Easy Car Maintenance Tips and Tricks

Car maintenance isn’t intuitive–many people find it to be a headache to troubleshoot why their car is not performing properly. In this article we discuss some basic tips and tricks to help ensure your car runs smoothly and efficiently.

Minor Tasks Before Filling Up Your Tank

A quick assessment of the car while filling up can indicate that your windshield needs to be cleaned. A dirty windshield can be unsafe as it obscures vision of the road. Most gas stations provide a squeegee and and cleaning fluid to remedy this issue.

After an extended drive, all sorts of debris usually litter car windshields. Don’t wait until the dirt and debris pile up as cleaning it will be even more difficult and can create a smeary mess instead of clean glass surface. Although this is one of the easiest steps one can take in car maintenance, a quick look at a line of cars topped at a traffic line will easily prove that this area of maintenance is often overlooked.

Tire Pressure

Maintaining proper tire pressure is the safest and most economic way to prevent tire issues. This is especially important for commuters or people who depend upon their car daily for work. Tire pressure keeps tires in good shape, and improperly inflated tires do not perform as well as tires with the correct pressure. Maintaining the right pressure will also drastically decrease chances of a blow out. Check tire pressure every month or so, and especially as the weather starts changing. This is an easy task that not only increases car performance, but also increases fuel efficiency. It’s important to remember balance here: too much air may lead to a blown tire, while too little air can easily wear wheels.

Oil Levels

Maintaining the proper oil level for your car’s engine is essential. Check oil levels routinely, in addition to the other tasks listed here. Motor oil lubricates engine parts, preventing them from wear and tear that will ultimately lead to expensive problems. Motor oil also moves from the car’s combustion cycle and contains harmful byproducts of combustion, so it can process through the filter. Without clean oil, cars will suffer the effects of nasty byproducts of combustion. This is often as simple as dipping an oil stick into the oil chamber within an engine, the stick will indicate if the oil chamber is low or not. Getting an oil change is not the same as topping up the oil, so be sure that even if your engine has the correct amount of oil, that the oil is changed on a regular basis

Research Your Car

This doesn’t have to be an all night project. Take a quick look at your car’s instruction manual to determine the engine type, oil, and coolant needs. The manual should indicate how often you need to get your oil changed. The same thing goes for coolant replacement. Take a half-hour or so to look up engine requirements such as oil requirements and coolant needs so you can be sure your car is receiving the proper maintenance it needs so you can keep it running for a long time to come.