Everything you need to know about car maintenance checklist guides

You bought a new or used car and promised yourself you’d maintain this vehicle better than their last one. After driving it for a year, you take it in for its second oil change and are told that it’s time for its first major “service,” and that’s going to cost $800. It’s right there in the owner’s maintenance checklist guide. That’s when your promise to maintain your vehicle starts to fall apart. You question whether your vehicle really needs all those inspections, flushes, and induction services, especially the ones that aren’t even listed in the carmakers maintenance guide. Welcome to the club, because every car owner wonders the same thing.

Car maintenance is expensive, but not maintaining your car is more expensive. So how do you know which services to perform and which ones to skip?

That’s why I’ve written this guide on car maintenance. I’ll explain what services are really important; the ones that actually save you money over the life of the vehicle, and which ones can be put off or eliminated together.

Understanding maintenance checklist guides

All maintenance guides list service schedules for inspections and replacement. But they also contains some fine print; the fine print that nobody every reads. And skipping the fine print is what gets most owners into trouble. So let’s start there.

There are different schedules for Normal Service versus Severe Service

If you live and drive in an urban area chances are your driving falls into the “Severe Service” category. If your driving falls into the severe service category, but you follow the normal service schedule, you’re going to wind up with more breakdowns and you’ll shorten the life of your engine and transmission. Those are costly items to replace, so it actually pays to follow the correct service schedule

What is severe service?

How is severe service defined in the maintenance guide?

• Repeat short distance driving — short drives, especially in stop and go conditions is much harder on your engine and transmission, requiring more frequent oil and fluid changes

• Driving short distances in extremely cold weather — Short drives in cold weather prevents your engine from reaching a high enough temperature to evaporate off the water and fuel that enters the crankcase during cold starts. Water and fuel contaminates the oil, degrading the oil’s anti-corrosion properties, resulting in acid and sludge formation and accelerated internal corrosion. That’s why short drives in cold weather requires more frequent Severe Service oil changes.

• Driving on bumpy muddy roads — Bumpy roads cause accelerated wear on suspension bushings, sway bar links, shocks, struts, ball joints and tie rods. Mud makes those parts wear out even faster. If you drive in these conditions, you’ll need more frequent inspections to catch the wear early and avoid serious on-the-road failure.

• Driving in areas where road salt is used — Salt corrodes brake and fuel lines, suspension components, and critical frame/body components, requiring more frequent inspections and rust remediation services.

• Repeat trailing towing or hauling heavy loads — This kind of driving puts added stress on the engine, transmission, drive shafts, suspension components and wheel bearings, requiring more frequent inspection and service.

• Repeat driving in dusty conditions — Dusty conditions clog engine and cabin air filters faster, and can reduce engine and transmission cooling, requiring more frequent filter changes and radiator/cooler cleaning.

• Driving/living in high humidity coastal or mountainous areas — High humidity causes brake and clutch fluids to adsorb more moisture, reducing its effectiveness. It also corrodes body, frame and suspension parts, requiring more frequent inspection and rust remediation. Driving in mountainous areas requires more frequent brake inspections to spot brake wear early.

Any time you take your car in for service, the service adviser is going to recommend additional services. That’s their job; to upsell you on services. Some are needed, but most are not. They’re considered “wallet flushing” services designed to clean out your wallet and generate more revenue for the shop. So the question is this: How can you properly maintain your car without getting suckered into these unnecessary services? Well, it’s all there in your car maintenance guide; if only it was written in owner friendly language.

That’s what this article is all about; explaining what the carmakers’ car maintenance guide actually means for you the car owner.

Most unexpected repairs are caused by owner’s not following the carmaker’s maintenance schedule.

Yes, you read that correctly. Not performing the recommended serviceds

Not checking things

Not understanding the difference between normal wear and tear and an unexpected repair.

Normal wear and tear

Tires, brakes, struts/shocks, CV joints, steering parts, belts, battery, coolant, brake fluid/clutch fluid, transmission fluid, differential fluid.  Rusted brake lines, fuel lines.

Next, understand the importance of each of the inspect and replace services.

air filter

brake fluid

Brakes and traction control

cabin air filter

clutch fluid

Clutch/MT

coolant

cooling system

disc brake system

drive belt

engine oil

transmission cvt fluid

differential fluid

transmission fluid manual

fuel delivery and air induction

fuel filter

oil filter

spark plug

tires

Wheel bearing

steering

suspension

tires

battery

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Rick Muscoplat