Have you made your new year’s resolutions yet? According to Forbes, 84% of resolutions are about improving physical or mental fitness. If you made a resolution to improve your health, why not make another resolution that commits to improving the health of your vehicle? In this month’s blog post, we provide you with some suggestions for vehicle health resolutions so that you can be successful sticking to them throughout the year.
When making your vehicle resolutions, you do not need to take all of them on yourself. We have divided these resolutions into three vehicle health categories:
- Basic Health: maintenance tasks you can do on your own.
- Regular Health: maintenance tasks you can have completed by a service professional.
- Long-Term Health: maintenance tasks that are driven by vehicle components and timeframes and are typically performed by service professionals.
Basic Health
The easiest way to stay on top of your vehicle’s basic health is to create a monthly calendar reminder – either on your mobile device or in your physical calendar or planner. Basic health tasks do not take more than a few minutes but are an important part of maintaining your vehicle’s health and proactively identifying any developing problems.
Basic health tasks should include:
- Check of tire pressure: Purchase a tire gauge and keep it in the glove compartment. Make sure to keep the tire pressure for your tires at the manufacturer specifications.
- Check of tire treads: Visually inspect your treads for wear. You can also purchase an inexpensive tire tread depth tool to quickly check your treads. If you notice any bald spots or damage on the treads or sidewalls, have your tire checked by a professional.
- Check of vehicle fluids: Consult with your vehicle owner’s manual for how to check fluids. You should check the oil, coolant, steering, brake, and windshield wiper fluid. If you notice any low fluids, consult your owner’s manual on how to add more fluids. Note any changes in the next month, which may be a sign of a leak.
- Check of battery terminals: Do a quick visual of your battery terminals for any signs of corrosion. Also, make sure that the cables are securely attached. If you see corrosion, cleaning the terminals is easy. Consult your owner’s manual, or search for a video on the internet to do a simple cleaning of the terminals.
Regular Health
If you are staying on top of your monthly basic health, then the regular health items can be completed by setting up a schedule with your auto repair shop. At Geller’s Automotive, we can work with you to establish a regular maintenance schedule for your vehicle.
Regular health tasks should include:
- Motor oil and filter changes
- Fluid checks and replenishment, as necessary
- Belt and hose inspections
- Engine and cabin filter changes
- Brake system inspections
- Tire rotations, alignments, or balancing
- Wiper blade replacement
Each vehicle owner may have different priorities for regular health checks based on their budget and current vehicle health. At the minimum, make sure to have your motor oil and filter replaced at regular intervals.
Long-Term Health
The health of many of your vehicle systems and components can be maintained by following factory scheduled maintenance timing. For example, most manufacturers recommend that you perform a brake fluid flush and replacement every three years, or 30,000 miles driven. Because these tasks are longer-term, they may or may not be part of each year’s resolution. Another example is your vehicle’s transmission fluid – which is typically changed at about 100,000 miles driven.
Even though the long-term health tasks may not occur as often, it is important to keep track of them and make sure they are completed within the suggested timeframes. Maintain records of your vehicle’s long-term health checks and speak with your service professional about adding these tasks to your ongoing maintenance plan.
Start 2023 off right by developing your vehicle’s health resolutions. If you stick with this resolution, you will save money in the end and keep large repairs at a minimum. If you are interested in talking about your vehicle’s maintenance, contact a service professional at Geller’s Automotive today and don’t delay!
