Car maintenance is a vital part of being a responsible car owner. Despite that, it often feels daunting, especially to first-time car owners.
It’s tempting to just get a professional to sort out everything, but that’ll prove to be expensive.
You can do quite a few car maintenance tasks yourself, and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. They could be easier to do than you’d think.
Despite that, they could be much more important than you’d think. They’ll make sure your car runs properly, so you shouldn’t need to worry about anything when you’re using it. It’s worth taking a look at some of the more important of these.
Benefits Of Car Maintenance
Before looking at which car maintenance tasks you need to take care of, it’s worth looking at why you should put the effort in at all. In short, it makes sure your car is well looked after and less likely to have any breakdowns. You shouldn’t have to worry about repairs being needed anytime soon.
With how expensive these can be, it’s always worth avoiding. It’ll save you more money than you could’ve thought. You’ll see more than a few other benefits, including:
- Helping extend your car’s lifespan, so you don’t need to replace it too quickly
- Keeping your car as safe to drive as possible
- Improving the car’s fuel economy, saving you money on gas
- Maintaining the resale value as much as possible
These can all be great benefits for any car owner, so they’re worth putting a bit of time and effort into getting. That’s where car maintenance comes in. You’ll need to actually look after your car if you want to see any of these benefits.
With specific car maintenance tasks, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Seven of these are worth focusing on, as they’ll play an integral role in your car’s lifespan.
They don’t even need to be too complicated to do, and you can get some of them done in a few minutes. Even getting them all done could take just an afternoon. You’ll get through it without any headaches, so it’s worth focusing on them.
Car Maintenance Tasks: 7 You Need To Take Care Of
1. Change The Engine Oil
One of the most common car maintenance tasks you’ll need to take care of is changing the oil. You’ll need to do it relatively regularly, so you’ll end up becoming more than familiar with how it’s done. Thankfully, it’s quick and easy to do.
You’ll just need to check your engine oil regularly until it starts to run low. Once it does, it’s a matter of topping it up. Your car manufacturer will also have recommendations for how often this should be done.
It’s worth going with exactly what the manufacturer says. Since how often you change the oil can depend on multiple factors, like the type of car, the manufacturer would know best. Read through the owner’s manual and you shouldn’t have a problem changing the engine oil when you need to.
2. Replace The Engine Air Filter
Your car’s engine takes in quite a bit of air when you’re driving. It’s got a filter specifically because of that, and this keeps out all of the dirt and dust that could damage your engine. After a while, this starts to get clogged up.
When it does, it’ll become less and less effective, and it’ll eventually stop working. The only way to prevent that is to replace the engine air filter regularly. It’ll avoid any potential issues, with these being much more of a hassle to deal with than you could’ve thought. You’ve no reason not to.
3. Check & Top Off Fluids
Your engine oil is far from the only fluid you’ll need to check in your car. There are various others, like brake fluid. These are all essential for your car to run effectively and safely. Make sure you check them regularly and top them up when you need to.
Your owner’s manual will have the exact steps you need to take to change these fluids. It should all be quite easy to do and should only take you a few minutes. Once you’ve got it out of the way, however, you’ll make sure your car is running the way it should.
4. Replace Wiper Blades
Your car’s wiper blades are often one of the more overlooked areas when you’re looking after it. It’s easy to see why, as many car owners don’t seem to think wiper blades are important. They are. They have a dramatic impact on safety under certain circumstances.
They keep your windshield clean so you can see through it, after all. Make sure they can actually do that. When they’re not able to do that anymore, replace your wiper blades. It’s more important for safety than you’d think.
5. Re-Torque Your Wheels
Wheels will often need to be taken off at various points, like when you’re rotating them. You can do all of this yourself, but there are a few related car maintenance tasks that you could’ve overlooked. One of the more notable of these is checking the nuts on the wheels after driving for a little while.
You could find these mightn’t be as tight as they should be. That’ll be a safety hazard, and it’s worth making sure it doesn’t happen. Re-torque your wheels to prevent that. The amount of torque your wheels should have depends on your car, so check your owner’s manual.
6. Test & Replace The Car Battery
Every car comes with a battery installed in it, and it’s one of the more important parts of the car. Like all types of batteries, these will eventually die and they’ll need to be replaced. You’ll need to know when this is close to happening so it doesn’t happen when you need it.
While you can keep a car battery charged up for quite a while, it’ll eventually need to be replaced. Though you could hire a mechanic to do this for you, it’s relatively easy to do it yourself. Stores where you can buy car batteries can even help you recycle your old battery for free.
7. See A Professional
While you can get most of your car maintenance tasks done yourself, it doesn’t mean you should do everything yourself. That’s especially true when it comes to any improvements or repairs that need to be done. These are best left to a professional.
Unless you’re already a skilled mechanic, then you’re better off with a local car repair shop. They’ll know exactly what they’re doing, and they could do a better job of repairing your car.
While that means spending a bit of money on it, it’ll be more than worth the effort. It’ll not only bring your car back to working order, but it could be in a better condition than it was even before the breakdown.
Car Maintenance Tasks: Wrapping Up
As a car owner, you’ll need to spend time actually looking after your car. While it’s recommended you see a professional regularly, that doesn’t mean you have to go to them all the time. Instead, you could do quite a few things yourself.
These car maintenance tasks make more of a difference than you’d think, despite how easy they are to do. Once you’ve gotten through them, you’ll make sure your car is in a great condition.
At a minimum, it should prevent any issues from coming up. You’ve no reason not to put some effort into them.
