For a vehicle to last long and perform to the satisfaction of the driver or owner, it is imperative that certain practices are adopted that will guarantee a good return on investment on your vehicle.
What this means is that having a great maintenance culture for your vehicle will require some financial commitment which does not obviously come cheap.
However, do you know that you can maintain your vehicle at little or no cost at all depending on the status of your car or how you go about it?
All you need is the basic tools and the knowledge of how to use those few devices that will assist you in performing maintenance and repair operations on your car.
To say the least, getting your cars fixed can also take a fun-filled dimension because you are doing it with pleasure knowing that what you are doing will save you much time and cost when you hire the service of a mechanic or auto engineer.
How do you maintain your vehicle?
In this article, I share with you some DIY tips on how to repair your car and keep it strong for the road.
Oil Change
Every car owner will attest to the fact that for the engine of a car to stay strong for years, one of the very crucial things to undertake is changing the engine oil periodically.
Changing the oil of your car ensures your car’s engine is vibrant always, improves the mileage of the gas and its overall performance.
It is recommended in standard terms by most auto engineers that after every 3,000 miles, the oil in the car must be replaced with a new one.
Performing this task is not as cumbersome as many think, rather, it is very easy and simple as you only should know how to use some tools and this saves car owners so much money and time without having to drive to the mechanic’s show almost every three weeks or a month and be paying for it all the time it is carried out.
To change your car’s engine oil, the things you are expected to have are 4-5 quarts of oil, an oil filter, funnel, socket wrench catch basin, filter wrench, rubber gloves, and microfiber cloth.
It is very instructive to note also that before you change the oil to consult the car owner’s manual for the specific kind or brand of oil to use.
After you have replaced the old or used oil with the new one, you must properly disposed the oil. You are advised to take it to an auto parts shop where they can recycle it for other uses.
Change your Spark Plugs
Spark plugs play a very critical role in the automobile as it is a device that powers the engine to start or better still electrify the engine with energy to start.
An ailing, or weak plug will create problems for the engine or vehicle and that includes ineffective acceleration and halting. If you are not lucky, or in worse cases, the car will not start.
For this reason, it is expedient that you carry out an inspection of your plugs after 30,000 miles.
You must also seek an enquiry from the car’s owner for information on the manual and type of spark plugs and ensure that the battery is disconnected before carrying out spark plugs change.
Items needed to carry out this activity are a spark plug, spark plug wire, ratchet, 5/8-inch socket wrench and extension bar.
Change your wiper blades
A broken or weak wiper blade is definitely an impediment to your view and getting them changed to a new one is not a daunting task. It requires very little time and does not cost much.
If they are worn out they will scratch the surface of the windscreen thereby making it unclear for viewing and pay attention to the sound when it is in use. Rubbing alcohol does so well in cleaning the wiper blades.
Change the Headlight Bulb
You put your life at risk and the lives of other road users including pedestrians when you drive your car with a faulty headlight, especially at night.
If the headlight is burned out or dim, quickly find the nearest auto parts shop to get one and fix it immediately. As with bulbs for your homes, avoid touching the bulb to prevent it from burning out before its projected time.
To replace your vehicle’s air filter, the items you will needs are a New headlight bulb and a screwdriver.
Inspect and change your air filter
For efficient performance of your engine, you must regularly inspect your air filter to examine the level of dirt in it.
You may be tempted to scoop out all the impurities from the air filter out before fixing especially when it is not dirty.
Note that road users who ply on very dusty roads must change the air filter more frequently to keep it clean and ensure the smooth performance of the car’s engine.
Muzhchin