Basic Car Care Tips For Safety And Performance

Posted on April 9, 2021 by dayat

Almost everyone can appreciate a beautifully maintained, classic sports car. Now picture in your mind the same car as a useless vehicle due to negligence of simple auto care, let’s say because the owner ignored to check fluid levels and did not add oil to the engine. Not following some basic car care tips can equal the end of the engine for an automobile and the end of the story for a vehicle. What has become a major expense that may exceed the value of the vehicle, would have been a relatively low cost expenditure.

The automobile owner who is not well versed towards essential car care can refer to their owner’s manual to find the best maintenance plan for their specific vehicle, but there are general car care tips that apply to all vehicles. If you do not care for your vehicle it will fail to operate properly or worse, as in our classic sports car story above.

For those who care about maintaining a smooth running, safe car, these tips are for you:

1. Check the oil filter and oil levels at least every 3,000 miles.

2. Your auto has various other fluid levels that need to be check on a regular basis. Again, at least every 3,000 miles, the fluid levels for the brakes, power steering, transmission, radiator coolant and windshield wiper fluids should be included.

3. A regular check on all hoses and belts should be done and replaced as they are showing cracks or are frayed.

4. Brake maintenance is often neglected without realizing it. Not all brakes make loud noises when they are in need of maintenance. You should check the brake system about every six months.

5. Testing of the car battery should be done three years from purchase for a new car, and every three years for older vehicles. Battery condition and connections should be checked to make sure there is no excess corrosion and the battery is secure.

6. Inspect the exhaust system for leaks. If there are leaks, repairs are needed as they can be deadly to those in the car.

7. For a properly running engine, auto tune-ups are essential.

8. The car’s heating and air conditioning should be checked yearly for proper functionality.

9. Check and replace lights and washer blades as they burn out or wear out.

10. Check tie rods, struts, and ball joints at least twice a year.

11. Maintain proper air level in tires and apply new tires as needed or when tread becomes no less than 2/32 of an inch (for normal driving conditions, or 4/32 of an inch if you are concerned about wet roads).

12. Rotate tires about every 5,000 miles.

Everyone should follow these basic car care tips to assure safety and car performance. To find auto maintenance tips that are specific to your car, remember to refer to your automobile’s manual.

For car care tips, Russel Spinella follows a car care blog, a

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Reliable Transportation Begins With Basic Auto Care

Posted on April 9, 2021 by dayat

If you ask most automobile and truck owners what the purpose of their vehicles are they may well give you a blank stare. Yet we take our vehicles for granted. In 2010 / 2011 we have the 3000 mile salad delivered via semi trailer on American highways from California or Mexico. Autos as most as those in the green field may dislike are essential for America’s trade and transportation. We need to get to our jobs for daily income and commutes. When you get down to it autos and auto traffic and transportation is what America is built on and is sustained on. Even if you want to public transportation and the bus or even train you still be driven via gas or diesel fuel power locomotion. There seems to be little getting around that in our current millennium.

It can be said that overall your average American or Japanese import vehicle has more than 2500 parts and up to 100 different materials in their makeup and composition. Everything from rubber and plastic synthetic components,to steel, copper and chrome with lots of exotic metals including “rare earth metals” in their magnets, electrical motor magnets and electronics and even good old fashioned chrome from place to place. Add sophisticated electronics and electrical sensors dabbled all throughout current model types. Cars, trucks and buses have all evolved into sophisticated machines and even transport center units.

Yet despite, or even in spite of all of this sophistication, and even electronic wizardry automobiles on America’s interstate highways and your local streets or roads remain our bread and butter basic transport to get us where we are going or move goods and services to us reliably and on time. It is the old horse and buggy – speeded up to modern times and carrying a lot more and a lot faster.

This is why we should not take our automobile vehicles for granted.

Service, maintenance and ongoing care by competent auto mechanics and repair staff is essential and never should be ignored. The joke of a company car never needing an oil change or “I checked the tire pressure last year” do not mesh well with reliability of transport operation and mechanical durability that we expect and indeed demand from these road warriors what so ever. You get what you pay for, what you deserve and ultimately the car, truck or sports utility vehicle SUV that you take the time, care and attention to maintain.

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Compare Auto Care

Posted on March 9, 2021 by dayat

Most of us know the agony of having your car break down in the middle of nowhere or on the way to work. You have gone through it and so have I, and let me tell you it was one painful and long day. However, an auto repair shop was nearby and that sort of came to the rescue. I say ‘sort of’ because for basic auto repair they charged me a bundle. Not many will tell you this but as important as knowing a family doctor is, I feel it is equally important to know professional auto repair services.

Now, I am not suggesting you start building new relationships immediately, but you definitely need to know the basics on the mechanism, and working of your automobile. Listed below are necessary pointers, to give you an idea of the basics of car care and maintenance, that will boost and improve your auto repair IQ while also helping you make better choices about your car.

Synthetic Oil is just a poorer alternative and not always better. If your car has been functioning smoothly with regular oil, and your car’s manual doesn’t suggest a change, stick to regular oil for all your oil change requirements. The main reason why auto shops ask you to change is to only make quick money.
Get a new timing belt on recommended intervals. A timing belt does not have warnings or symptoms but when it breaks, and depending on the kind of engine your car runs on, it can cause substantial internal wreckage. This results in your car’s pistons crashing into valves.
While changing your timing belt, switch your serpentine belt or drive belts too as it can save all your future labor charges. Serpentine or drive belts should be taken out in order to complete the timing belt’s replacement.
Want long lasting and long performing windshield wipers? Use alcohol and a soft rag while cleaning your windshield wipers to improve its performance and also to extend its life.
Know how to check all the fluid levels in your car – Engine coolant, engine oil, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, washer solvent and brake fluid, all show fluid levels. An indicator of forthcoming problems is dropping fluid levels.
Regularly check your brake pad’s life. Switch the pads before they are exhausted and begin to grind into your vehicle’s brake rotors which will further increase price of brake repair.
Always clean your car’s battery posts.
Know that every different automobile has a different duration for the change of the car’s spark plugs. Read your vehicle’s manual to know about your car’s interval time. To make extra money, deceitful auto mechanics may suggest switching spark plugs after every 30,000 miles even if your car’s spark plugs’ life expectancy may be 100,000 miles.
Check the pressure of your tires frequently. If your tyres are inflated to the right pressure, it saves fuel and also lengthens the tire longevity. On the other hand, lessening tyre air pressure means a leak that needs immediate repair.
Regularly check your air filters. Filthy air filters reduce fuel economy and functioning. A high-pressure hose can be used to blow-out dirty air filters instead of getting new ones.
Keep an eye on your engine oil. Check your engine oil regularly. Older automobiles may start to burn oil. Sometimes, cars can run dangerously low on engine oil and not show any warning of a leak.
To be realistic, many of us will never make efforts to learn how to work on our own cars. Most of the cars that came out within the last decade are run by a variety of electronic sensors and computers. The positive bit about this is that the auto industry is always making changes to improve fuel economy, lessen pollution, and provide optimum performance all by itself. On the other hand, vehicles need regular specialized training, and exorbitant testing equipments in order to flawlessly determine problems and repair cars.

Without this necessary training and contribution in specialized car tools, the DIY car owner, (and even smaller auto repair shops) has no other option but to “throw parts at cars” until the warning signs disappear. In some situations, auto shops replace a certain part, and later also suggest after the installation that another part too requires changing. If it was never mentioned in the beginning, this is an alarm bell that the mechanic isn’t accomplished enough to recognize the problem effectively. With a bad mechanic, you might have just replaced parts that were working perfectly well.

This is the main reason we state that the most crucial choice you make in getting your car fixed is which auto repair shop you take your car to. As many honest and skilled mechanics there are, also present are deceptive and dishonest mechanics too. We suggest you ask your friends and neighbors to recommend you a mechanic, else use a 3rd party service like AAA, the Better Business Bureau, or CompareAutoCare.com to provide you with information on shops in your local area, so that you have an idea of what you’re stepping into before you actually bring in your vehicle for service.

Mostly, enjoy your ride.

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