DIY Saturday: Some Auto Maintenance Mistakes Not to Commit

Auto maintenance is one of those things that you do everyday, as you drive your car or store it in your garage. It doesn’t necessarily require a mechanic. You can accomplish the job as long as you have some mechanical inclination and discipline. In doing your DIY maintenance, however, there are some mistakes that you have to avoid to ensure success.

Below are some of these:

1. Of course, the biggest mistake that you can commit is not following the proper maintenance schedule. Oil change, for instance, has to be done at the correct interval. Postponing this until sometime later can lead to problems as the oil may have already lost its lubricating properties and already cause problems among the parts that it lubricates.
2. Too frequent maintenance interval. This is the opposite of the first mistake, and I have already touched on this in some of my previous posts. Although frequent oil change or coolant flush will do no harm to your car, it can do harm on your pocket.
3. The use of wrong solutions for cleaning your car and car parts. Some drivers believe that detergents are fine to use when cleaning a vehicle, but not really. When you use them in your car’s body panels, they can strip off the protective coating of the panels such as your car wax. In the long run, this can cause more problems than solutions.
4. Not paying attention to small things. What are these things? An example is your car’s tire pressure. Not many drivers know that an improperly inflated tire affects a lot of things in your drive: your handling and braking, for instance. Additionally, it also causes premature tire wear and can even be dangerous. So, it’s very important not to neglect these things.

These are but some of the mistakes that you can commit in maintaining your vehicle. Take note of these and try to avoid these to keep your car in good shape for long.