Im doing the front brakes this weekend so I will bleed (and replace) the old ass Coca Cola coloured brake fluid I currently have.

my biggest concern right now is that I am unable to read the dipstick, so I’m concerned with how I can monitor my oil level. Every pull shows something different; sometimes the whole dipstick looks coated, which is not possible since I use a measuring cup to put the appropriate amount of oil and don’t overfill.

 

Definitely take it out longer once a week if possible... Throwing away a working car....


With regards to the dipstick... Wait for the oil to settle. Obviously vehicle should not be running, on flat surface. I've never had an issue as long as the oil dripped down and settled. Sometimes it sticks to the sides on different dipsticks and can throw you off. Clean and retry. You want full coverage.

Seen some mentions of internal coking etc. of rings, yadda yadda. Just hit 202k, but about 5-600 mi before changing oil added a few solid glugs of marvel mystery oil. Cleaned about 35-40% of what was caked under the valve cover. Came out black, reset valves, CKP learned and idle air (vol & tq) learned. Runs a lot smoother. Good luck I'm looking to get mine to 500k. (Also switched to 5w30) this summer. Seemingly anything EPA related seems to have a negating effect on long term reliability and performance of cars. Enough to just stick with known good. Good luck to you.

 

the person before me really didn’t appear to keep up with oil changes that well. My engine is burning some oil, so the previous owner was probably toping it off like a caveman getting oil all over the place. Trust me, that’s the first thing I did. I gave the valve cover a good cleaning and monitored it every time I stopped the car the first week. Not a drop is leaking. Luckily, I don’t appear to have the VTC rattle so that’s nice.

in my first weeks of ownership I’ve done the front brakes, coolant, oil, clutch and brake fluid. Still have to replace the rear drums and shoes and adjust the parking brake. It’s not terrible but could be a bit tighter.

im thinking the engine is pretty gunked up and I’m considering perhaps running a liqui moly engine flush on my next oil change. My engine runs pretty smooth, but I’m thinking the spark plugs are due since the previous owner basically did no maintenance so I’m 99% sure I’m on original plugs at 100k miles. I might also try and run some redline in my fuel.

When you ran the Marvel Mystery oil, did you top off the oil or did you add a bit over full mark? Also, did you run the synthetic mystery oil or the regular mineral?