9 Essential Car Servicing Steps

Car servicing is very important, and it cannot be emphasised enough. Especially for those drivers who use their car regularly, the car is required to be maintained and kept in the best shape to be reliable and roadworthy to be on the road. A car servicing is required every 6 months or 10k mileage after your last servicing.

Owning a car is a huge expenditure and car servicing is no exception. You need to know the essential car servicing steps to protect yourself from getting cheated.

1. Change new engine oil

The engine oil is used to lubricate your engine. In order to change to new engine oil, they will drain the old oil and add in the new oil. There are 2 types of oil, one is synthetic oil and the other is non-synthetic oil. Synthetic oil usually lasts longer, about 10,000 miles before you need to change it. While non-synthetic oil lasts about 5,000 miles.

2. Change oil filter

The oil filter is used to prevent dirt and dust particles to enter the engine. The filter is changed whenever you change the engine oil to prevent gunk from accumulating in your car engine.

3. Change spark plugs

The spark plugs supply the spark that ignites the fuel mixture, creating an explosion that makes your engine produce power. Spark plugs should last 20,000 to 30,000 miles; however, each vehicle may differ.

4. Change automatic transmission fluid (ATF)

The ATF is used to lubricate the components of a car’s transmission for optimum performance, and it needs to be changed every 25,000 to 30,000 miles. ATF oil is also needed for flushing to clean the gearbox and is recommended after every 50,000 miles of driving.

A machine is used to pump out 80% of the ATF and a new ATF is circulated in the car. The machine allows the ATF to circulate around the car dissolving impurities in the gearbox. Flushing the gearbox is important when it comes to making your car smoother when changing gear or picking up speed.

5. Change power steering fluid

The power steering fluid is to act as the pass-through which power is transferred from the steering wheel to the steering mechanism of the vehicle. This is to protect moving parts within the system. The power steering fluid should be changed every 30,000 miles however different vehicles differ.

Therefore, some signs to look out for will be noises coming from the area of your power steering system. Also, if you are struggling to turn the steering wheel, this is a sure sign you have an issue with your power steering fluid.

6. Change brake pads and fluids

Brake pads should last roughly about 35,000 miles in urban use. However, the number may differ depending on the driving conditions as well as the style.

Signs that you need to change your brake pad includes hearing loud noises when braking.

7. Change the air filter

An air filter is a key component in the combustion process allowing your car’s engine to get cleaner air. Make sure to change the air filter frequently to get a more complete combustion.

8. Rotate tyres and wheel alignment

The tyres on the braking wheel will wear out faster than the rest, thus a rotation should occur earlier, at about every 10,000 miles. By doing this, all 4 tyres will wear out evenly, eliminating the change of different tyres at a different point in time.

Wheel alignment is also needed to ensure that the wheel alignment is not off. Once the wheel alignment is off, one side of your tyre will wear out faster. It is necessary to align your set of wheels every 20,000 or 30,000 miles.

9. Top up air-con gas

In this humid Singapore, air-condition is important. If the air-con is malfunctioning, make sure your air-con gas is topped up.