USED CAR MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST MANUAL

Just give us a call or schedule an appointment through our website today.Between work, family events, and the dozens of other obligations people have, basic car maintenance can fall by the wayside. Make sure to schedule regular car maintenance with the qualified mechanics at Chaparral Ford. A well-maintained vehicle doesn’t just last longer but can garner a higher price tag when the time is right for a new model. If you need an oil change, a tire rotation, or any other service, keep to the recommended car maintenance schedule. Never skip your scheduled car maintenance. The life of your spark plugs can vary greatly, but around the 30,000-mile mark is when to start checking - which is around the time when most automakers recommend going in for an ignition inspection for cars with electronic ignition modules. But the pads and shoes generally last for upwards of 30,000 miles in urban use. Brake pads are crucial parts.” As with the maintenance schedule for any other part of a vehicle, the intervals for switching out brake pads will vary by manufacturer. Inspect brake pads.Ĭar and Driver put it best: “With car maintenance, there are important parts and crucial parts. But consider adding an annual - if not semiannual - wiper blade replacement to your car maintenance schedule. No matter how much you spend on wiper blades, they’ll degrade with time. While the life of a car battery isn’t what it once was, most manufacturers will tell you to make an appointment for a battery performance test every six months. The last thing you need is to be late for an appointment, only to find that your car won’t turn over. Though the timing will depend largely on the vehicle, age of tires, and driving conditions, a good rule of thumb is about 7,500 miles between rotations - that, or every six months. Tire rotation is a task commonly left off the car maintenance schedule, with car owners often waiting until they receive reminders from service providers. Check tire pressure with some regularity. The right tire pressure for the make and model of your car does more than minimize the wear and tear on your tires it also improves vehicle safety, boosts fuel efficiency, and helps maintain proper alignment. Get in the habit of checking tire pressure. With the transmission and power steering fluids, you can go a little longer. Do the same with the coolant and wiper fluids. Check fluid levels at regular intervals.Įven if you go in every 5,000 miles or so for an oil change, it’s just good car maintenance to check the oil level every month. Just make sure to have the filter inspected at least once a year, as driving conditions will impact its life expectancy. Though it varies by manufacturer, replace the engine’s air filter every 15,000 to 30,000 miles - or right around every third oil change. With synthetic oil, however, the intervals are now anywhere between 5,000 and 7,500 miles, depending on the age of the vehicle and driving conditions. If your car uses conventional motor oil, this still holds true. Once upon a time, proper car maintenance led you to change your oil every 3,000 miles. It’s kind of like a crib sheet for your owner’s manual, so it just makes sense to learn what each symbol means. Today’s dashboards offer a rainbow of information about what’s wrong - and what’s right - with your car.

USED CAR MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST MANUAL

Make sure to count yourself as one of the few, as the manual contains a lot of valuable information about your vehicle, including a car maintenance schedule for all recommended services. Only 29% of people read the entire owner’s manual for their vehicles. Here are just a few of the critical items to include on your car maintenance checklist: 1. In fact, some of the best practices for maintaining a car are so small that they’re often overlooked but will have a huge impact on the life and value of a vehicle. The Basics of Car MaintenanceĬar maintenance is all about the little things. Throw in the kids’ soccer games, a random happy hour with friends, and “semi-regular” trips to the gym, and each can add up to a car in desperate need of care. Work alone leaves little time to schedule even a regular oil change. Life can easily let proper car maintenance fall to the wayside.

Used car maintenance checklist