Preventative Car Maintenance: A Nuisance Today Saving you Hundreds Tomorrow
By Daniel Adams
I hold the illustrious title of “oil change technician” at Grease Monkey in St. George, Utah. If you asked the costumer who berated me yesterday, he would say I don’t know the first thing about cars. In a way he is right. I can’t tell you where the carburetor is, or how to fix it--but I can google that. That costumer is mostly wrong, however, because I do know how to keep your car running smooth for a long time. You don’t need to know how to take apart an engine to maintain your car properly.
This will be a two part series. Today:
How to maintain your car in your own driveway. Next week:
Free advice and Common oil lube misconceptions.
Maintain your car
Oil: Automobile engines create little explosions using air, gasoline, and little sparks. These explosions propel multiple metal parts at high speeds and therefore your car needs oil so nothing rubs together.
1. Open your owner’s manual and find out what weight of oil your car needs. (many cars now have this printed on the cap under the hood labeled “oil”) It could be 10w-30 if you have an older vehicle, 5w-20 or 5w-30 for newer cars, or some other numbers which are either almost obsolete (10w-40), for trucks (15w-40), or for high performance vehicles (5w-40 in your Mercedes).
2. Your manual will also tell you how many quarts to put into the engine. Go over to Oreilly, or Autozone, or Napa and buy the amount of oil you need. CONVENTIONAL OILS ARE BASICALLY THE SAME, so you can buy whichever is 3$ per quart. DO NOT put in too much oil. Do not under fill.
3. There is a basin lowest to the ground just in front of the axle with a bolt in it. Get some cardboard on the ground and a bin you can catch 3-7 quarts of oil in and loosen that bolt and pull it out. (you can probably find pictures on Google). You can let the oil drain for about 10-15 minutes. PUT THE PLUG/BOLT BACK IN when it’s drained.
4. You also need an oil filter. It makes sense to change it every time because if you don’t, the new oil accumulates all the gunk from last times oil, and your change was pointless. Oil filters are under the car hanging off the engine--usually. (Chevy Cobalts have an oil filter canister under the hood for example) Again Google is probably your best friend on this one. They will have pictures.) The auto parts store has a special 4$ wrench if your last oil lube center cranked your filter on with a jackhammer last time.
5. When you get the oil filter off, make sure the rubber ring around it (the gasket) doesn’t stick to the engine. (it will make your car leak oil if there are two rubber rings--one from the old filter along with the one from the new). You can hand tighten the new oil filter, it screws on clockwise as you face the filter.
6. Check the oil dip stick under the hood by pulling it out once and wiping it off, then re-dip and make sure the oil level is in the thatch/full indicator. (If you have a Nissan, the stick is hard to read, dip a couple of times and trust the oil quantity in your owners manual if you can’t tell.)
Coolant/Antifreeze: This magic product keeps your engine -34 degrees in the summer to fight off fire and stuff, and keeps your engine fluids from freezing solid in the winter. Make sure it doesn’t touch your face, it will make you sad on the inside and the outside.
Coolant can be green or pink. Pink means you have a newer car with expensive extended life coolant. Green means you have an olderish car with normal coolant. Both are great. There is a reservoir full of coolant under the hood. If you look closely, most have the words “full cold”, “add”, or some other variation. Fill your coolant to the “full cold” level. (Some cars have a dipstick inside the cap on the top because there is nothing written on the coolant bottle. look on the internet if you have questions.) If you are frequently low on coolant, take your car to a lube place and have them check your radiator cap. If the cap doesn’t hold pressure, your car will lose coolant. You can buy coolant (pink or green) at an auto parts store. Make sure you notice if the product is a straight concentrate requiring you to add water, or a ready-made coolant.
Power Steering Fluid: Every car has a nob/lid close to the side of the engine under the hood labeled “power steering”. This enables your car to turn when you want it to, as quickly as you want it to. For GMC’s, the power steering lid will have a dip stick attached. Twist counter clockwise and pull. Most other vehicles have “cold full”, “cold add”, “hot full”, and/or “hot add” printed on the bottle. If the car is running it’s hot. If it isn’t running, it’s cold. You won’t need to add very much fluid. DO NOT OVERFILL power steering fluid!!!! This will cause difficulty in turning your steering wheel.
Washer Fluid: Most states require you to have working washer fluid and sprayers to pass safety inspection. Most cars have some kind of blue reservoir, or a bottle with a sprayer insignia on the cap. Some caps are yellow, some are clear. Open up, and pour away. It doesn’t matter if you overfill this one. Just fill until it’s full.
Brake Fluid: On the driver side under the hood, closest to where you sit, there is a tiny little reservoir of brake fluid. If the fluid is full, your brakes will squeeze and your car will stop. If you are lacking fluid, take your car into a shop and have your brakes checked, and the fluid filled. They have certified people who can assess potential bigger problems.
Air Filter: These exist to make sure there is clean air mixing with gas to cause efficient explosions inside your engine. Your owners manual should tell you how often to change your air filter. If you drive in a dusty place, or a muddy place, or drive 110 mph on the freeway all the time, you can expect your air filter to be more dirty. Most filters are held in by clips. Honda’s have bolts. The air filters are usually on either side of the engine, by the fenders.
Cabin Air Filter: If your car is older than 2001ish, skip this. Car manufactures decided to put a filter underneath the glovebox for the A/C and heating on most Japanese cars, and Oldsmobiles. 2000-2002 Suburbans have them about at the front passengers knees. Look on the internet to see how to unhook your glove box without breaking it, and if there is a cover roughly 2-4 inches high and 6-12 inches long, unclip it and uncover the hidden dusty treasure that you’ve been breathing for the last 25,000 miles.
Transmission fluid: When you drive, different size gears lock together to send you barreling along at 20, 30, 40, 50 etc mph. These gears need fluid to run smoothly. In automatic cars (no clutch) look for a red dip stick under the hood. If you have a Nissan or Toyota a lot of them are black and round and you might need a screwdriver to pop it up. On Trucks or Suburbans the trans stick is usually on the passenger side close to the cab. Check the transmission fluid while the car is running by pulling out the dip stick and reading the bottom. Wipe and dip again to make sure you are accurate. If it is in the “hot” range or thatched range you are good. DON”T OVERFILL YOUR TRANSMISSION if it’s low. Start with small amounts. Dodges need to be running, but geared in Neutral. Honda’s are checked when the car is off. If you can’t find your transmission stick, it could be a dealer check, where-in you have to take your car to the dealership. Transmission fluid should be cherry ICE-E/slurpy red, unless it’s a toyota, then it is grape slushy purple.
If you have a manual transmission you will need to get under your car after you google where the check plug/bolt is, and you can take a sample down there.
Again, your owners manual will tell you at what mileage you should flush your transmission. If you drive your car hard, or put the car in reverse or drive before completely stopping, you will need to change your fluid sooner. If you don’t change your fluid eventually your gears will strip and you’ll have to pay WAY more than $109.98 for a new transmission. If you have an SUV or truck you probably have a transmission filter, which can be switched out. You might need a lube shop for that.
Tire Rotations: When you turn, it wears down the front tires. It is therefore necessary to move the back tires to the front and vise versa. Some people like to cross in an X, some people like to keep the driver and passenger tires on the same side. Many cars recommend rotating tires every 5,000 miles. You could probably go 10,000. It depends how cheap your tires are and how fast you corner. Look at the tread on the front tires on the edges closest to you, if they are rounding off, you should rotate your tires.
Differentials and Transfer Case: SUV’s, Trucks, and Subaru’s have differentials because they are or can be all-wheel drive, instead of two-wheel drive. Inside the differential box there is fluid to make it run smooth, and either every 30,000 or 45,000 miles, (look at your manual) it is prudent to replace this fluid. If your car asks for synthetic fluid, it will be 60ish dollars per box, so budget.
That’s a lot of stuff, I know. Once you do it a couple of times, it will go quickly. You will find that all this stuff costs about $38.00 at Checker Auto Parts so maybe $34.99 at the oil change place isn’t so bad after all.
Be sure to come back next week for part 2!
