it's bee a long time (I don't drive it all that much) or 4500 miles if i out them on in 6 months or so, temperature changes, dusty driving, a lot of city drives all play a (small) factor in the oils viscosity and I'm not dropping a new turbo in her anytime soon!!

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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Not really too much to add, keeping those disc brakes well lubricated is one, silicone in the caliper guides and under the piston boots, anti-seize every where else.

With silicon spray. all those rubber suspension bushings. Could add a zerk fitting to my 04 Cavalier ball joints, shot of grease every once in awhile sure helps, never had to replace them. Couldn't do this on the Cruze, joints were welded on.

Most important body thing to lubricate is the hood release, if that rusts up, major problems, only problem with doors is an ice rain.

Keeping that center electrode insulator white had to be done every 15K miles, carbon shunts out the spark. Also pouring in some kind of fuel system cleaner about every 3-4K miles, been using Seafoam for years, your choice. Carbon builds up on the face of the fuel injectors and under the intake valves.

Only way I was sure that hidden oil filter was replaced and dexos approved oil was only used was to do it myself, and the oil is right up to the full mark after the engine was started and given several minutes to settle. 

Haven't learned how to keep my tires at the correct pressure by looking at that TPMS gauge on the dash, seem to have a problem in being in two different places at the same time. So rely on my very accurate tracible to NTIS standards tire pressure gauge.

Silicone on the weather stripping does help, especially down south, but not up here, with road salt, body is all rusted away with road salt before we have weather strip problems.


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