What Does Your Car Maintenance Schedule Tell You?

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Most car owners have to deal with enough scheduling in their lives with work, family obligations and a social life. Trying to follow a maintenance schedule for a car is just another thing to remember on top of an already busy life. But what is the typical maintenance schedule and why does it matter so much? We'd like to offer an overview that you won't need to be a mechanic to understand.

What is a maintenance schedule?

First things first. What is a car maintenance schedule?

A car maintenance schedule is the schedule of preventative care that a car manufacturer recommends in order to safety, reliability, drivability, comfort and longevity of a car. The maintenance schedule can include everything from the most cosmetic maintenance such as washing your car to inspecting and testing important safety systems.

To put it another way; it's like your doctor's recommendations for keeping yourself as healthy as possible except your body doesn't have a timing belt inside...we hope.

Is a maintenance schedule the same for every car in every situation?

A maintenance schedule will vary depending on the vehicle year, make and model.

The car owner's maintenance typically recommends the "extreme maintenance schedule" which assumes that you're putting your car through high-stress driving conditions with extended daily travel, extreme temperatures in both directions and other unusual stresses such as towing or frequent and long-term idling.

Since most of us aren't delivery drivers or cabbies in the city, this schedule is frequently more rigid and demanding than average daily use would require.

Experienced service advisors and expert mechanics will take a more custom-tailored approach to a car maintenance schedule, allowing for the behavior of the car owner and the conditions of the roads and climate.

What kinds of things does a car maintenance schedule typically call for?

The maintenance schedule will have routine services such as oil changes, windshield wiper replacements and the like, but can also include some of the following:

• replace fuel filters
• check and refill windshield washer fluid
• wheel alignment
• tire balancing and rotation
• tire tread and wear inspection
• battery check and replacement
• inspect and replace brake pads
• check and flush brake fluid
• check and flush transmission fluid
• check and flush power steering fluid
• check and flush engine coolant
• inspect and replace spark plugs
• inspect and replace air filter
• read codes from the ECU
• check the ABS
• check all lights
• tighten all bolts and nuts