Car Maintenance

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Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 October 2023 00:01
Published: Saturday, 10 September 2022 15:09
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Car Maintenance:

When you buy a new car, there's not whole lot of maintenance you need to do for the first 10 years. You will see Auto dealers or other car repair shops advertising "yearly car maintenance pkg" or "yearly tuneup" to keep your car running. They cost $1000's of dollars and do nothing. I've owned 2 new years for more than 10 years, and never gotten any of these services. Neither do you need them. There are some very basic "DIY" or "Do it yourself" things that you can do to keep your car running for 10 years or more. Below are few maintenance items that may or may not be necessary depending on your manufacturer. Let's discuss them:

  1. Oil change: This is the most important yearly maintenance that you have to do, or your engine is going to die prematurely. I've a separate section on this. Refer to that.
  2. Tire change/rotation: This is another expense that you have to bear every 5-10 years. Tires that come with new cars are usually low end tires, so they don't last for more than 5 years or 50K miles. So, you have to get them replaced once the tread falls to below 4. Tire changing is something that's not recommended to do yourself, for multiple reasons. First, you need to lift the car, balance the tires after putting them which can't be done at home. Other reason is that you will almost always find deals for installation of tires, where each tire installation will probably cost you < $15. All 4 tires can be bought and installed for around $500 depending on the car type and brand. You should also rotate the tires every year. A lot of Tire shops will do it for free.
    1. Best Tires: Michelin are considered one of the best brands, and offer about 80K miles warranty. Multiple deals every year.
      1. Michelin tires $150 off => https://slickdeals.net/f/16029949-costco-tires-save-150-instantly-on-any-set-of-4-michelin-tires?src=frontpage
    2. Tire replacement/repair/rotation shops: Lots of shops to choose from.
      1. Costco is one of the better places to buy tires. The include installation, 5 year road hazard warranty, etc at no extra cost. They usually have deals on tires every few months. Definitely best service out there for the price.
      2. Walmart is another cheap and reliable option. They include installation, road hazard, etc. Always buy the road hazard warranty , warranty as that will get you free repair (or free tire if not repairable, but only if tread wear < 25%, i.e tires shouldn't be too old). You will still have to pay for installation of tires. It's only $10/tire and worth it. The other warranty, which is lifetime tire rotation and balancing, is not worth it, as you can tire balancing for free at a lot of places, and balancing is not really done that often (may be onc e at the time you install the tires)
      3. Discount Tire, GoodYear and many other local/national chains will fix your flat tire for free. Why? Because you might end up buying tire from them, if the tire is not patchable. Do NOT try to patch a tire on your own, as it may leak air while driving if not not done properly. Besides, shops will do it for free. Just call few of them in your city. You will definitely find a few free ones. They will also do tire rotation for free.
  3. Battery replacement: This will cost you $100-$200. Walmart is the cheapest place. Batteries last anywhere from 4-8 years.
  4. Checking all Fluid levels: Check and replace/fill if needed. Not all of these fluids need flushing, and many Service manuals don't actually recommend doing these at all. For a lot of them, you may do drain and fill. Here you drain some of the fluid out, and fill it with new fluid, which replaces at least some of the old fluid. Below are some of the fluids you will need to check:
    1. Brake Fluid: This is a service that most Auto shops recommend doing every 20K-30K miles or every 3 years. This is called brake fluid flush. They say that moisture gets into the brake fluid that causes your braking ability to go down over time. Brakes start feeling spongy, and they don't cause a good braking. My auto manual of "Toyota Sienna Minivan" makes no mention of replacing or flushing this Brake fluid. There are comments from plenty of Auto experts who have driven for 20 years and 200K+ miles, and never replaced brake fluid. Looks like it's totally unnecessary thing to do. Even if moisture gets into your brake fluid, your brakes won't stop working. It slowly deteriorates over time, and you will have plenty of time to do this yourself if needed. It's a simple thing to do. An auto shop will charge $150 or so, while it will cost $20 or so doing it yourself. It's easy to do, based on few videos here:
      1. Eric's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5O_pbC8R2E => NOTE: you don't need to do this for most vehicles.
      2. Comment from a reader:
        1. I have a 13 year old sienna with 200K and a 20 year old camry with 300K. I am very good with maintenance and do it mostly myself, but the brake fluid has never been changed. I don't see the reason. I don't do any extreme braking to cause an overheat condition. I am in the very humid south and haven't seen any problems with moisture. My Camry is about due for a paint job, so the metal panels will rust out before the brake fluid goes "bad". This in my opinion, is a non-required maintenance.
    2. Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF): This is another service that most Auto shops recommend doing. This is called Transmission Fluid flush. You absolutely don't need this. Follow what your vehicle manual says. My toyota manual says you need this only if using the van for heavy duty purpose (i.e towing, heavy loads, etc). There are lots of comments saying it's unnecessary. Instead of a flush, a simple drain and fill might suffice. Even if it's needed, do it yourself.
    3. Coolant: This one service that you should do once in 5-10 years. You may keep filling the coolant once it gets low. Keep doing it, until it comes to a point where your manual mandates it. with the previous coolant
  5. Spark Plug change: This is something that needs to be done very infrequently, maybe at around 100K miles mark. You can do it yourself in under 10 minutes. Spark plugs cost < $5 a piece, so you can get done in less than $25. You will need to buy special tools though to replace the spark plugs.
  6. Starter or Alternator replacement: This is something that needs to be done very infrequently, maybe at around 100K miles mark. You do this only when your starter or alternator dies. They die around 80K-120K miles mark. That's why people end up selling their around 100K miles mark, as after that car parts start failing more frequently.
  7. Check Engine Light: This is a light that will turn on once in a while, if something is not working right, and the electronics associated with monitoring the system is able to detect it. When the check engine light turns on, you should NOT ignore it. You should try to get the code using a car diagnostic scanner. Usually you can find them on sale for $10. One such is here: https://slickdeals.net/f/15769141-autel-ms309-obd2-diagnostic-car-scan-tool-engine-code-reader-10-61-w-coupons-amazon?src=frontpage. You can also go to your local mechanic or any of the big chains, and they offer to check the code for you for free. Once you know the code, research it on the internet to find out what it is, and how to fix it. If you can't do it yourself, call a lot of places and get quotes, since you already know what needs to be fixed. It may cost few hundred dollars to few thousand dollars. Depends on what's wrong. Usually something wrong with exhaustin gases (catalytic converter) will cost you a lot of money. You can try some solutions that most of the times seem to work. They cost only $10 or so.

 

My Toyota Sienna model from 2010's has following maintenance recommended as per it's "maintenance guide":

  • Every 5K miles or 6 months => Inspect and adjust all fluid levels, inspect wiper blade, visually inspect brake linings/drums and brake pads/discs, rotate tires (from front to back and left to right). Basically nothing needs to be done, just visual inspection every 6 months (except for tire rotation). Tire rotation is not necessary every 6 months, it can easily be a yearly thing.
  • Every 10K miles or 1 year => Replace Engine Oil and Oil filter. This is THE most important maintenance needed every year.
  • Every 30K miles or 3 years => Replace Engine Air filter and Cabin air filter. Also inspect engine coolant and Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF). Look around for any signs of distress in Exhaust pipes, Drive Shat boots, Front differential oil, Fuel lines and connections, fuel tank, radiator and condenser, steering gear box, steering linkage and boots, etc.
  • Every 60K miles or 6 years => Inspect drive belts. Replace ATF and front differential oil (and rear differential oil + transfer case oil for 4 wheel drive vehicles) ONLY if you are using your car under heavy load (i.e using it for towing purposes, or using car top carrier for heavy loads). This suggests that for regular driving, it's not needed.
  • Every 60K miles or 6 years => Replace Engine coolant
  • Every 120K miles or 12 years => Replace spark plugs. It says it's required under the terms of Emission Control Warranty, which seems to suggest that this not an absolute necessity.

As you can see, there's no specific part replacement needed except an yearly oil and oil filter change. Rotating tires every year is another thing to do. Replacing ATF, coolant flushing and replacing spark plugs is something that you do after 6 years or 60K miles. I usually don't do any of these until it's 10-12 years or 100K miles.

Many mechanics and dealer shops will ask you to get un necessary servicing done, just follow your manufacturere's manual. They will claim fuel efficiency, and blah blah. The amount of little fuel that you will save will never pay for those service.

I had a Hyundai Accent (2008) car that I drove for 12 years, without ever stepping into a mechanic's shop, except for replacing tires and getting it rotated. I replaced batteries and spark plugs myself. I did oil change myself every 6 months. Unfortunately it suffered some damage after 12 years, and had to be let go. Cars can easily run for 10-15 years, doing the most basic maintenance work !!