Some maintenance and repair tasks truly need you to pay professionals to do, but others may actually be extremely simple in nature that you can perform them yourself. If you are trying to save some cash or expand your skills to be able to quickly and efficiently take care of small things around the house, learning some car upkeep tricks may come in handy.
As you are embarking on your new adventure and perhaps moving, you will need to know a few tricks to keep you going – at least until you settle into your new environment and know your way around the various service spots. Let’s say you’ve found the car of your dreams in Hawaii, and you’re shipping car from Hawaii, for instance. There is always a possibility that you may just need to get a couple of things polished up here and there.In this article, with share with you five car maintenance and repair tasks that pretty much anyone can handle.
Installing windshield wipers
Wiper blade hardware can minimally vary from car to the other, but they all have many things in common. It’s recommended to check your owner’s manual if you have any doubts, but basically, the process is:
- Lift up the blades, as if you were going to wipe the windshield underneath, and examine how they are attached to the metal arms.
- On most cars, you should be able to see a tab on the underside of the wiper; push it and you should be able to slide away the old blade.
- Attach the new blades using the opposite mechanism of removing the old ones, and be careful as not to bend the metal arms or scratch the windshield.
- Check to see if they are now secure, put them back in rest mode, and go back inside the car to turn them on and see if they are functioning as they should.
Changing the air filter
Changing your air filter at home takes about ten minutes. On the other hand, taking it to a paid mechanic’s place might mean leaving it there for the day. The steps are simple:
- Locate the filter under the hood of your car; it’s usually in a black rectangular casing with metal clips on the side – if you don’t see it as soon as you pop up the hood, refer to your owner’s manual.
- Open up the box, and examine how the air filter fits inside it. Make a note of which way the filter faces.
- Remove the old one, and insert the new one exactly how the old one was. Close the metal clips on the casing when you’re done.
Replacing the seatbelt and seat belt retractors
Using a seatbelt while driving is a must, and they, too, become old and faulty and may malfunction. Believe it or not, you can actually replace most seat belt and seat belt retractors at home using a screwdriver and, obviously, a new belt set.
Changing a tire
Whether you want to do your own tire rotation at home, or just need to change a flat tire, it’s simpler than you think.
- First of all, you need to remove all of the lug nuts by simply use a two-by-four as a pry bar to lift off your tire – then keep them next to you for later.
- If you don’t have a fulcrum, all you have to do is place some shims or a small block of wood under the board and it will act as one.
- Slide the tire outwards, set it aside, and slide the other one in, and screw the lug nuts back in.
Slow down rusting
For those of us who live in areas where roads are salted over the winter, or near the coast, there’s no escape from the eventual will rust. Although you will eventually need to get major areas of rust permanently repaired, until then, here’s a trick you can perform at home. Buy some mechanics grease, take a glob and apply it to the rusted area. It will act as an insulator and slow down the rusting process, giving you time to decide how, when, and where you are going to fix it.
Performing some of the light car maintenance measures yourself will not only save you time and money, but it will also make you proud as you successfully wrap up a task. Take good care of your trusty vehicle, and remember to always stay safe when you perform these procedures, as well as test every function of a replaced part before going on the road.