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paying for oil change
Even my automotive engineer friend who can basically repair his whole car alone often pays for his oil changes because of the convenience of not dealing with old engine oil and its disposal
In most places you can drop off used oil at your local auto parts store for free. It's still super easy.
The only vehicle I don't change my own oil on is my truck, which has off-road skidplates you need to remove first. I could do it, but I decided it was better worth my time to have a shop do it.
oil
/smugEVdriver
Mechanic here. Most ev's have oil. Check your owners manual when you should change it.
/TiredMechanic
Since I once again have to get serious after a shitpost, Most EVs definitely don't, because most on the road are Teslas, and there is no oil to change in their regular service.
My bolt has oil for the reduction gear but it's not part of the regular maintenance. Expected interval for that would probably be similar to a transmission fluid change.
It's probably built so that the fluid lasts for the lifetime of the car, or whenever there's any issues it's able to be changed. Only thing is lifetime is different for everyone especially depending on driving conditions.
"Lifetime of the car" means different things to manufacturers vs drivers. VW would have you believe that their transmissions are maintenace free and will not need to be serviced for the life of the car. They neglect to mention that they only expect the car to do 100,000km. They're not exactly wrong, in that when the transmission starts to fail you're probably going to write it off rather than drop 5k on a replacement valve body, but if you had serviced it every 60,000km or so, there's no reason that transmission shouldn't be good for 300,000.
Way too many people get news and information through shit posts :/
Do you know how many people think because they have a hybrid they don't have oil. I'd much rather be called a dumbass for not knowing make/model/year on a random "ev's" than someone destroying their car. So yes, I will do this till I become the meme and the "ev's don't require any maintenance" meme dies.
Uninformed speculation: they need oil changes, but aren't in the regular service so it will break down, causing costly repairs or forcing you to buy a new one. The planned obsolescence is baked right in.
The motors are sealed and will last long beyond drivetrain warranty periods (which is 8 years, 120k miles on Model 3/Y). Battery packs do have a coolant that is intended to last the life of the vehicle, though I've heard of it being drained/replaced after maintenance where someone had failed valves in the coolant system.
ICE vehicles break down far faster, requiring loads more maintenance and parts replacement over their lives, even when properly maintained. More moving parts, more friction, more points of failure.
My man, change your drivetrain oil. Call me old fashioned but vehicles should last longer than 8 years. This "lifetime transmission" stuff is hogwash. I have a 5 year old ICE car that I plan on changing it's transmission oil and filter...in about 3 years.
Your drivetrain is made out of actual materials. Not some marvel movie space metal. It will shed some metal into the oil when it moves. You don't want to drive around with grit soap for lube.
Dude, this is utterly ridiculous nonsense and no one should be having their Tesla motor drive units cracked open to change lubricants. Not only does it void the 120k mile warranty, but it proves you have no experience with them.
You may as well be telling me to have my rear diff rebuilt on an MX-5 after 10,000 miles.
Look, even if the fluid change interval is longer than 120k miles and would coincide with a rebuild, it's still an interval, not "lifetime." I mean, you wouldn't rebuild the part and put back the old fluid, would you?
It isn't an interval, though, it is lifetime. I'm apparently continually failing to make that point.
120k is only the warranty period on the drivetrain/battery, and I'm using it as an example, for parts that have zero maintenance, and are guaranteed for an amount of miles most people never even put on an ICE vehicle that otherwise requires oil changes every 3k-5k miles.
put back the old fluid
Irrelevant. Even being in the position of having a drive unit serviced at all is outside the norm or intent for lifetime of the vehicle.
an amount of miles most people never even put on an ICE vehicle
Maybe most first owners never put that many miles on their vehicle, but lots of vehicles do, in fact, get that many miles on them eventually. Those subsequent owners need to understand that "lifetime" isn't really "lifetime" and that those fluids actually do need to be changed at some point!
Boy howdy, do I have a bridge to sell you!
My oil is hard and strong. Like all the hardened steel inside the fluid. We've built up years of trust and bonds. You don't think the gear oil would do me like that. It's like marriage, for life right?
No, I don't have experience working on Teslas, you didn't address my concerns though. My concern is with ANY moving part. I don't need to be an Tesla certified engineer to tell you fluids that keeps things moving, cool, clean need to be changed at some point in time.
If that amount is what's normal for them than then that's fine, that's why I said to check your owners manual.
If the mileage is that low for your mx-5 then that's probably warranty if your rear diff does need rebuilt. So that is good news.
It's different from a normal car though because you don't need to change it as often if you even need to change it at all
if you even need to change it at all
Every car oil needs to be changed eventually. Even "lifetime" transmission fluid really just means "it'll last until it's out of warranty and no longer our [the manufacturer's] problem anymore."
Yep. Had a 2012 Sentra with 150k KMs (close to 100k miles) wanted to check transmission fluid - no dipstick! Wtf? Dealer says not serviceable - f you Nissan.
Yeah but I may not own the car long enough to ever have to change it was my point