Car Maintenance

Regular maintenance of your Car is critical to ensure your Car stays safe, reliable and drivable. During preventive maintenance, certain parts of the vehicle are replaced for safety reasons, e.g. timing belt replacement. The frequency of car maintenance varies depending on the make, model and year of your car. Driving conditions and driving behavior can also be contributing factors as to how often you have your vehicle serviced. Car makers recommend you have your vehicle serviced at least once per year. Experienced vehicle service advisors can carry out maintenance in dealerships or garages.

Vehicle service tasks include:

• Car wash
• Replace or check fuel filters
• Inspect or replace wiper blades, wiper arms & motors
• Using Wheel alignment tools to check the alignment of your vehicle
• Check or replace the oil filters & engine oil
• check or refill windshield washer fluid in the washer system
• inspect tyre pressure using specific tyre gauges for wear & tear
• Battery maintenance which includes a de-ionised water top up
• Inspecting or replacing the timing belt and other drive belts
• Checking brake pads, brake discs, brake shoes, brake drums and brake fluid
• Checking transmission oil and transmission parts
• Flushing power steering fluid
• Checking and topping up the engine coolant
• Replacement of spark plugs
• Using control units (ECU) to read fault codes
• Checking & replacing air filters
• Using a range of lubricants & fluids to lubricate the bonnet catch & locks, handle locks & barrels
• check all lights including headlights, bumper lights and indicators
• tighten chassis and wheel bolts & nuts
• test electronics, e.g., ABS sensors or ABS controllers

In modern cars, where electronics control most of the car's functions, a basic vehicle service doesn't apply anymore. Today, software installed within the car takes care of it by continually checking sensor signals, compensating for dirty oil filters or fuel filters and worn-out spark plugs etc. This is what’s known in the trade as a so-called limp-home function, this allows driving when the engine is on limited power and in trouble. Before the introduction of this software this could’ve meant vehicle breakdown. Routine car maintenance can be related to fuel economy, some of the procedures include:

• Ensuring that tyres are properly inflated. You can refer to the owner’s manual for the correct pressure to inflate your tyres to. Low tyre pressure increases the rolling resistance of the tyres and decreases fuel economy, and may also increase tyre wear and impair performance.
• Thermostats, o2 or Oxygen Sensors should be replaced by either following the manufacturers recommendation or when a low temperature / electronic fault code is detected. Vehicles with electronic fuel injectors have an O2 sensor or sensors in the exhausts system, these sensors help the vehicles computer to optimize fuel economy. These sensors may be changed periodically so that the vehicle maximizes fuel economy.
• Checking to ensure vehicle air filters are clean. Dirty or clogged air filters can make the engine work harder to ensure there is enough air for proper combustion; this can decrease its efficiency. Cars with electronic fuel injectors automatically compensate for the decreased air flow caused by dirty air filters thus experiencing very little reduction in fuel economy. The best way to ensure the air filter is clean, would be a regular visual inspection. Owners’ manuals will recommend a service interval to change the air filter.
• Using the recommended weight of oil as this will help to reduce the wear on the engine. 10W-30 or 5W-20 oils flow easier through an engine, whereas heavier oils, like 20W-50 are harder to maneuver through. This can result in a reduction in fuel economy.

When having your vehicle serviced remember to have it recorded in a service book. Also, keep records of any maintenance you carry out on a vehicle as this will after all usually add to the resale value of the vehicle.