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WHAT GOES WRONG WITH VEHICLES AND WHEN

The thing about vehicles is that no matter how much you pamper them, treat them like an only child but as time passes by, certain parts begin to fail. Preventive maintenance will go a long way to prolong your vehicle's life but no kind of maintenance can stop a machine from wearing out. These are some of the components that begin to fail as mileage increases

i. Rubber components-- a lot of components in your vehicle are made of rubbers elastomers and synthetic rubbers. This includes coolant hoses, vacuum hoses, fuel hoses, emissions hoses, brake hoses, seals, weatherstripping around doors, windows, the hood, trunk and certain engine parts. What happens to rubber is that as they age they become hardened which makes them shrinks and begin to cracks

ii. Tires-- Given the jobs tires perform, they are meant to wear with time.  Wheel misalignment also enhance wearing of tires which is why you should make sure your wheels are properly aligned. High performance tires or original factory fitted tires may go upwards of 80,000 miles but cheaper replacements mostly have around 50,000 miles on them
Note that tires age  internally irrespective of mileage, any tire that is over 10 years old no matter how good it looks should be replaced

iii. Muffler-- Due to exposure to corrosive acids and water, mufflers may experience rusting in as few as four years which will lead to a leaky exhaust system

iv. Battery-- You may get lucky and your battery will serve you for over five years. That said, typical battery life is around four years and after that  you will have to replace it with a new one

v. Water pump-- Water pump is the reason your engine don't get overheated as it circulates coolant between the radiator and the engine but once it hits 70,000 miles you will start issues like coolant leakage. When the miles on it gets to 100,000 and the leakage issue becomes severe, then you know it's time for a new water pump

vi. Gaskets-- These begin to fail as time and mileage adds up. Replacing them is a major repair job but they will serve for around 60,000 to 70,000 miles before they give you an issue to worry about

vii. Timing belts-- High performance ones can go 100,000 miles before they fail

viii. Automatic transmission-- I have never met a motorist who wanted to hear about automatic transmission failure. The reason is simple, they are very expensive to repair so most people just replace them with manufactured transmission. The likeliness for failure starts to go up around 60,000 to 70,000 miles

ix. Clutch-- Expensive to repair. They could go 70,000 to 100,000 miles before they fail, although clutch failure depends on the driver. Someone who very aggressive on the clutch may end up destroying it in less than 40,000 miles

x. Brake pads-- They rate at which your break pads will wear out depends on how frequent you apply your brakes and also how heavy your vehicle is




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