How to properly maintain the car? Many car owners ask this question because everyone wants to drive on a serviceable and beautiful vehicle for many years.
But life is so arranged that even the most reliable mechanism once breaks down without proper care. Cars are no exception, and also fall into disrepair if their owners for various reasons do not monitor the condition of their vehicles. Sometimes only emergency forces owners to correct the situation. Proper car maintenance and servicing will help to avoid this.
Car Battery
Get a good car battery. It makes no sense to save on it. The high-quality battery will last longer and will not let you down. Choose a battery suitable for your car brand and weather conditions. There are models of car batteries for hot weather. Always monitor the battery charge – with the instruments and by vehicle behavior. If the car begins to start badly – take the battery home and charge it (buy, of course, a charger). It’s not difficult. If you leave the car in the parking lot in winter for a few days (3 or more), you need to remove the battery and bring it home. Otherwise, the car may not start.
Experts strongly recommend to check the battery charge regularly, and if it is less than 12.5 V, recharge it to the level of 12.7 V. You can use automatic battery maintainers or chargers, requiring a minimum of attention from the driver. A fully charged battery will not let the owner down in severe frosts and will last longer.
Car Suspension
Maintenance of car suspension is to periodically check the condition of individual parts and eliminate the identified faults. When operating a car, its front suspension suffers most of all because it has to withstand all the bumps, potholes, or just driving on a bad road. The suspension of the car is constantly experiencing various shocks and loads.
What is subject to inspection and verification in the suspension of the car?
- Anthers of CV joints and ball joints. If they are not torn and there are no cracks on them, then everything is fine. If the anther is damaged, there is dirt and moisture in it, then the hinge must be cleaned and lubricated, and the anther replaced. When this is determined at an early stage, the grease may still be in the hinge, and the repair will cost only replacing the anther. Otherwise, it will be necessary to replace the hinge itself.
- On some cars, the weak point is the support bearings. Most often, the support bearings need to be replaced after approximately 20-25 thousand miles, check SKF vs Timken vs MOOG comparison. In some vehicles, the bearing and its pillow are separate elements. In such a case, you can change only the pillow. Its malfunction is evidenced by the knock when the car is rocking. If the problem is in the bearing itself, then when you turn the steering wheel, you will hear a crunch.
- A backlash of the hub bearing. During operation, it gradually increases, and this leads to the fact that the suspension hub itself breaks. If the backlash is significant – the problem is either in the large gap of the hub or in the ball bearings. To reduce the hub clearance, tighten the adjusting nut (if adjustable). If the hub bearing has too little clearance, it will cause it to jam after a few hundred miles. When driving, the hub heats up, which leads to the expansion of the metal, and if the value of the clearance is not enough, it will jam.
- It is desirable to change bushings and traction stabilizer, every 20 thousand. They are used to eliminate the skew of the car during the turn. Since the car turns frequently, the force is almost constantly transmitted to the stabilization system. Accordingly, the hinges in the rods brake and the bushings lose their shape. It will not entail any significant consequences, but the car will be much more stable, and obsessive nasty knock will disappear. Inspection of the vehicle on the lift is never superfluous because from below you can check not only the suspension of the car but also inspect for leaks of oil and other technical liquids, as well as to see the condition of the brake hoses and cooling pipes.
A few tips will extend the life of your car’s suspension.
- The most basic advice is to drive carefully, avoiding bumps, potholes, and other defects of the road surface. Before an uneven stretch of road, it is important to reduce the speed. Otherwise, the increased load will quickly disable even the shock absorbers for Ford F150 4×4 and other suspension parts. Read our Monroe vs Gabriel shocks detailed comparison.
- Regularly check the condition of the suspension, visually monitor the integrity of the anthers, and the level of corrosion of individual elements. Properly adjusted wheel alignment camber and timely replacement of worn joints, wheel bearing hub assembly, bushings, and silent blocks ensure uniform wear of tires and increase traffic safety.
- If you have forged wheels, consider replacing them with cast, this will reduce the unsprung weight and overall load on the suspension.
- If you frequently go to nature (fishing, hunting) and the patency of your car is crucial for you, it is possible to carry out the suspension lift of your car. You can use ready-made factory lift kits. In addition to such kits invented many ways to lift the suspension: special spacers under the springs, spacers under the chippers, shock absorber fasteners are transferred below at the height of the lift, long springs are selected and adjusted, levers are lengthened, etc. With the help of branded lift kits, it is easier to lift SUVs with spring suspension. For some cars (Jeep lift kits), produce kits lifting them by 5 inches!
Muffler
In the exhaust system, the car muffler plays one of the most important functions.
The vehicle’s muffler is designed to reduce the noise level of exhaust gases in the exhaust system.
It is a metal case, inside which partitions and chambers are made, forming channels with complex routes. When the exhaust gases pass through the latter, sound vibrations of various frequencies are absorbed and converted into thermal energy.
The muffler in a car is located under the rear part of the body. Visually we only see the exhaust pipe of the muffler, from which exhaust gases come out.
If you are the owner of a V8 vehicle and searching for a muffler with a deep sound, check out our list of the best sounding muffler for v8.
The essence of the muffler’s work boils down to the following: sound vibrations, which are the “product” of the engine’s work, moving through the chambers, are quickly smoothed out in the holes with which the internal cavities of the muffler are dotted. Thermal energy is obtained from the energy of sound waves. The trick in choosing the right muffler is to soften the sound vibrations in each frequency range.
The main problem of the exhaust tract is the presence of resistance to gas flow. This is where the main contradiction lies: the system should include a maximum of elements, which would contribute to the damping of acoustic waves, but at the same time, as few of these elements as possible so that the resistance is not too high. In the latter case, the engine loses power since the purging of the cylinders is seriously impaired.
As for the muffler’s practical results, they are strictly individual: you need to take into account the design of the element, its volume, engine parameters (mainly swept volume), crankshaft speed. In practice, drivers are very tired of the low-frequency bass at 50-300 Hz, which is the fault of incorrectly selected mufflers. Read this article on the best mufflers for V6 engine vehicles.
Liquids for cars
Engine and transmission oils. An essential component in the work of the vehicle. Make it a habit to regularly, on time, change the oil. This habit will allow the engine to operate reliably. To date, there is a huge variety of oils. Tests of certain brands can be found in automotive magazines. Some manufacturers even make a list of approved oil brands, like BMW recommended oil.
Antifreeze, brake fluid, windshield washer fluid: all this should be in the normal condition. Antifreeze is poured into the tank to the level between the marks of “min” and “max.” If you pour the antifreeze to the maximum or higher, the engine can boil or jam. If the level is minimal or lower, the engine can jam. Brake fluid should be filled to the maximum level and continuously monitor the level. As for window washer, we recommend buying a specialized one. Even in the summer, we recommend to fill in a special liquid – it removes fatty, oil stains well, while ordinary water only smears them.
Car chassis
Periodically check the condition of the chassis of the car (shock absorbers, axles).
Inspect wheel arches and shock absorbers. For example, SUV shock absorbers can withstand greater loads than those of a passenger car. If there are traces of oil, liquid, it is worth stopping by the car service. See if there are any oil, liquid, through rust and other damage on the axles. If they are present, then carefully drive to the car service.
There is a one not very convenient factor in the operation of the car for the driver.
Due to the lack of regular protection and the possibility of contamination by the violation of the integrity of the bearing, the wheel hub bearing requires constant attention.
Very often, the lubricant leaks from high temperatures or is washed away by frequent interaction of the car with water. Accordingly, the hub housing gets road dust and sand. Abrasive debris leads to wear of parts, which will have to be replaced.
Air Conditioning
Air conditioner, like many other units of the car, requires constant care and maintenance.
Freon
The air conditioner is filled with a special substance, which is divided into two types: synthetic-based and mineral oil-based. The latter type is hardly ever used today, as it is not very safe for the ozone layer.
If you do not know what refrigerant was in the air conditioner, be sure to remove the remnants of the old freon before refilling.
It is essential to know that freons of different types can not be mixed. Therefore you can fill the air conditioner only with the same type of refrigerant. For different freons, there are different valves and different ac recharge kits for refueling in the car. But some craftsmen can easily make adapters and pour what is cheaper.
Pickup Trucks Maintenance and Servicing
It is important to care for the body, interior, and technical units properly to maintain a good appearance and functional condition of your truck. For the best preservation of the paintwork, try to store the car in the garage or the parking lot under a canopy. If you have to store the vehicle in an open parking lot, then choose a parking place in the shade or cover the body with a protective cover.
Back Of The Truck Care
Back of the truck, despite the practical purpose, is vulnerable. Therefore, many believe that such a car needs modification, namely the presence of a tonneau cover.
Tonneau covers for trucks are universal protection of your cargo. It reliably protects the trunk of the car from rain, dust, and other weather effects.
One of the main criteria when choosing such an accessory is its quality. When buying, the first thing you need to pay attention to is the material from which the tonneau cover is made.
The stronger the material, the higher the reliability and service life of the use of such an accessory. Design and other criteria are selected individually for each car.
Also, do not forget about the proper care of the back of the truck:
- Sweep the trunk. Start by removing all the items stored in the back of the truck. If there is a removable mat or plastic liner in the trunk, remove it. Use a broom to sweep up dirt and debris. Sweep every nook and cranny.
- Wash with water. Use a high-pressure washer to remove any remaining dirt. Spray water in the direction inside the truck body to the rear door. Don’t forget to spray water from side to side, through the truck body and its corners.
- Apply car shampoo to the trunk. Use a special washcloth for washing cars. Do not use the brush to clean the area because its bristles may scratch the surface of the truck platform. Start cleaning from the inside of the body to the rear door.
- Rinse again with water. Use the high-pressure washer to remove all the soap from the truck bed.
- Apply spray in bedliner. Dry the surface of the body with suede. Wipe until the entire area is dry. Apply the bed liner to the whole surface. Bedliner treatment will protect the truck bed.
For the car to stay longer in perfect condition both externally and internally, it is vital to take care of it properly. The modern market provides such an opportunity, offering motorists a wide range of necessary goods. It is important to choose the right products that will meet the quality and safety standards, as well as the recommendations of manufacturers for car maintenance.
Key Fob
Many modern cars use an electronic system to unlock doors without the use of a key, as well as to start the engine without contact.
As a rule, automakers complete new cars with key fobs (Keyless Entry, Smart Key, Keyless Go), which, working on the radio channel, inform the alarm of the vehicle that the owner of the car approaches it. If the code matches, the alarm is deactivated, and the car automatically opens the doors. Toyota Prius key fob can even start the car.