Car maintenance is an essential part of ownership. Taking care of your car by performing preventative maintenance helps ensure you have a safe and reliable journey. Use this guide below for common car maintenance issues. It’ll help you protect your beloved pride and keep it in top-running condition.
The Significance of Car Maintenance
A well-maintained car serviced at regular intervals keeps it in working order and helps prevent expensive repairs or surprises down the road. Additionally, when it’s time to sell or trade in the vehicle, having detailed service records can help boost its value.
Cars and notably, their engines are complex machines with many mechanical parts that are prone to wear over some time. Timely maintenance is needed to be sure of the wear of mechanical parts. Fluids like motor oil, coolant, brake oil, transmission oil, and steering oil may perish due to heat and need a timely replacement and top-up.
The Frequency of Inspection
One needs to follow the manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations found in a vehicle’s owner’s manual. At the least, you should have your car inspected by a garage every 12 months to look for problems.
Changing your car’s oil at a repair shop or dealership usually includes a multi-point inspection to check fluid levels, filters, and other components. In previous decades, a rule of thumb was to change a car’s oil every 3,000 miles. Since 2010, many vehicles have used synthetic oil that can go up to 10,000 miles between changes.
Vehicle Maintenance Checklist
Following a preventative auto maintenance schedule to maximize your vehicle’s lifespan and performance. Use this list to know what – and when – maintenance tasks should be done to help keep your car in good health and shape.
Service Immediately
Check engine light – This warning light appears when the car’s computer control system discovers a problem. There is no reason to panic when you see this yellow warning light, but don’t delay a visit to the repair shop. Don’t reset a check engine light on your own without knowing why it came on in the first place. A mechanic can run diagnostic tests to determine the cause.
Headlights/taillights – Check for blown fuses if a light goes out. Replace the bulb if that isn’t the problem. Driving with burned-out lights is unsafe and can bring you a traffic ticket.
Tire pressure light – A car’s tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) will alert you when the air pressure in a tire drops below a certain amount. Low air pressure can bring unsafe driving conditions, so inflate your tires to proper levels.
Conclusion
These milestones for car maintenance are general guidelines and help keep your car's health in good condition. A healthy car maintains its value and gets good resale value. Ion Cars is a used car dealer in San Francisco that is known for quoting the best value for used cars.
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