routine maintenance

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my wife was given a 2007 ford escape 3L for completing college. her parents owned it since it was brand new. it now has around 150,000 miles. and I am wondering what i should look at for maintance my wife has been driving the car for a couple years now and says that it doesnt have the power or gas mileage that it used to. they had a 100,000 mile tune up done but I dont know what that intelled. I know that the tranny was flushed and the fluid looks brand new still. the oil has been changed every 3000 miles. we have replaced the air filter. and we are thinking of doing maybe the coolant system flush,O2 sensors, new spark plugs, fuel filter, and looking at the differential oil change. any other thoughts or ideas???

My mom also wants me to do a tune up on her car its a 2008 lincoln MKX. she bought it from a dealer with 75,000 miles on it and we dont know what the dealer or if the dealer did anything to it while they had it. it now has 110,000 miles on it. last summer I replaced the front brake pads and rotors they were pretty shot but the back ones looked brand new so i didnt do anything with them. My mom says that whenever she backs out of the garage she hear a slight grinding coming from the brakes. but only when she is going backwards. what would cause this?? Im thinking the same things for both cars but Im not sure of anything else I have more experience with older trucks but I suppose they are similar maintance wise other than intervals.

thanks guys.

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[Bill Clayton]

I went though a recent plug change on a 2002 Escape with 120,000 miles on the clock. Had to remove the intake manifolds to access the inboard plugs.(fire wall side) :woohoo: .. What a pain. Did it twice first time changed plugs only. Car ran just as bad as before plugs were change. Did some more reading and found that the coil packs were the problem. :whistle: While the intake manifolds are off replace all the rubber o-ring seals. :sick: Runs great now. 😉

[Gary]

Intervals have changed since back in the day. A checklist back in the day would look something like this:

1. Tuneup: Carb, Ignition timing, Air Filter, Fuel filter, Distributor cap and rotor, Oil change(3k-5k miles), Plugs and wires(15k miles), PCV valve(5k-15k miles) etc.
2. Tranny fluid/Oil(Auto or Manual)
3. Rear Axle Fluid Check
4. Brake Check
5. Cooling system check
6. Grease all fittings

The list goes on and on for that one

Newer cars have longer intervals, there is no reason to change the O2 sensors unless they are malfunctioning, spark plugs last 100k miles now, there are no more distributors or carbs. Even plug wires are almost gone completely. There are little to no fittings to grease, everything is “sealed for life”. Most cars don’t even have a serviceable fuel filter nowdays, it is part of the in-tank fuel sending unit.

A “tuneup” nowdays consists of:

1. Air filter
2. Oil Change(5k-7k miles)
3. Fluid Checks and top offs
4. Plugs at 100k, inspect every 50k

Thats about the extent of a tuneup nowdays.

[Author]

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