Can I use new oil in an old car?
Q: I have retained the old family Buick Lesabre that my father bought new in 1973. It’s been a garage queen and has only 44,000 miles. I’ve been told that engines made prior to 1992 require additives that are no longer in today’s motor oil and these were taken out because they didn’t react well with catalytic converters. Running the old engines with these new oils will cause significant damage. What do you suggest? W.D., Lexington, Kentucky It still has the original Hyundai battery that has never failed since I bought the car. Every person that has serviced this vehicle has been telling me for the last few years now that I should have it replaced just because batteries don’t last this long. (Now 18 years.) What is your opinion? Maybe this is an exceptional battery that should go in the Guinness book of records.
P.K., Zimmerman,
Minnesota
A: I have never seen a car battery last that long.
Q: We have a 2009 Toyota Venza. The headlight lenses seem to be cloudy causing the lights to be dimmer. Is the issue with the inside or the outside of the lens? Please let me know the best way to clean them up.
S.B., Tinley Park, Illinois to sand off the cloudy haze in stages using increasingly finer grits. I can’t speak for all of them, but I have used Sylvania and Turtle Wax brands with good results.
Q: Do you recommend a portable battery jumper pack to jump a dead battery instead of using the old-fashioned jumper cables? My concern is that today’s cars have so many computer chips in them that you run the risk of damaging the electronics in either the car being jumped or the car doing the jumping.
T.M., Arlington Heights,
Illinois
A: I still have a set of jumper cables. I just don’t remember where I put them. There’s a battery pack in the pickup, in our car and in the saddlebag of my motorcycle. They won’t damage any circuits or chips. They are safer since you can’t reverse the polarity when hooking them up. They take up less space. And you don’t have to rely on a good Samaritan to provide a jump.