Car Maintenance || How To Maintain Your Car And MAKE IT LAST

This is how to maintain your car and make it last for as long as possible. These maintenance tips will show you how to maintain your car without spending a ton of money but still keep your car in great shape. This includes when to change the oil, transmission fluid, and other parts like filters and spark plugs. We also share tips on how to maintain an electric car and keep the electric car battery in great shape. To find out how to maintain your car, make sure to watch this video.

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ABOUT ME

With over a decade of experience as a professional car buyer and auto consultant, Shari Prymak has helped thousands of consumers with their car buying needs. Car Help Corner provides honest, objective, consumer advice with all aspects of car buying and car ownership. For more professional advice, check out Car Help Canada, become a member, and subscribe!

[MrRensan]

On a new car, I do the first oil and filter change at 1 K miles, then at every 5 K interval or once a year, whichever comes first. Other fluids, I base replacements on the owner’s manual or a little earlier. My cars all reach 300 K miles without any major problems.

[Youtubebinger]

1. 00:45 Oil changes every ~5k
2. 2:25 Windshield washer fluid for extreme weather
3. 3:45 Engine coolant
4. 4:10 transmission fluid
5. 6:20 brake fluid
6. 6:45 Misc. spark plugs, air filters, fuel filter, timing belt

[BestEngineOil]

Maintenance is key. Don't thrash the vehicle with excessive tuning or reckless driving. Use the best engine oil to be sure.

[darbysuntrup]

Vow! The manufacturer cares only about the vehicle surviving the warranty period!!! Never thought about that one!!! Bravo.

[justinbelk]

Yes I agree with frequently changing your fluids and filters, i changed the full synthetic oil every 10K miles and I got 237K miles out of my 2013 Toyota Highlander before I sold her. But also never serviced my transmission and when I went to inquire about changing the fluid, nobody wanted to touch it due to the high mileage and lack of maintenance. Very good video with very detailed information. 👍🏾

[ryans]

Fuel filter, serpentine belt and pulleys, battery, wiper blades, cabin air filter. Little things that still add up in the long run of keeping the vehicle in working order. Let’s also not forget to keep the vehicle clean of dirt and grim from the roads that rusts a vehicle away.

[mnhmezo]

Yep. Have a 2021 Subaru Impreza Hatch. Have 38, 000 miles. Will change CVT transmisson fluid at 50, 000. Don"t care what book says, not lifetime fluid. Alreadt changed differential fluids. Oil change every 5, 000 miles. No advice. This is just me.

[mjfx]

Nice BMW. I change mine every 5k. It’s cheap enough and feels satisfying

[MK_climbing]

Well in my family we (my mom, me and my sister) had a Fiat Stilo 1.9 JTD 115 horsepower, bought with 40k km, chip tunned to 145 horsepower at around 100k km, we changed oil at 15k km, my mom was the owner, she sometimes forgot when was the last time she changed oil, so a few times she changed it at 30k km, other fluids... probably nobody knows, and a car ran strong till 370k km. I drove it as a teenager often quite hard, she was driving short distances to work, at weekends there were longer distances. Overall the car didn't drink oil, didn't leak, turbo was original, nothing wrong mechanically, we changed it because electric components were starting to fail more often. It was 17 years old.

[pokedude]

another important one you miss is washing your car, especially in the winter if you live in an area that salts the roads. Its not so much about keeping the car clean as it is not letting the salt crud build up all winter and waiting until the spring to wash it. I see it every year on the first nice day in spring. Scores of people taking their car for the first wash in months. I bring mine through the touchless wash with undercarriage (important) pretty much every weekend in winter. Sure I might spend a couple hundred dollars in washes but if it buys you another few years with the car before its too rusty to be safe then its a worthwile investment. During the summer you can take it to a regular self serve wash less frequently and for cheaper.

[Doc]

Shari, you bring a wealth of information to your subscribers. I appreciate it, Thanks !

[jean-claudebertrand]

This is awesome, I mean an Independent (as opposed to a manufacturer or dealer) and trusted source providing advising on what car maintenance items needs to be considered and when.

[ilovetotri]

My mechanic is very biased! He is biased to my needs! He says, "Nothing lasts forever, just keep all the fluids correct".

[skn]

Number one recommendation. Learn how to do your own work. I just did a timing job on my 07 Mustang GT. Cost me $700 in parts. New VCT solenoids, cam phasers, new chain, new tensioners, guides, gaskets, new front main seal, went ahead and put a new oil pump in while i had the timing cover off as well.. The guides had broken off and were causing problems and the VCT solenoids were sticking and causing misfires. It's running great now, though, with 160k miles on the clock.

This would have cost thousands at a shop.

[Tonga]

Great advise, I follow that advise on all my fluids. Changed before factory required!! Cheap insurance, especially engine oil changes.

[sandeepkhanna]

Hi Shari, it would be great if you would consider adding take home points or a summary of key points at the end of your talk.

[Doc]

I change the oil & filter every 4K miles with Mobile 1 full synthetic.
I also change the front and rear differential, transfer case, and a transmission flush every 30K miles.
We keep our vehicles a very long time.
Our Camry was 18 years old when it needed to be replaced, so I bought my wife an Outback. Our other 2 vehicles will soon be 12 years old and as long as they stay reliable, we’ll continue to drive them.
Our 11 Rav 4WD Limited with a 3.5 V6 only has 105K pampered miles and our 11 Ford Ranger XLT super cab 4X4, with a 4.0 V6 only has 35K miles.

[SatoruNakada]

Shari, congratulations on reaching 100.000 subscribers! Appreciate learning so much from your videos :)

[andreasbayer]

Well, meanwile in Germany/Europe: We have long life oil intervals (usually 15-30k km/10-20k miles or 1-2 years depending on usage calculated by the car) since around year 2000 and it works out quite well without destroyed engines all over the place... Damaged engines usually are not oil related, but also those are rare... My personal vehicle is at 220.000 km and counting with oil changes between 25k and 30k km uses consistantly about 1 liter oil (max to min on the dipstick) in about 22k km, so I refill about 300 ml between oil changes. The engine and the car is in very good condition. But the same engine (e.g. Opel/GM/Buick) can have a 25k or 30k km interval in europe and a 10k km interval in US, so I don't think there is a real rational for those short intervals other than the oil-change lobby in US... Also in semi trucks, the oil change interval can be as high as 150.000 km in europe and it works like the engineers thought it should... Coming from an engineer...

[turulmagyar]

I drive a 33 year old Wartburg 1.3 (made in former Eastern German) I change the oil every 6 months. Gearbox oil every 2 years and the cooling fluid every year if looking dirty. Brake fluid every 3 years.