Posted in: Frequently Asked Questions, Maintenance

Truck Maintenance On The Road (Frequently Asked Questions)

We’ve been lucky so far to just need regular oil changes and a few maintenance things. Most locations have been easy to find a quick oil change place.

This was our first diesel vehicle. Diesel trucks require a few more things than a gas-powered truck/car. Diesel oil changes are generally more expensive, as it was recommended that we use synthetic oil. DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) is another routine adder to the truck. Diesel trucks also have fuel filters, which our gas-powered cars did not have. The fuel filters that diesel trucks require are $100-$200 to replace. California and Colorado seemed easy to find someone who could replace the fuel filters, but South Carolina was a struggle. For example, the Jiffy Lube in California would replace a fuel filter, but the one in South Carolina would not. I had to call several places before I found one that would replace it.

Oil Change at Jiffy Lube and All Pro Tires

In South Carolina, we noticed the back wheel of the truck was starting to lose pressure frequently. We checked over that tire but couldn’t find any nails or anything stuck in it. When we took it in for the last oil change, I had them look at it. There was a nail in, but the head had broken off and you couldn’t see it easily.

Our maintenance so far:

7/7/2020 check up and oil change before we left Ohio (Barnes, $144.45)

8/13/2020 replaced fuel filter (15,085 miles) (Chuck’s, $179.65).

10/16/2020 oil change (Jiffy Lube, $196.76), bought and replaced air filter (AutoZone, $30.41)

12/28/2020 oil change (Jiffy Lube, $170.22)

3/17/2021 oil change, 1 of 2 fuel filters replaced (30,311 miles), patched slow leak in tire (All Pro Tires, $378.21)

Posted in: Exploring Colorado, Maintenance

Truck Maintenance, Cheese, & Candy

The truck’s Replace Fuel Filter came on. Of course, having had all gasoline cars before, this was our first time with this particular warning light. I wanted to get this fixed ASAP since we would be driving in the mountains and moving again in a couple of weeks. Now, according to Google, it should have been good until 30,000, but we are only at about 15,000 miles.

I looked on Yelp and Google reviews. The first place I called couldn’t get us in for a few weeks. He did recommend another place to try and I gave them a call. Chuck’s said to come over and he would squeeze us in.

They didn’t have an inside waiting area, but did have a picnic table outside. It was in the sun and the boys got very antsy after awhile. We walked up a couple of blocks to Cheese Haus and got honey sticks and cheese curds. Nick loved the cheese, but Will wasn’t a huge fan of either. Apparently the honey was too sweet. Huh…honey is sweet? Who knew?!

We walked a little farther up the hill and stopped at a candy store. We got a few pieces of taffy for the kids to eat while waiting and I got a turtle. Walking back down the hill, we finished waiting for the car.

I was so relieved to have one thing fixed and off our plate when the truck was done. It was cheaper than the first place had quoted us too, so that was another win!

While we were gone, Ben had reserved us time at the RV park’s pool. There was a nice covered section that we could sit out of the sun. The pool was also nice and warm (it’s heated, plus sits in full sun). We took a few minutes to explore the arcade as well.

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