Vehicle need regular check-ups and health tests but very few car owners give importance to keep their car in good running condition. Regular car inspection is the best way to prevent an expensive car repair in future. Let’s talk about some easy checks that can be done at home to make sure your car can run lakhs of kilometers and keep it reliable for several years.
Check Car Tires
Car tire depth, tire pressure and pattern of tire wearing are three things you need to check. First let’s start with tire pressure. No doubt its important to keep tires are properly inflated. You will get ideal tire pressure information inside door jamb or in owner’s manual. If tire pressure gets low that may result in uneven wearing of tire and poor fuel economy. Your fuel economy dropped by 2% when your tires are under-inflated even by 2 psi. You need to shell out more money not only on fuel but on tire replacement as well because same under inflated tire need early replacement for about 4000 kilometers. If car tires are overinflated negatively affects the cars manoeuvre and increase chance of tire skidding, aquaplaning or an accident. Hence, to avoid such emergency situations better check you tire pressure at least twice in a month. Always rotate your car tire once in 6 years.
On all tires tread wear indicators are given and you will also notice grooves on them. You figure should fall down into the groove when you roll you figures from one treat block over to another tread block. It your figures run perfectly smooth that means you need to replace your car tires.
If you notice excess wearing of tire outsides than center which means your tire pressure is low vis-à-vis if you notice tire is wearing more on center than the outside indicates tire pressure is too high. Your car need alignment if you notice that one side of tire is wearing more than the another.
Inspect Brakes
Brake is next important part After tires that you will have to check. New brake pads have 12 millimeters of pad material. If pad material is reduced to about 3 millimeters that indicates you need to replace brake pads. Metal indicators are also given on brake pads. Also, you will start hearing a screening sound from your brake if brakes pads are worn down.
Car Suspension
You need to make sure that there is no leaking of fluid out of the damper. You have to observe suspension system carefully to ensure every part is in good working condition, check for any visual damage on shock absorber or on the spring. Again, there is no need to remove the wheels to check suspension. You can simply rotate your steering wheel all the way to left side and have a look from that angle then rotate the steering wheel all the way to right side and then look in from the other angle.
Fluid Inspection
Automobile has different types of fluid in it. First thing you need to look at is the engine oil. In engine bay you will find this dipstick with yellow handle. Pull that dipstick out and wipe the entire dipstick with a towel. Then insert it and pull it out again. There are two holes given one at bottom and another just above that. Check and ensure oil level is in between these two holes. In case oil level in below bottom hole or just close to bottom hole then top up the engine oil without any delay and after top up recheck engine oil level. Always check engine oil level when engine is cool and not in working condition and car is parked on flat surface. Refer you owner’s manual to check frequency of oil change and engine oil grade.
One important thing you may need to check is engine oil viscosity. If coolant is getting mixed with engine oil, then there will be milkiness in the engine oil. It may seize the engine.
Power Steering Fluid, Brake Oil and Coolant
There are different fluids apart from engine oil. If your vehicle has electronic power steering then there will not be any power steering fluid but if vehicle have hydraulic power steering, then you need to check power steering fluid level. It has to be between minimum and maximum indicator line.
Check the brake fluid. On brake reservoir minimum and maximum indicator line is given ensure that the brake oil is in between those indicator lines.
You will notice the same thing on your coolant reservoir. Coolant reservoir is normally placed near radiator, make sure that the coolant level is in between the minimum and the maximum line given on reservoir. Also check windshield washer fluid is properly filled.
Check Both Filters
Let’s move towards Filters. Car has two air filters which needs regular inspections. First and important one is engine air filter. It doesn’t require specialize tools to remove air filter from engine bay. You can simply pull some clips, remove and inspect. If you observe dirt and debris then shake it to remove those debris and insert it back.
Second filter you need to check is cabin air filter. It is placed behind the glow box. It can be removed very easily. First remove glow box and then pop out cabin air filter. Tap it to remove debris and dirt and insert it back. If there is good amount of dirt and debris stuck then you can consider to replace it.
Don’t neglect your emergency brake while car parking
Don’t Ignore Warning/Dashboard Lights
Dashboard lights will let you know if there is anything wrong in a car. Warning light flashes after car is ignition is on when something is wrong with the engines or with the electrical system or if the brake fluid level is too low. You need to visit nearby car mechanic to save yourself from expensive car repairing in future or even emergency break down or an accident. Warning lights can indicate a lot of things like when the emergency brake is on or active safety features like airbag, abs, traction control normal functioning. If you see engine oil light flashing after ignition, take it seriously and visit nearby service centre because if you keep driving with this light on after some time your engine will get seized.
Don't overload the clutch
Those who have cars with manual transmission should never hold the clutch during traffic or during uphill driving. It just wears out clutch plate and the parts connected to it faster because they are working more instead of resting during short stops. During short stops shift gear to neutral and release the clutch.
Most importantly stick to service schedule as per owner’s manual and visit service centre to service your car at regular interval. Also keep your car clean and wash car at least once in every 15 days. This will help to avoid unnecessary accumulation dirt in car.
We hope that this article has provided you with some important piece of information to keep your car reliable that can give peaceful driving experience in long run and also you could save some money on fuel and maintenance. Thank you for reading this article. If you find this article useful then please let us know in comment section below.