Now that it’s 2023, have you made your new year’s resolutions? According to Forbes magazine, 84% of resolutions have something to do with your physical or mental health. As you are thinking about what to include in your resolutions, you may want to consider another resolution for the health of your vehicle. Proactive vehicle maintenance is an effective way to keep your vehicle in shape and avoid potential problems arising from neglect. In this month’s blog post, we encourage you to establish a vehicle health resolution and stick with it throughout the year.
Let’s break the resolution down into three parts:
- Items you can handle yourself monthly.
- Items you should consider using a service professional ongoing, or as needed.
- Time-based items that are also handled by a service professional on a long-term basis.
Monthly Items
As a vehicle owner, you know your vehicle best. You recognize the sounds, smells, and sensations that define your vehicle’s health. The monthly items are simple tasks you can complete on your own, with little or no mechanical background.
These tasks may take less than 30 minutes, but they are important for safety and keeping your vehicle in good working order. Try to pick a day for each month when you will perform the monthly checks and write it on the calendar or add the tasks on your mobile phone.
These items include:
- Checking and/or adding vehicle fluids: This will require you to get under the hood, but your owner’s manual should provide information about each of the vital fluids and where and how to measure their levels. There are many fluids in your vehicle that assist systems and components, such as the radiator fluid (coolant), oil, transmission fluid, brake, power steering fluid, and the windshield wiper fluid. If you check these consistently, make note of fluid level drops month to month – and have the vehicle inspected for a possible leak.
- Keeping your tires inflated: Your tires should always be inflated to the proper air pressure set by the manufacturer. The best way to check your air pressure is to purchase an inexpensive air pressure gauge. Make sure to adjust for different times of the year – for example, lowering tire pressure in hotter months.
- Inspecting your tires for wear and tear: Your tires are subjected to constant motion, heat, road debris, and other conditions. This can wear down the treads and create a safety concern. A visual inspection of each tire can be done at the same time as you are checking the air pressure. Look for signs of wear on the treads, or damage on the sidewalls. Purchase a tire tread depth tool to ensure you are measuring tread depth properly.
- Inspect or change wiper blades: Your wiper blades are important for visibility. They will crack, tear, bend, or break and will significantly diminish the performance of your wipers. If they are damaged, pick up a new pair and replace them in the front and rear.
Ongoing Items
The ongoing items represent the bulk of inspection and service items that can be handled by a service professional. At Car Kings, we can discuss a detailed plan for your vehicle health so that you know what to expect throughout the year. Keep in mind your budget and the vehicle condition as you develop a plan with our service professionals.
Ongoing items include:
- Tire rotations, balancing, or alignment
- Motor oil and filter changes
- Engine and cabin filter replacement
- Inspections of systems, including ignition, exhaust, brake, fuel, and transmission
- A/C inspections
- Fluid flushes
- Belt and hose inspections
- Any other miscellaneous repairs or replacements
Make sure to include the ongoing maintenance in your vehicle health resolution. If these items are addressed proactively, they can help you to avoid costly repairs from further damage to the vehicle.
Time-Based Items
The final maintenance items to include in your vehicle health resolution are the time-based items. These are the recommended maintenance items that are sometimes called factory-scheduled maintenance. The manufacturers usually establish these based on the vehicle component, the elapsed timeframe, and your specific vehicle make and model. An example of a factory-scheduled item may be the servicing of your vehicle’s transmission. Make sure to discuss these items with your service professional so that they are added into your plan.
Now is the time to set your new year’s resolutions for a better you and for a better vehicle experience. Contact us today at Car Kings to schedule an appointment and discuss your new year’s health resolutions.