Ever heard the saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” ? We’re here today to pound that phrase into your head.
Taking care of your vehicle means taking care of problems before they become problems, which takes a little effort on your part. The best way to do this is by performing regular tune-ups.
Routine tune-ups are crucial to maintaining your engine’s performance and longevity. Regardless of its brand or age, every car needs them.
Depending on your car.
If you have a car from the 1970s or earlier, you probably should get a tune-up every 10,000 miles.
Most newer cars should be checked every 30,000~50,000 miles or so, despite some manufacturers recommending a 100,000 mile interval.
Then again, for other types of cars, trucks, SUVs, and hybrids, the mile mark is 90,000 or more.
This service includes replacing spark plugs, fuel and air filters, the PCV valve, cleaning the mass air flow sensor, plus many other inspections and tests.
Though tune-ups are important, most cars don’t require them as often as they require other maintenance jobs, like oil changes.
If you’re comfortable wrenching yourself, by all means, go ahead.
We’re not talking about open-heart surgery here, but you will need to have at least an entry-level understanding of the various parts of a car and how they play together to make things work.
Ideally, you’d have a flat, safe, well-lit place to work and the basic tools necessary to do the job.
1.Before you do anything, take a look around the vehicle to be sure there aren’t any unknown issues:
-Is there fluid pouring out into your parking spot?
-Do bugs and dust fly out of your air vents every time you turn on the air conditioning?
2.Change your oil.
We’d advise you to check the oil. After that, you need the Oil Reset service to reset the oil service lamp, and re-calculate the optimal oil life change interval for the engine oil maintenance being on schedule.
There are many diagnostic tools on the market can help with oil light reset. But you need a quality diagnostic scanner with great features to handle many other issues that your car might be facing.
4.6 / 5Scheduled procedures with smooth logical workflow to make maintenance a breeze in the workshop.
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3.Check and refill other vehicle fluids.
You’ve got brake fluid, transmission fluid, wiper/washer fluid, and plenty of other fluids to check in the process. Just make sure they’re all topped off and clean.
4.Check common wear items.
-Measure your tire tread levels and give them a thorough visual inspection.
-Check the battery. Even if your car cranks every time without problem and all of the electronics are functioning properly, your battery could be corroded or dirty. Take a look to be sure that there’s nothing funky going on with the battery.
-Inspect your vehicle’s filters to make sure that they’re clean and functioning properly.
-Check all of the vehicle’s lights and lighting systems.
-Check your wiper blades.
-Check belts and hoses.
-Check and replace spark plugs.
Give your car a good test drive.
In all seriousness, though, get out and drive. Hard. If you have any doubts about what’s going on under the hood, take the car out for a spin and don’t be shy about burying your foot in the throttle. A decent shake shakedown will tell you what’s going on.