What to do after 150,000 miles?

September 15, 2015 5:39 PM

I like following my car's maintenance schedule, as printed in the booklet that came with the car. But now I'm past the mileage covered in the book. What system should I follow now?

I have a 2006 Ford Taurus with 170,000 miles on it. My maintenance schedule only goes to 150,000 miles. I'm interested in keeping this car running for awhile; it runs great now. I know one way to deal with car repairs is to just wait until something obviously needs fixing. But I am in the habit of taking my car in when I hit the major mileage milestones and having my very trustworthy and non-price-inflating mechanic tell me if the replacements or inspections listed need to be done (spark plugs replacement, brake inspection, fuel filter replacement, drive belt inspection, etc.)

Now that I'm past the 150,000 mile mark, do I just start back at the beginning of my maintenance schedule? For example, do I need to do the 30,000 mile services when I hit 180,000 (150,000 + 30,000 = 180,000)? Or do I just need to start taking my car in for regular tuneups? Or are there post-150,000 miles schedules out there somewhere for Fords (I could not find any)?

TL;DR: I'd like to know what kinds of pre-emptive replacements/tuneups/inspections I should be doing on a regular basis as I hit certain mileage points. I don't want to wait until things break.

posted by megancita to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

The way I've always done this is to treat stuff that happens at a given mileage in the schedule as if it were supposed to happen at every multiple of that mileage. For example, if you've got a schedule that covers 150,000 miles and it says to replace the timing belt at 100,000, then you'd replace it again at 200,000 - not at 250,000 as you'd calculate by simply starting over.
posted by flabdablet at 6:16 PM on September 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

Oil and filter changes every 6000 - 8000 miles. Like clockwork.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:21 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just do everything at the same interval. Flabdablet has it exactly. That's how the schedule they give you is built by Ford, no reason you can't just extend it yourself (this is also how most car manuals I'm familiar with put it, just giving you maintenance schedules up to a certain mileage and intervals thereafter). Think of the schedule as a convenient written form of part of the Platonic set of maintenance intervals that goes on as long as the car lasts.
posted by ssg at 7:26 PM on September 15, 2015