Off season maintenance

[colobrio]

Hey, all. As I'm getting more into AutoX and tracking, I'd like to get in the habit of putting the car up on stands at the end of the season and getting all recommended annual maintenance taken care of before setting it back down. If anyone can share a link to a good list of recommended off-season maintenance for a car that sees some track time, I would appreciate it.

[soundman98]

track maintenance isn't all that different from the manuals 'extreme service interval' schedule.

most guys prefer to replace all the fluids, but it really depends on how hard/hot everything was getting in your track times.

[EndlessAzure]

As far as regular maintenance goes, just follow the owner's manual.


Here is what I like to do if I reach the milestones before the manual interval


After every event:

• Brake fluid bleed
• Inspect oil & coolant levels
• Inspect pad & rotor thickness
• Inspect tires
• Inspect wheels
• General underbody look-over

After every 2-3 events:

• Motor oil change
• Brake fluid flush (depending on fluid condition and performance)
• General look-over of suspension components

After every season (~6-10 events):

• Trans/Diff fluid change
• Brake fluid flush
• Clutch fluid flush
• Wheel/suspension alignment
• Inspect bushings and mounts
• Install backlog of goodies

After a bad off or impact:

• Inspect/repair wheel
• Inspect/replace tire
• Inspect underbody and suspension
• Wheel/suspension alignment

[rice_classic]

I am going to send out my injectors to be serviced and rebuilt along with doing a compression check and leakdown of the engine. Good to find out now if it needs any deeper love.

[colobrio]

Thanks, EndlessAzure. Looks good to me.

[SCFD]

Originally Posted by EndlessAzure

As far as regular maintenance goes, just follow the owner's manual.


Here is what I like to do if I reach the milestones before the manual interval


After every event:

• Brake fluid bleed
• Inspect oil & coolant levels
• Inspect pad & rotor thickness
• Inspect tires
• Inspect wheels
• General underbody look-over

After every 2-3 events:

• Motor oil change
• Brake fluid flush (depending on fluid condition and performance)
• General look-over of suspension components

After every season (~6-10 events):

• Trans/Diff fluid change
• Brake fluid flush
• Clutch fluid flush
• Wheel/suspension alignment
• Inspect bushings and mounts
• Install backlog of goodies

After a bad off or impact:

• Inspect/repair wheel
• Inspect/replace tire
• Inspect underbody and suspension
• Wheel/suspension alignment

This is a pretty comprehensive list but you must be driving the car really hard to be doing brake fluid and oil changes so frequently. At one point, I bleeding my brakes every event but eventually extended my intervals to once per season.

[EndlessAzure]

Originally Posted by SCFD

This is a pretty comprehensive list but you must be driving the car really hard to be doing brake fluid and oil changes so frequently. At one point, I bleeding my brakes every event but eventually extended my intervals to once per season.

My experience with brake fluid and oil changes are based on HPDE/road courses rather than AutoX.

With Motul RBF600, I was only getting 2 events before the brake feel was noticably degraded and needed a flush. The brake fluid was also much darker than from the bottle. I've since added brake ducts and changed to PMu gfour which seems to hold up better, but still like to do a bleed after events for peace of mind. A bleed is between 100 to 200 mL, versus a full flush at 750 to 1000 mL.

Oil analysis showed healthy oil after 3 events plus a full interval of driving. Could probably swing a 4th event, but I'd rather stay conservative

[Jyn]

Yep, the problem is the Motul RBF. Both 600 and 660 need bleeding pretty frequently.

Endless or Castrol will run a full season without much need for maintenance. It's worth the extra cost once you know you'll be running a whole season.

[SCFD]

Originally Posted by Jyn

Yep, the problem is the Motul RBF. Both 600 and 660 need bleeding pretty frequently.

Endless or Castrol will run a full season without much need for maintenance. It's worth the extra cost once you know you'll be running a whole season.

I've always wondered about this... it seems like everybody running Motul is constantly bleeding their brakes. I never had a problem with ATE SuperBlue/Type 200 and Wilwood Hi-Temp 570 was my go-to brake fluid for years.