Monday, February 10, 2014

The Cost of Upkeep

We took part of a day off and went to Laredo to do some shopping and relax a little. We have a Ford F 250 Super Duty diesel pickup that hauls the house around and serves as our daily runner (for now). While diesel oil changes and other preventative maintenance can be a bit pricey, the interval between performing them is longer versus a conventional gas engine. I think it kind of balances out. We got the oil change done at one store and then had to find someone who would change out the fuel filters. Once it was all said and done we had spent over $200! I believe it was money well spent as the engine had been missing of late. The fuel filters seemed to have cured that. It seems that the water content (present in all diesel fuel) is high in south Texas, so we have to keep the water separator drained. Ironically, we have had the most trouble by filling where the fuel is the cheapest. To avoid contaminated fuel, it's much better to find a busy filling station, like a truck stop. In our line of work a dependable vehicle is essential. We are miles from civilization and when we are towing we need the peace of mind that a well maintained vehicle provides us.

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