Keeping up with the auto maintenance plans recommended by your car’s manufacturer is not difficult or expensive, but it will save you a lot of money and extend the life of your car. Not keeping up with your auto maintenance plans will impair your car’s fuel economy, create big issues, or in the worst cases, cause serious car wrecks.
If you feel overwhelmed by your car’s maintenance requirements, you are not alone. It is a lot to keep up with. To make sure you are keeping your car in the best possible shape, you could discuss it’s maintenance with a professional at a local auto repair shop or read your car’s auto manual . Otherwise, here are the top five easy, inexpensive car maintenance tasks that will keep your car happy:
- Perform Regular Quick Inspections.
Inspecting your vehicle and looking for anything that needs to be repaired on a regular basis is the best way to make sure you catch issues before they arise. Make sure that your windshield wipers are functioning properly. Make sure that your headlights, break-lights and blinkers work as they should to avoid any expensive traffic tickets. Check the gas cap; if your gas cap is missing, damaged or doesn’t seal properly, you could be losing gas through evaporation. In fact, faulty gas caps cause about 147 million gallons of gas to be evaporated each year. If you see anything that looks like it could be an issue, take your car to be seen by an auto repair service. Many mechanics are willing to check and tell you if you need work for no or little expense. - Check Your Oil Regularly
Checking to make sure you have proper amounts of oil in your car is something that anyone can do and could save you a huge headache. If your car runs out of oil, it causes a myriad of issues in your car, including seizing your engine! On top of checking your oil levels, make sure you take your car to visit a car repair shop every 5,000 miles or four months for an oil change. - Keep Up With Tire Maintenance
Getting your tires replaced can be expensive, but do not put it off. Tire issues make your car drive improperly, hurt your fuel economy and can cause serious car wrecks. Check the tread on your tires regularly and replace them when necessary.
To extend the life of your tires, have them rotated every 7,500 miles or as recommended by your car manufacturer. When your tires rotated, it’s a good idea to also have them balanced and have the alignment checked so that your car drives smoothly and they wear evenly. - Inspect Your Timing and Serpentine Belts
Most timing belts need to be replaced every 60,000 miles and serpentine belts every 40,000 miles. Sometimes your mechanic can check your serpentine belt and tell you if it is in good enough shape to let it go a while longer. Your timing belt should be replaced as recommended though. If your timing belt breaks while you are driving, it could break the cylinders in the engine, which requires the entire engine to be replaced.
These are the five basic maintenance services that will keep your car driving as it should. Check your manufacturer’s guide for additional tasks for your specific vehicle. What do you think is the most important part of recommended auto maintenance plans? Did we forget anything? Leave a comment and let us know!
