Whether your car is brand new or a second hand one, one thing you should never skip to keep the car workable. Yes, I am talking about its maintenance.
People usually buy a car with great excitement, but after a few months of buying, they start to ignore the small issues created by the car. As a result, in the long run they suffer with the unmanaged car.
In this article, I am going to share with you a quick over view of car maintenance and its types to make it easy for you.
Importance of Maintenance:
1.Improves Performance: Some components of our vehicle are vulnerable. To ensure the optimum function of those parts, we should perform regular maintenance checks.
2.Avoids Expensive Repair Costs: If you perform regular maintenance checks, it will save a huge amount of cost required to repair the damaged part of your car.
3.Improves Your Safety: Making a basic car maintenance checklist can help you to ensure the smoothness and functionality of the critical components of your car.
4.Contributes For Clean Environment: If your car is well-maintained, it won't produce a large amount of harmful fumes or the oil won't leak from the various pipes of the vehicle.
5.Less Roadside Emergencies: A well-maintained car won't create issues like overheated engine or a flat tire on the road.
Overview and Types of Car Maintenance:
The car maintenance schedule depends on some recommended impact parameters. They are—
- Distance driven per trip per day
- Number of trips
- Climate conditions like extreme cold or hot
- Dusty or mountainous roads
- Carrying heavy loads etc.
Car Maintenance Chart:
Here I am going to share some car maintenance tips that will make your life easier as a car owner—
1.Check The Tires And Wheels:
- The pressure of tires is usually mentioned in the manual for the individual car. You can check the tire pressure using a simple tool. Some vehicles have a monitoring system to detect tire pressure.
- Balancing wheel and alignment can contribute to the fuel economy. It is crucial to have the tire balanced, aligned and rotated according to mileage indicated in the owner's manual.
2.Check The Engine Closely:
- You should check the integrity of the serpentine belt (V-belt), timing belt and should know the differences between them as they indicate hairline cracks or any change of the integrity.
- Also, check the engine's oil level. It's an easy process— just locate the oil dipstick, pull out and evaluate oil.
Always park your car at level ground. Remove oil dipstick, wipe it with a rag. Now, reinsert the dipstick and this time you will see the exact level of the oil.
- The radiator and supplied fluid are the engine coolant. The moving things of your vehicle generate heat. The oil helps to decrease the friction but it is not enough to reduce the generated heat. So you should check the coolant reservoirs frequently.
3.Replace The Air Filter: Always make sure that, the stucked air of the engine does not have any particulate matter or debris. Because, contaminated air mixed with fuel may reduce horsepower and produce unusual sounds. If it happens, you should replace the engine's air filter.
4.Replace The Spark Plugs: If your car battery suffering from rough idle or any misfires, maybe you should consider replacing the spark plugs. Trouble starting of the vehicle, high fuel consumption, lack of acceleration may occur if the quality of spark plugs are not good.
5.Stick To The Manufacturer Recommended Octane Rating: A higher octane fuel is necessary to prevent 'knocking' of the car. But it doesn’t mean your car needs higher octane to produce more power. If it is mentioned to the manual that, your car needs premium gasoline, then you should invest some extra dollars for fuel, otherwise you can use the regular oil.
6.Replace The Broken Bulbs: The signal lights or indicators inform the direction you are planning to go to the other vehicles. These bulbs thus play a vital role, so if the bulbs are broken, you should replace them as soon as possible.
7.Other: There are some other steps included in the car maintenance checklist—
- Check the brake drums and replace if necessary
- Check the level of clutch or brake fluid
- Replace the a/c folder
- Replace fuel filter
- Replace oil filter etc.
Bottom Line:
After going through this quick over view of car maintenance and its types, I hope you will get a basic knowledge about the methods of taking care of a car. If you are a car owner or planning to buy a car, this article is going to help you.
