Spark plugs need changing
Many manufacturers recommend changing plugs every 48,000 or 64,000 kilometres (30,000 or 40,000 miles) to make sure good fuel mileage and engine performance.
Some new cars accompany long-life plugs (sometimes called double platinum plugs) which will last for 160,000 kilometres (100,000 miles).
If your car isn’t so equipped, make the switch after 50,000 kilometres (30,000 miles).
The extra cost is merely a couple of dollars per sparking plug . While you’re at it, change your sparking plug wires also .
Their typical life is 80,000 kilometres (50,000 miles). Deteriorated wires can cause those high-tech new spark plugs to foul.
Avoid hose hassles
Check the hoses under your hood monthly or two to avoid the effort of a broken hose while you’re on the road.
With the car cool and off, squeeze the hoses. If they’re hard or make a crunching sound, replace them.
Ditto if they’re extremely soft or sticky. With the car warm but off, examine hoses for bulges and collapsed sections.
If you discover any, the hose walls are weak, and it is time to exchange the hose.
Never drive with a ruptured coolant hose, otherwise you are susceptible to overheat the engine and damage it.
Other hoses are crucial to operation of your power brakes and cruise-control systems.
Test drive-belt tension
Check the strain and condition of your drive belt (or, with many cars, multiple belts) monthly .
Belts that are too tight can wear out the bearings in accessory components, like AC compressor, pump and power-steering pump.
Belts that are too loose will wear out faster and should fail prematurely.
Perform your examination before you begin the car to avoid injury thanks to a hot belt or moving engine part.
Check for tension by pressing within the centre of the belt’s longest exposed run while holding a ruler next thereto .
If you’ll depress the belt one to 2.5 centimetres (.5 to at least one inch), but less or less, the strain is sweet .
If not, adjust the belt tension yourself consistent with your car’s service manual, or have your dealer or auto repair service roll in the hay .
Also check for belt damage, like glazing (often thanks to oil leakage), fraying and cracks.
If you notice damage, have the belt checked by a professional and replaced if necessary.
Don’t forget the timing belt
On many cars, it is the belt you cannot see that’s the foremost critical. If your manual says, as many do, that you simply should replace the timing belt at 80,000 kilometres (50,000 miles), do it!
A failed timing belt can, counting on engine type, cause thousands of dollars worth of injury to your engine.
Run your AC in winter
To keep your car’s air-conditioning system fit subsequent warm season, run it a couple of times throughout the winter. this may prevent moving parts within the compressor from seizing.
Also, circulating the refrigerant will help keep the seals soft and pliant.
Seal a leaky radiator
Save the high expense of a replacement radiator by trying to seal a leak with a radiator sealer.
Available in powder or liquid form, the merchandise circulates within the radiator until it gets to the opening , where it sets up and fills the opening upon contact with the air.
Alumaseal could also be wont to stop heater core leaks also .
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