67 - Friday, November 18, 1988 — North Shore News

Car maintenance is WAYS
‘like baking a cake’ 3 ,

DID YOU know that maintaining
your car is like baking a cake?

According to a veteran techni-
cian who new runs a diagnostic car
clinic, just as baking is an art, so is
car maintenance and not knowing
enough about our cars can cost a
fot of money.

A study done by a provincial
consumer protection office reveal-
ed that a compact car costs its
owner an average of $3,000 a year
for insurance, licensing, repairs,
gas, and depreciation.

You could take a lot of taxis for
that kind of money, but very few
of us seem to want to part with the
convenience of instant mobility.

But, what has baking a cake got
to do with car maintenance?
Gilbere Gagnon points out that
when you’ve been baking for a
while you know all the tricks for
avoiding a failure. Experienced
cooks take that accomplishment
for granted.

But ask most of us to find the
air filter on the cat’s engine and we
wince at the idea that we should
even know where the engine is.

Gagnon claims that most of the
people he sees spend about $800 to
$1,000 a year on repairs — much
of which could be saved by gaining
some knowledge of the vehicle and
what it needs in the way of TLC to
run smoothly.

For instance, most of us are
pretty faithful to the twice yearly
tune-up. We assume that whatever
needs to be oiled has been oiled,

and that’s that until the next time.

Not so! Cars need regular
though simple maintenance to keep
parts from wearing out.

In the summer, engine oil should
be changed every two months
along with the oil filter itself. In
winter this should be done every
month,

The kind of oil is also crucial to
maintenance. In the summer, a
heavy oil (Gagnon suggests
10W30); in winter a lighter lubri-
cant, 5W20 is recommeneded.

Changing oil frequently is the
key (to maintaining an engine
because old oi! loses its viscosity
and .so parts begin rubbing
together, heating up and wearing
out,

pe

Some products are advertised to
provide a protective varnish-like
coating to preserve the engine but
Gagnon is against these because
they tend to seal the natural aper-
tures and prevent oil from flowing
through.

He also says money can be saved
and rust proofing accomplished by
having the underbody of a car
coated with a mixture of oil and
grease.

This can be done very easily,
lasts a long time and costs no more
than $50 to $75, whereas the
treatments for rust proofing
underbodies normally cost $300
although they are sometimes guar-
anteed for five years.

WE CONSERVE

WETLANDS...

8 Ducks Unlimited Canada &

We've been doing it since 1938. Today we employ more than 400 proiessionals
and support staff in 44 offices acrass Canada. We keep an eye on wetlands — and

we're goad at it.

Ouring 1988, we're celebrating our golden anniversary. iow? By building wetland
conservation projects. And when we finish those, we'll work on more, because
helping out Canada’s waterfowl and wildlife is the best way we know to celebrate

the beginning of our next fifty years.

We don’t think of ourselves as saviours of the natural world. We're hard-working,
down-to-earth, nuts-and-bolts conservationists who do what we know

best. conserve wetlands.

THE DUCKS AND GEESE DO THE REST.

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