In light of inflation and today’s increasing prices in petrol, having the ability to do some minor car maintenance helps a lot. While cleaning your Rubicon’s air conditioning or checking your Mustang exhaust in Sydney requires professional help, learning how to DIY the smaller repairs and replacements can help save you a lot of money.
We have listed a few minor fixes below that you can do to your car to help bring down your maintenance expenses.
Disclaimer: Refer to the manufacturer’s manual. If you get stuck and don’t know what to do next, it is still best to ask a mechanic for help so you don’t make things worse.
8 Quick Car Fixes You Can Do All by Yourself
1. Replace your coolant.
Avoid damaging your radiator, water pump, and heater core by driving on worn coolant. It needs to be replaced occasionally. Replace green coolant after 40,000 kilometres and extended-life coolant after 60,000 kilometres.
2. Change your car’s fluids regularly.
Differential oil changes are inexpensive, and so are changing transfer case fluids. Both are relatively easy to do. If you fail to change these fluids regularly, it will affect the performance of their components, which could probably give you an additional AUD 2,200.00 in car maintenance expenses.
3. Replace your air filter yearly.
A clogged air filter will cause your car’s AC not to function at an optimum level. Replacing your cabin air filter should only cost you about AUD 18 to 20 and not take longer than ten minutes to finish.
4. Perform a coolant test.
Test your coolant regularly for water content, contaminants, and metals to check your radiator and cooler’s health. You can use a voltmeter to check your car’s coolant. If the readout is 0.4 volts or more, your coolant is done for.
5. Clean the headlights.
Does your car have cloudy headlights? You can easily do away with it by buying a headlight restoration kit (around AUD 20 to 25) and do the buffing and sanding at home.
6. Check the battery terminals for corrosion and clean them.
Keep your car running efficiently and smoothly by maintaining a good battery connection at all times. Giving your car battery a thorough cleaning with a wire brush should only take about 20 minutes. Simply make sure you follow the proper battery maintenance procedure to avoid doing damage to your battery.
7. Fix a broken defroster grid.
Defrost a malfunctioning defroster grid with a grid repair kit that’s available at any auto parts shop. A kit should not cost more than AUD 17.
8. Replace windshield wipers.
Windshield wipers are among the easiest car parts to replace. You can buy a pair of wipers in any car accessories shop and replace them all by yourself by following the instructions that come with the package.
Even if you don’t know much about cars, it’s always helpful to learn how to do some minor maintenance jobs on it. It does not only save you money, but it also keeps it out of the shop and extends its life.
