We’ve been in the auto repair business in Santa Maria, CA for over 25 years and have probably seen most problems that car owners experience. Time and again the resulting repair bill could have been avoided if the owner had just maintained his vehicle properly. If vehicle owners would take care of 5 basic systems, they would extend the life of their vehicles. Although this requires paying for the routine maintenance, by doing so it will avoid costly auto repair bills and therefore save money in the long run. Here are the 5 tips that we recommend.

The first area is the cooling system. For some reason, the cooling system tends to get neglected, and it’s really important to maintain it properly. People that neglect their cooling system tend to end up with expensive repair jobs down the road. The manufacturers nowadays recommend not changing the coolant for 150,000 miles, but a lot of times it doesn’t last that long. If the coolant gets acidic, it will cause electrolysis in the cooling system. This eats away at hoses from the inside out, and can also cause corrosion of the engine heads leading to head gasket failure. If a water hose or a head gasket fails, it will cause overheating and lead to very expensive repairs. You can have the coolant tested for acidity by an auto repair shop. Keeping these levels in tolerance will save a lot of money in the long run.

The second area is a really simple thing and that’s rotating your tires and keeping the tire inflation at proper levels. If this is done at frequent intervals it will also save money. Most cars today are front wheel drive. This means that the front tires are doing a lot of work. They are supporting more weight. They apply torque to the road and they are turning corners. As a result the front tires of a front wheel drive car wear much faster than the rears. People tend to neglect tire rotation. They go into a quickie oil change shop which doesn’t rotate tires and as a result they end up having to buy tires sooner than necessary. A good auto repair shop will rotate tires every oil change, even if you change oil every 3,000 miles. This will add considerable life to a set of tires.

Of course the most basic maintenance routine is oil and filter change. For some reason some people have a hard time keeping on top of this and stretch out the time between oil changes for 10,000 to 15,000 miles and the engine won’t last as long that way. Oils are better today than they used to be, so you can go a little longer, but if you can stay religious about changing oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles; you shouldn’t have a lubrication failure for over 200,000 miles.

Another area that gets neglected is the transmission. Transmission service is not cheap but a new transmission will cost $4,000 to $5,000 which makes the price of service seem a lot more reasonable. If you service the transmission regularly per the manufacturer’s recommended intervals, it will last the life of the vehicle.

The fifth area that also gets neglected a lot is valve adjustment. Not every car needs to have the valves adjusted. Most cars have hydraulic valves which don’t require valve adjustment. But therein is the problem. Because with cars that do require adjustment, the owners usually forget about it. Pat’s Automotive, an ASE certified auto repair shop in Santa Maria, CA says “almost every valve job we have to do on a car with adjustable valves is because they owners neglected to adjust them”. As a result the valve wears into the seat over time which takes up the clearance. When there’s no clearance the valve can burn and you’re in for an expensive repair. So make sure you check to see if your vehicle requires valve adjustments and if so make sure it’s done at the proper interval.

Your vehicle is one of your most expensive investments. If you stay on top of these five systems and maintain them on a regular basis, you will extend the life of your vehicle. You wouldn’t go to the low bidder for brain surgery. Don’t take your vehicle to the low bidder either. Find a reputable auto repair shop, stick with them, do the recommended maintenance services, and it will save you a lot of money in the long run. If you found this article helpful please visit our site at