Most Neglected Maintenance Item ?
 

Changed out the cabin air filters in wife's VW Jetta and in the F150 yesterday. Jetta is about a 10 minute job at best. The F150? Only able to change it out because of You Tube video, otherwise not a clue on how to do it. You essentially have to disassemble the glove compartment to get access to it. Owners manual just says take it to the dealer.

Made me wonder how many 5 - 10 year (or older) vehicles are running around out there with the original filters. I wonder how many owners even know there is a cabin air filter ?

and yes, it's a slow day.

I always change my cabin filters when I do engine air filters. Agree some cars are super easy, others make me wonder if they fired the engineers after seeing the final product.

replaced mine last year for first time in my life with a reusable filter when the original started to smell terrible. for reasons i can’t figure out, my glove box doesn’t shut the same now. it rubs. but, smell is gone

I take my minivan to the dealership. They change the cabin filter (or so they say) every 10 or 15k miles... Yeah it’s through the glove compartment.

The cabin air filter was the exact item I used to teach my daughter how to do some things on a car, at least be aware.

We bought her a used FJ in HS (which she still has 12 years later) and we went through the basics: How to check the oil, tire pressure on the door sill (bought her a tire pressure gauge she still uses), how to change a tire, fluids, windshield washer fluid (you would be shocked how many folks can't noddle that through), etc.

I didn't expect her to change her own oil and filter, but she knew the maintenance schedule and has stuck with it. I told her in no uncertain terms that she would replace the cabin air filter every two oil changes.

I showed her how. In an FJ it takes 34.8 seconds, start to finish, including getting the filter out of the box.

She called a few years later when she was in college, the dealer recommended they change the cabin air filter: "They wanted $35.00 bucks to change the &^%$#'ing cabin air filter!"

220,000 plus on the clock.

I wish more parents would teach their millennial children these basic maintenance skills.

I still cannot get over the fact my nephew took his car to the mechanic to replace the battery (battery was in the engine compartment, right in front of you.)

Had to change the cabin filter on our '02 Accord, way back when we had some really bad fires going on here and the air was full of ash. Had to disassemble half the dash just to get the glove box out to reach the filter. I was working in a 100k clean room most of the day so I noticed it when the car smelled like a smoker owned it. I know why the dealer charges what they do, at least for that yr/model.
Now, both our Honda's take less than 2 minutes to change them out. Takes more time to unload the glove box than replacing the filter element. Dealer still charges the same amount and thinks they're giving you a deal at half off the regular price.

The Taco cabin filter requires mucking with the glove box too.

Even if for some odd reason he couldn't/wouldn't change it...AutoZone or O'Reilly's will do it for free for you in their parking lot

Mid teens Nissan Rogue. Glovebox removal then a cover and you have to collapse the filter to slide it out. Collapse new one to put it back in but I was never satisfied it it sprung back to full filtering glory.

This. Much easier than doing it myself.

That's what I don't get. After seeing how ridiculously easy it is to do in my Civic (no tools, just pinch two tabs in to release the glove box door, push in two tabs to slide filter tray out, then replace filter and push everything back into place), it makes me wonder why it isn't so straightforward in every other car.

Steering rack neglected
 

There are several good threads on overhauling the steering rack, but I hear about many suspension overhauls with no mention of touching the rack. Many guys do the turbo tie rod conversion but few actually do the rack.
I got a little OCD and sourced sealed bearings for the pinion bearings, the one on the bottom is the lowest point in the assembly and I thought it cheap insurance to keep the trash out of the bearing.

Tunnel Fuel lines, pedal cluster bushings, lubing window lift mechanisms, locks, cleaning out the 50 gallon washer tank, wiper linkages are a few with little attention.

Chris

You will teach your kids that in no time. They grow up too damn fast. I bought my older boy a 98 4Runner. We spend the whole summer (on and off, of course) swapping suspension, rubber parts, radiator and all other wear items. He sometimes will protest about it, but crawled in there most of the time with me while I am cranking out somethings. He's going going to be 15 in a couple months. I hope to look back and laugh about it.

Not everyone has tools. Also, he may not aware that he can change it himself. Most people are not lucky enough to have gearhead friends and mentors.

I don’t have a cabin filter in my truck, but I do have filters for the seat cooling system. Since I never use it, I never replace them.

I tried to teach my kids how to do simple maintenance items. They had zero interest.

My daughter was mentioning about her AC in her Honda van,not blowing cold! She had a build up of leaves on the vents below the wipers;recommended to check the cabin filter,it was Full of debris,she looked on YOUTUBE for the how do,problem solved! She felt very satisfied,that she solved it her self!

2011 Mercedes is bullsheet. You basically have to take the lower part of the dash apart. Lots of cheap plastic fasteners to break along the way. Complete rubbish.

Most Neglected Maintenance Item ?

That would be the failure to change Brake Fluid every few years.....I don't know anyone besides myself that does that.......

Cleaning the cooling elements and back of the refrigerator.

Cleaning the intake screens on the wife’s blow dryer.

No one specified this had to be car related.

My (new to me) 2013 Mustang needs a new cabin air filter. I can notice outside smells more than I should be able to.

I always felt like the pollen filter was relatively easy to change on most vehicles, even if you had to lower the glove box. I feel like the most overlooked item would be air in the spare tire, especially when they are difficult to get to like Boxster, wife's Odyssey, etc.

Agreed... Most older cars have brake fluid that hasn't been changed in many years!
I use a suction system to do mine. About every two years or sooner on all of my cars.
Once you're setup for it, it's quick and easy.

I always wonder about collectors like Jay Lenno. How often do they change the brake fluid in those old cars?

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I recently changed the cabin air filter in my daughters Holden (GM) Cruze.
Really easy to do once you drop the glove box.

She was complaining that her car smelt like "old man feet" when she turned the fan on. LOL ;)

Wipers.
You forget until you can't see. Then forget again ....

+1.

I wouldn’t be surprised if half the vehicles on the road have never had it changed.

30 year old comes to my shop yesterday after buying his Mom's van. "I think the wiper fuse is blown". Raining cats and dogs. I grab the wiper and flop it across the windshield. Regulator is broken. I'm not fixing it right then.

I can't find my Rain-ex. Wax windshield with some Mothers wax variant to allow driving in rain.

I apply wax and he asks if the haze will be a problem. I ask have you ever waxed a car? He says no.

That is the straight up truth! I also have 2002, you are literally 4-6 steps away from removing the entire evaporator housing. I only know this because I changed a bad expansion valve on a neighbors 2002 Accord. Mine can wait!

There's an old guy at work that likes to drive Mercedes. I was talking about changing the brake fluid in my Cayman a few times a year because of tracking it and he was incredulous. He said "I top my brake fluid off every few years, whats wrong with your car?". I said what color is your fluid? "Brown, whats wrong with that?". Another guy at work had brake failure because of a rusted brake line.

Case closed.

algal colony extracted from a VW Vanagon - after a "Vanagon Specialist Shop" was told to do a full brake job - they didn't :mad:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1599611120.jpg

People seldom check the condition of their lights, especially brake lights, on older cars without diagnostics. Saw an older Acura yesterday with only one brake light out of three working.

Brake fluid and coolant are biggies.

👋 That’d be me with my 01 F150. Drove it 225k miles without flushing the brakes. Oil changes were like clockwork though.

Cabin filter? I yank those and run no filter. Good for another 3 HP I was told.

Honestly, I have never ever changed or paid for a cabin filter. I drive with the windows down 99.9% of the time. I change the motor oil, filter, and check fluids every 3-5K miles. Other items only on manufacturer service intervals, and brake pads/disks when sparks start flying :)

I flush my brake fluid every couple of years. Other often-neglected maintenance items include engine coolant, differential oil in rear-drive vehicles, power steering fluid, and transmission fluid/filter in automatics, or gear oil in manuals.

Battery water needs to be checked once in a while too, unless the battery is a maintenance-free type.

re. refrigerator... that's a good one. I bought one of those special brushes that helps pull the dust out from under the refrigerator (that's where the coils are on my unit). I use this along with a vacuum cleaner and get things pretty clean.

I have no cabin filter on my mid 1980s car to change. I change the brake fluid every single spring on the 911. Every other year on the El Camino.

With a space save tire in the 911, the spare is supposed to have no air. I carry one of the air pumps that plug into the cigarette lighter in both cars.

I bet one of the neglected maintenance items on most cars is the transmission fluid on automatics.