March 10, 2025 • 7 mins
Ron Ananian joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about proper car maintenance and the most important parts of the car to test and maintain.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back. Ron Andanian is the host of The Car Doctor,
which is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app. He's also
owner of our A Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Ron,
thanks for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thanks for having me. Larry, good morning, Good.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Morning to you. I want to talk about a necessary evil,
something that just about every car owner hates. I know
I hate it, and that is following a regimen for
proper vehicle maintenance. And I guess the question is which
plan do you follow?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The follow Yeah, let me go through a question, tough topic, right.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The manufacturer, the dealer, or just your own gut.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, I think you know the first question you have
to ask yourself is do you own this vehicle or
lease this vehicle?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, well, let's just say let's go one at a time.
Let's say if you own it.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
If you own it, then we're then we're going to
medicate it slightly differently. So there's manufacturers world, there's dealers world,
and then there's Ron's world, which I consider real world,
and a lot of that is based on environment and
operating conditions. I think you have to break maintenance down
into you know, some basic areas. The good old oil change, right.
(01:13):
I mean, this is a debate that's been going on
for years. How often do you change oil? Now, every
vehicle on the road today just about has a driver
information center and it'll pop up, you know, percentage of
oil do and this many miles until you change oil?
And you know, the manufacturers, as a rule have been
extending oil drain intervals out further and further. Some of them,
(01:35):
some of the specific European ones, extended it out so
far they actually had problems and they brought them back.
I in Ron's world, we like to change oil every
five to six months, every five to six thousand miles.
Synthetic oil, good filter, YadA YadA yah. We might be
a little bit over medicated, but if we own the
vehicle and we want to get to the two hundred
(01:56):
and fifty thousand mile mark, that's how we're going to
do it. Changes are still proven to be the best
form of general maintenance to get you that distance. You know.
Next up on the list, we want to talk about batteries.
How often you know, how old is our battery? If
the vehicle we're driving is more than three years old,
we should be testing that battery on a yearly basis,
(02:17):
and we should consider replacing it around the five year mark. Now,
a lot of vehicles today have start stop technology. What
do you drive, Larry, What kind of car do you drive?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh? I drive a night twenty fifteen Nissan Rogue.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Do you have start stop? Does it shut off at
a traffic light?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
No, okay, but start stop is common. Vehicles would start
stop technology have two batteries, so when one battery starts
to age and go south, so does the other. So
we want we want to think about in terms of
age at that three year mark, start testing and at
the five year mark replace. Okay, it's just it's just
a good common way, a good thought process to do
(02:59):
fluids and filters. You know, cars are still by mileage
time war mileage. All right, we're going to talk about
somebody that owns a vehicle that drives on average fifteen
to eighteen thousand miles a year in that first year,
they're going to have done at least two oil changes
at the fifteen to eighteen thousand mile mark, depending upon
(03:21):
their environment. All right, dirt dust, things like that. We've
done at least one tire rotation. We've done, cabin we've
done air filter all right, we want to do them together.
We want to get in the habit of grouping that together.
If the engine's having a hard time breathing, so we're
we because we're breathing the same dirt that the engine breathes.
So that pretty much holds true. At thirty thousand, we're
(03:43):
going to repeat the fifteen and our next major service
on most cars is at the sixty thousand mile mark.
Now here's where it gets vague. Okay, you can look
at a variety of things, but it still comes down
to common sense. Oil changes, tie rotations, brake inspection, and fluids.
(04:03):
A lot of fluids go longer, and it depends on vehicle.
You can take a Subaru. A Subaru at sixty thousand miles,
the majority of them across the board call for all
the driveline fluids to be changed, transmission differentials, transfer case,
spark plugs at sixty thousand miles on a Subaru. But
if you take a Jeep, a jeep is ninety thousand miles,
(04:26):
So some of this depends on your mechanic. I think
not to confuse everybody anymore than I might have. You know,
number one, you want to look in your owner's manual. Now,
when you look at your owner's manual, you want to
read what the manufacturer has to say, and you need
to disseminate that from what the dealer might have given
you when you purchase the vehicle. Some dealers will actually
(04:48):
create their own service schedules, and I'm not here to
argue that some of them are very valid. But you
want to know what your options are. Okay, But I
think the one that everybody really misses the most is
I think people just go too long on oil changes,
and from there the whole maintenance process falls apart.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Hey, Ron, thank you so much for not overreacting when
I said I drove a twenty fifteen Nissan Rogue. I
thought you were going to.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Go, what, Oh listen, they're good cars.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah they are, And I want a car. When something
goes wrong with it, I can just get rid of
it because I hate having to deal with a new
car and all the problems.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Sometimes well, either that or it's easier to fix right
because we know where, we know where all the piccadillos are.
We don't know we know where all the potholes are,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, but I'm horrible with maintenance. Just just awful with maintenance.
Lights go off on my dash and I'm not even
sure what half of them mean.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
How many miles on your car, Larry.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Two hundred and twenty seven thousands? Oh nice?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Have you been doing your oil changes? Oh?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, that's the only thing I really do.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I I'll do that and there it is, right, and
there it is. You know. That's that's what it's all about.
You know, common sense. You've got to read the owner's manual. Well,
you've got a you know, And I think I think
the most important point about maintenance. You know, Natalie was
telling me she found a good local mechanic and I
said to her, good, Now you can go talk to
him about maintenance for your car. You've got to have
(06:11):
somebody to talk to that gets to know the car
on a on an intimate level, so to speak. And
they know where you're going, how you're driving, where that
car is going, and that dictates course of repair and
course of maintenance on.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
An intimate level. Is it different? Is the maintenance different
on an older car than it is a newer car.
Somebody told me that you you don't need to get
your oil changed as many times on a new car.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
No, I disagree with that. I think listen, ask ask
a four truck owner, right, variable valve timing and some
of the other things that Ford's having problems with with
their engines. They're finding out that the more they change
their oil, the longer they last and the less problems
they have. You know, it's it's it's no trick to
get a car to the one hundred thousand mile mark.
The trick is to get it to the two hundred
(06:54):
and fifty thousand mile mark. That's that's where the drama begins.
You know, at one hundred one thousand miles of car
is a third of the way through its life cycle.
So you know, you could you could lease the car,
go back to lease real quick, right if we're leasing it. Hey,
if they say change the oil once a year every
twelve thousand miles, Yeah, that's what I would do. Do
three oil changes, hand them back the car at the
(07:15):
end of the three years.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, that sounds nice to me. I'll tell you what.
But Jo Bron, it was great to talk to you.
Thanks so much. I agree welcome that you well
Welcome back. Ron Andanian is the host of The Car Doctor,
which is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app. He's also
owner of our A Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Ron,
thanks for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thanks for having me. Larry, good morning, Good.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Morning to you. I want to talk about a necessary evil,
something that just about every car owner hates. I know
I hate it, and that is following a regimen for
proper vehicle maintenance. And I guess the question is which
plan do you follow?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The follow Yeah, let me go through a question, tough topic, right.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The manufacturer, the dealer, or just your own gut.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, I think you know the first question you have
to ask yourself is do you own this vehicle or
lease this vehicle?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, well, let's just say let's go one at a time.
Let's say if you own it.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
If you own it, then we're then we're going to
medicate it slightly differently. So there's manufacturers world, there's dealers world,
and then there's Ron's world, which I consider real world,
and a lot of that is based on environment and
operating conditions. I think you have to break maintenance down
into you know, some basic areas. The good old oil change, right.
(01:13):
I mean, this is a debate that's been going on
for years. How often do you change oil? Now, every
vehicle on the road today just about has a driver
information center and it'll pop up, you know, percentage of
oil do and this many miles until you change oil?
And you know, the manufacturers, as a rule have been
extending oil drain intervals out further and further. Some of them,
(01:35):
some of the specific European ones, extended it out so
far they actually had problems and they brought them back.
I in Ron's world, we like to change oil every
five to six months, every five to six thousand miles.
Synthetic oil, good filter, YadA YadA yah. We might be
a little bit over medicated, but if we own the
vehicle and we want to get to the two hundred
(01:56):
and fifty thousand mile mark, that's how we're going to
do it. Changes are still proven to be the best
form of general maintenance to get you that distance. You know.
Next up on the list, we want to talk about batteries.
How often you know, how old is our battery? If
the vehicle we're driving is more than three years old,
we should be testing that battery on a yearly basis,
(02:17):
and we should consider replacing it around the five year mark. Now,
a lot of vehicles today have start stop technology. What
do you drive, Larry, What kind of car do you drive?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh? I drive a night twenty fifteen Nissan Rogue.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Do you have start stop? Does it shut off at
a traffic light?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
No, okay, but start stop is common. Vehicles would start
stop technology have two batteries, so when one battery starts
to age and go south, so does the other. So
we want we want to think about in terms of
age at that three year mark, start testing and at
the five year mark replace. Okay, it's just it's just
a good common way, a good thought process to do
(02:59):
fluids and filters. You know, cars are still by mileage
time war mileage. All right, we're going to talk about
somebody that owns a vehicle that drives on average fifteen
to eighteen thousand miles a year in that first year,
they're going to have done at least two oil changes
at the fifteen to eighteen thousand mile mark, depending upon
(03:21):
their environment. All right, dirt dust, things like that. We've
done at least one tire rotation. We've done, cabin we've
done air filter all right, we want to do them together.
We want to get in the habit of grouping that together.
If the engine's having a hard time breathing, so we're
we because we're breathing the same dirt that the engine breathes.
So that pretty much holds true. At thirty thousand, we're
(03:43):
going to repeat the fifteen and our next major service
on most cars is at the sixty thousand mile mark.
Now here's where it gets vague. Okay, you can look
at a variety of things, but it still comes down
to common sense. Oil changes, tie rotations, brake inspection, and fluids.
(04:03):
A lot of fluids go longer, and it depends on vehicle.
You can take a Subaru. A Subaru at sixty thousand miles,
the majority of them across the board call for all
the driveline fluids to be changed, transmission differentials, transfer case,
spark plugs at sixty thousand miles on a Subaru. But
if you take a Jeep, a jeep is ninety thousand miles,
(04:26):
So some of this depends on your mechanic. I think
not to confuse everybody anymore than I might have. You know,
number one, you want to look in your owner's manual. Now,
when you look at your owner's manual, you want to
read what the manufacturer has to say, and you need
to disseminate that from what the dealer might have given
you when you purchase the vehicle. Some dealers will actually
(04:48):
create their own service schedules, and I'm not here to
argue that some of them are very valid. But you
want to know what your options are. Okay, But I
think the one that everybody really misses the most is
I think people just go too long on oil changes,
and from there the whole maintenance process falls apart.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Hey, Ron, thank you so much for not overreacting when
I said I drove a twenty fifteen Nissan Rogue. I
thought you were going to.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Go, what, Oh listen, they're good cars.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah they are, And I want a car. When something
goes wrong with it, I can just get rid of
it because I hate having to deal with a new
car and all the problems.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Sometimes well, either that or it's easier to fix right
because we know where, we know where all the piccadillos are.
We don't know we know where all the potholes are,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, but I'm horrible with maintenance. Just just awful with maintenance.
Lights go off on my dash and I'm not even
sure what half of them mean.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
How many miles on your car, Larry.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Two hundred and twenty seven thousands? Oh nice?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Have you been doing your oil changes? Oh?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, that's the only thing I really do.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I I'll do that and there it is, right, and
there it is. You know. That's that's what it's all about.
You know, common sense. You've got to read the owner's manual. Well,
you've got a you know, And I think I think
the most important point about maintenance. You know, Natalie was
telling me she found a good local mechanic and I
said to her, good, Now you can go talk to
him about maintenance for your car. You've got to have
(06:11):
somebody to talk to that gets to know the car
on a on an intimate level, so to speak. And
they know where you're going, how you're driving, where that
car is going, and that dictates course of repair and
course of maintenance on.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
An intimate level. Is it different? Is the maintenance different
on an older car than it is a newer car.
Somebody told me that you you don't need to get
your oil changed as many times on a new car.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
No, I disagree with that. I think listen, ask ask
a four truck owner, right, variable valve timing and some
of the other things that Ford's having problems with with
their engines. They're finding out that the more they change
their oil, the longer they last and the less problems
they have. You know, it's it's it's no trick to
get a car to the one hundred thousand mile mark.
The trick is to get it to the two hundred
(06:54):
and fifty thousand mile mark. That's that's where the drama begins.
You know, at one hundred one thousand miles of car
is a third of the way through its life cycle.
So you know, you could you could lease the car,
go back to lease real quick, right if we're leasing it. Hey,
if they say change the oil once a year every
twelve thousand miles, Yeah, that's what I would do. Do
three oil changes, hand them back the car at the
(07:15):
end of the three years.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, that sounds nice to me. I'll tell you what.
But Jo Bron, it was great to talk to you.
Thanks so much. I agree welcome that you well
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