|
Look up the word "maintenance" and you will find synonyms like repair,preservation and conservation.
These are all good words to keep in mind when thinking about your car. And you should think about your car. Not only because of its investment value, but once you get in it, turn on the engine and back out of your driveway, good car maintenance can mean the difference between life and death. Sometimes it is the small details that can make a difference not only to your bank account, but also to your safety. The last thing you need is for you or your passengers to end up injured and your car in the auto body repair shop.
Most maintenance checks only take minutes and can be handled in a morning. This a good way of avoiding leaving your car for a long time at the auto body repair shop. For example, replacing the fuel filter once a year may only costs about $20 and takes only a few minutes to install, but can protect your engine from thousands of dollars in damage. Fuel filters protect carburetors and fuel injection systems that can easily clog up by the tiniest bits of dirt. Call it your engine's safety net. If your fuel filter starts to get clogged up, the fuel trying to flow through the filter to your engine gets bogged down and we don't want that to happen.
Another simple item in basic auto maintenance is doing a visual inspection of your timing belt every 10,000 miles. But even if the timing belt looks good to you, you absolutely must change it at the manufacturer's designated mileage intervals for better auto maintenance. Failure to do it can result in expensive engine damage. Open up the hood, look at the front of the engine and remove the plastic timing cover usually held by Phillips head screws. Now you are ready to inspect the belt. Take a look at the outside of the belt to see if any tiny cracks are forming. One or two small cracks are fine, but if you notice many cracks on the surface it may indicate extreme wear.
Next, flip the belt over slightly to inspect the teeth. Even a single broken tooth can be a disaster. Try to twist the belt. If you can turn it much more than halfway around, it might be too loose. Timing in life and in auto maintenance is everything. Don't delay replacing the timing belt.
What could be easier and simpler than changing the windshield wipers at least twice a year? This is something you can do yourself and don't need to go to the auto body repair shop. No point in waiting for it to rain cats and dogs for you to notice that you can barely see a few feet ahead with those old, worn out windshield wipers. It's the sure fire way to get into a fender bender and end up in the auto body repair shop. Replacing the wipers is so easy to do that there can be no excuse.
Another no-brainer is checking your car's oil level once a month. It is the single most important thing you can do to extend the life of your car's engine. Never add more than a quart at a time. When checking the oil make sure you are parked on level ground for the simple reason that you don't want the oil to flow to the back while you're checking the dipstick at the front. It's best to wait a few minutes after your turn the engine off for the oil to settle. Certainly you've seen this done before, but just to make sure, here is how it works. With the hood safely propped, pull the dipstick out and wipe the end clean. Re-insert the dipstick into the engine. Now pull it out. The dipstick will have two marks at the bottom, either lines or holes. The oil level can be read by seeing where the oily part ends and the dry part begins. If it's between the two marks, then everything is fine. If it's below the bottom mark, you need to add a quart of oil.
Take care of your car, drive safely and thus avoid the auto body repair shop.
>> Back to Online Mechanic Articles
|