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Vehicle Maintenance Tips: Fluids, Filters, And Other Components

The performance and life of your car is largely dependent on the maintenance you provide over the years. As long as you keep the fluids topped off and replace important filters periodically, you’ll prolong the active life of your vehicle. Doing so is simple and uncomplicated. The intervals at which to have specific maintenance items addressed are listed in your owner’s manual. If you follow the recommendations, you’ll help ensure major systems remain in good working condition.

In this article, I’ll provide a checklist of the most important maintenance items to perform to keep your car running efficiently. You’ll learn about the fluids and filters that are responsible for protecting major assemblies from debris, damage, and premature wear.

Lubrication For Your Engine

Motor oil is arguably the most important fluid in your car. It performs multiple tasks to ensure your engine operates at an optimum level. First, it lubricates the moving parts, thus preventing heat and friction from causing damage. Second, it keeps your engine clean by transporting debris away from it. Third, it functions as a coolant and keeps the temperature of your engine below a certain ceiling. It accomplishes this by cooling the pistons, crankshaft, valve springs, and other parts.

Under most circumstances, the oil should be changed every 5,000 miles. But this is merely a guideline that assumes you’re driving under normal conditions. If you regularly drive short distances, tow heavy loads, or drive in extremely dusty settings, consider changing it every 3,500 miles.

Protecting Your Engine From Debris

As oil circulates around your engine’s moving parts, it collects debris, metal particles, and other contaminants. If these contaminants were allowed to circulate back into the engine, they could cause premature wear. An oil filter prevents this from happening.

Oil is collected by the oil pump and sent to the filter before it reaches your car’s engine. The filter catches debris, thus preventing it from reaching your valve train, crankshaft bearings, and other components. Over time, it catches so much debris that it becomes clogged. At that point, filtered oil cannot sufficiently flow past the filter.

Because of its location, it’s difficult to see whether the oil filter is obstructed. For this reason, get into the habit of replacing it every time you have the oil changed.

Lubrication For Your Transmission

Transmission fluid lubricates the moving parts of your automatic transmission and helps to maintain the assembly’s operating temperature. Unlike motor oil that needs to be changed every 5,000 miles, your tranny’s fluid can usually go for 80,000 miles or more. That said, because your transmission is such a delicate system, most professional technicians recommend changing the fluid every 30,000 miles.

As a side note, if you’re driving a vehicle that has a substantial number of miles on the current fluid, avoid changing it. Doing so may cause deposits to break free and migrate into the control valves.

Heat Transfer From The Engine

Coolant transfers heat away from your engine and into the radiator. This is an important function; if the temperature surrounding your engine were allowed to climb unabated, the assembly would overheat. This would lead to costly damage. In some cases, the damage might be so extensive that you would be forced to replace your engine.

If you’re using normal antifreeze, plan to change it every 30,000 miles. That said, some automakers are designing their vehicles with coolants that can last up to 100,000 miles or more.

The fluids above should be checked periodically to make sure their levels remain high. If you notice the oil, transmission fluid, or coolant levels are low, that may suggest a leak has formed. Leaks only worsen with time, so the earlier you can resolve them, the better.

By changing your fluids and filters on a regular basis, you’ll help prolong the life of your vehicle. Given the high cost of repairing your engine or transmission, a little preventative maintenance can save thousands of dollars over the long run.

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