Being able to maintain your own car can slash off hundreds from your yearly expenses. Quick and simple – here are some car maintenance tips that you can definitely do yourself.
Do Your Own Oil Change
If you’re covered under a contract of Audi service and parts repair, an oil change is usually one of the first things they’d do to keep the car running well. Once you have to handle the vehicle yourself, however, this is relatively quick and simple to do. You can purchase oil and filter through car shops anywhere.
Additional tools include a wrench, a funnel, and an oil container where the old oil will be placed. Note that when changing oil, you would want to do this a few hours after using the car. The oil can be hot, so there is a cooling period for safe replacement.
Change Your Air Filter
If you are not getting as much cold or warm air as you used to be, the air filter may be clogged. The beauty of this change is that instructions can be found anywhere on the internet. Plus, it’s the kind of maintenance that you can never mess up because it’s the easiest thing to do.
Battery Maintenance
Poor battery connection is one of the many reasons why cars suddenly fail to start when you turn the key on in the morning. Last night it could have been working fine, but today, there is absolutely zero response. The battery may have discharged, or there is a poor connection between the battery and the car.
If it is the latter, you will have to check and perform the fix yourself with some wrenches, wire brush, rags, and corrosion-removing fluid. This should not take more than 20 minutes as you pop the hood and look for any white residue on the terminals.
Remove the plugs, making sure you take out the negative first before the positive. Clean the plugs using professional corrosion liquid and then attach them again. This time, make sure to put the positive first before connecting the negative.
Changing Spark Plugs
Changing the spark plug might seem overwhelming at first, but it is actually incredibly easy to do. You probably already have all you need to fix this problem. You will need a ratchet and a spark plug socket. Do a search first about your car model and try to locate the spark plug.
There are usually 4 to 8 plugs attached. Remove the plugs one by one – this is important! The lugs are attached according to an order, and you do not want to mess that up. Attach the new plugs as you go, screwing it first and then using a ratchet for a tight fit.
This should not take more than 30 minutes. Spark plug maintenance is best done every 30,000 miles of car travel.
Of course, those are just some of the maintenance tips you can learn on your own. Note, though, that for older cars, it’s usually better to have professionals handle the problem as you’d want to make sure that all possible issues are caught and properly fixed.