How to Take Care of a Car and Keep It Running for a Long Time

When you purchase a car, that’s a big investment that you’re making. For many people, the purchase of a car will be one of your most significant purchases over your whole life, second to your house.

Thus, it makes sense that you want to do the utmost in order to keep your expensive piece of property in good shape for a long time.

In this article, we’ll teach you how to do exactly that. Equipped with these basic principles, you’ll know how to take care of a car for a long time.

Change Oil Regularly

The first maintenance task that you need to do regularly is to change the oil. The oil in your car acts as a lubricant for the engine. Your engine’s pistons move up and down thousands of times every single minute. Without fresh oil, the pistons will rub up against the walls of the engine’s chambers, which can cause serious engine damage.

Change your car’s oil very regularly if you don’t want to have to undergo those very expensive repairs. As a general rule of thumb, be sure to change your car’s engine oil every 5000 miles. Use synthetic oil whenever possible; its lubricative properties last longer than conventional oil’s.

Take Care of Any Check Engine Lights

The next step in regular car maintenance is to fix things as they come up. Don’t drive with a check engine light on for hundreds of miles before taking care of the issue. Otherwise, you could cause irreparable damage to your car’s internals over that period of time.

To avoid having to go to a dealer to run every check engine light for you, you can pick up a small OBDII scanner that will reveal the error code thrown up by the check engine light. Thus, you can diagnose the issue yourself on the cheap.

Replace Tires When Necessary

Another common wear item on your vehicle is the set of tires that you’re running. Remember that at the end of the day, the rubber of your tires is the only part of your car that actually touches the ground. They work extremely hard to keep your car on the road, and the inevitable forces of friction that work against a rolling tire will cause it to deteriorate over time.

Use this old automotive car care rule in order to tell whether you need new tires. Place a penny’s edge with Abraham Lincoln’s head facing you, upside down, in the tread of your tire. If the tread of the tire doesn’t come up to touch Honest Abe’s head, then you’re in trouble. Replace your tires ASAP, or you could find your car spinning out of control very soon.

How to Take Care of a Car, Made Simple

There you have it — with this basic info on how to take care of a car, you should be better informed as to how you can make your vehicle last for a long time.

For more auto advice, check out the rest of the website!