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How to Keep Your Car Running Smoothly
Here in beautiful Santa Barbara, we are blessed with great weather year round, short distances between most destinations in town, and several alternative transportation options, such as bicycling and riding the bus.
Nonetheless, many of us are still dependent on our automobiles to get around. In these tough economic times, car maintenance is one of the last things on most people’s minds, unless a tow truck suddenly becomes part of the picture. While a brand-new, fuel-efficient car complete with a new-car warranty would be nice, the new car payment that comes with it often exceeds the cost of maintaining your existing car or truck. Therefore, keeping Old Faithful going a while longer is the most viable option. Basic car maintenance tips can help keep your ride on the road longer and save money at the gas pump, too.
» Check your tire pressures regularly: One of the most overlooked maintenance items on any car, yet one of the most crucial, is tire pressure. Severely low tire pressure is the leading cause of tire blowouts, whether from punctures or nails/screws in the tire or from “normal” leakage. Most tires will lose 1-2 PSI of air pressure a month through natural leakage of air molecules between the rim and the tire and also from the valve stem. Make it a habit to check your tire pressures at least once a month, and every time before you leave on a long trip. Besides the safety issue, underinflated tires are detrimental to fuel economy and tire life due to increased resistance between the tire and the road.
The correct tire pressures for your particular vehicle can be found on a label in the driver’s door jamb on most vehicles. If not, the label may be found under the hood or trunk lid, inside the gas filler flap, or in the owners’ manual. If you cannot find a tire pressure specification anywhere on the car or it is missing, any competent tire shop, independent garage or dealership should be able to provide you with this information. The manufacturer recommended pressures are for cold tires only; if the car has been driven more than a few miles, especially at freeway speeds, the pressure in the tire will increase by about 4-5 PSI.
Another point to consider regarding tire pressures that is often overlooked is the fact that the “normal” recommended tire pressures are for an empty car with driver and passenger only; if your vehicle is loaded down with luggage and/or people, or you are towing a trailer, you need to increase the tire pressures to compensate for the extra weight and load. Some tire pressure labels have a specification for a fully loaded vehicle, but if it yours does not a good rule of thumb is to increase pressures by 3-4 PSI over normal cold pressure.
Because tire pressures are so important, the federal government mandates that all new vehicles sold in the United States be equipped with an on-board Tire Pressure Monitoring System to make consumers more aware of their tire pressures. TPMS uses sensors mounted in each wheel that monitor air pressure inside the tire. A warning light will come on in the dash if the pressure inside the tire falls below the calibrated setting of the sensor. The more sophisticated systems will actually have an exact reading of each tire’s pressure in the dash.
Overall, these systems are a very good idea for increasing awareness of tire pressures, but they can be finicky if you do not know some basics about TPMS. Any time you change the tire pressures, the TPMS needs to be reset to reflect that change so the system remains accurate. Check your owner’s manual for the specific procedure as it varies for car to car. Some are as simple as holding down a button after starting the engine and driving a few feet, others reset through an onboard computer. A competent shop should be able to show you the procedure for resetting TPMS if you cannot find how to do it on your own.
Any time the tire pressure warning light comes on in a 2007 and newer vehicle, you should check the tire pressures as soon as possible. Sometimes the systems are picky and can set false alarms, but it is worth checking anyway. Check the spare tire, as well, since that wheel has a sensor in it and is often overlooked; even if you have an older car without TPMS, check the spare tire pressure periodically. After struggling to change a flat tire on the side of the freeway with cars whizzing by, it would be pretty disappointing to find a flat spare tire as well.
A little-known fact regarding checking tire pressures is that if you come across a gas station that charges money for air for your tires and you do not have any coins for the air machine, by law you can go to the attendant and ask for some change since tire pressure is a safety issue.
» Keep up on your routine maintenance: Once again, it can be hard to justify pouring money into your car with the multitude of financial pressures many of us face, but a little bit of preventative maintenance can save you money in the long run. Regardless of annual mileage, get your oil changed at least once a year, since the engine-protecting additives in the oil break down, and moisture can build up in the oil, eventually leading to sludge buildup. An annual inspection by a trained pair of eyes is also a good idea so any potential problems can be found early, before they get more costly or unsafe.
For those who perform their own oil changes, please recycle your oil and other automotive fluids, and clean up any fluid spills on the driveway or the street. Anything left there will make it into our creeks, and ultimately the ocean. Most auto parts stores will recycle your used fluids for a small fee. Speaking of the environmental impact of automotive fluids, it is a good idea to get any fluid leaks that drip onto the ground taken care of, whether oil or coolant, as those fluids will get into the ocean as well. Not to mention, catching fluid leaks early will prevent the leak from getting worse and potentially damaging other engine components, such as hoses and electrical equipment.
Frequent “tune-ups” are not as critical on newer vehicles compared to older ones, but even if you drive a newer car, periodic maintenance is important. Items like air filters, fuel filters and spark plugs should be changed at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals. Newer vehicles will often run well until an ignition component or sensor suddenly fails, so preventative maintenance is a good practice for avoiding future hassles.
» Check that check engine light: The “check engine” light that can illuminate in the instrument panel on modern cars indicates that car’s engine computer (usually referred to as the “ECU,” or engine control unit) sees a problem that could potentially affect emissions and cause the engine to pollute the atmosphere more than it otherwise would. The light will either say “check engine,” show a graphic of an engine, or in the case of many BMWs, the light will read “Service Engine Soon.”
In many cases, the engine will not run noticeably different with a “check engine” light on, so the light is often ignored until smog test time when the underlying issue is required to be addressed. An array of maladies can trigger a check engine light, from something as simple as a loose gas cap (this can cause raw gasoline vapors from the fuel tank to escape to the atmosphere; these emissions are a component of smog), to more complex issues like a faulty sensor on the engine or a mechanical problem.
If and when a “check engine” light comes on, it is not an absolute emergency to get it checked out (except in the rare event that the light is flashing, which indicates the potential of costly catalytic converter damage), but it is better to take the car in sooner rather than later. Whatever is causing the light will not get better over time, and once the check engine light becomes a regular feature of the dashboard, a future unrelated emissions fault could occur unbeknown to the driver since the light is already illuminated. Model year 1996 and newer vehicles sold in the United States are required to have the same basic on-board diagnostic capabilities, regardless of manufacturer. Therefore, a generic code reader is able to scan and read fault codes from any car of that vintage. These code readers are readily available for under $100, but contrary to popular perception, the scan tool does not automatically tell one what is wrong with the engine; it will give the user a general idea of what the ECU thinks is wrong, but it often takes a skilled, trained technician to accurately interpret the data and diagnose the root cause of the problem.
Another factor to consider is that if your car is due for a smog inspection, it will not pass smog if a “check engine” light is on, even if tailpipe emissions are clean. It will also not pass if the check engine light has just been turned off, whether by a code reader or by disconnecting the battery (or if the battery goes dead). The car will not pass smog until the issue that caused the check engine light is repaired and the “emissions monitors” are all set. I will not go into detail about all of these monitors and what they mean, except to note that it usually takes a week or two of mixed in-town and freeway driving after a check engine light repair for these monitors to set and for the vehicle to pass a smog inspection.
» Fuel economy. Besides keeping your tires inflated and your engine in tune, there are several other basic measures that can be taken to maximize fuel economy in any car or truck. First, get the junk out of your trunk! A good number of cars I see in the shop are loaded with items that probably do not need to be in the car at all times and are just adding dead weight. The extra weight is just making the engine work harder, not to mention the brakes and the suspension. I know that carrying half your worldly possessions everywhere you go can be handy sometimes, but you can save money (and the environment) by traveling lighter.
As a corollary to the tip about checking tire pressure and condition, have your car’s wheel alignment checked every time you get new tires. Checking the alignment not only maximizes the life of the new tires, but it also guarantees that your car is going straight down the road with the least amount of resistance possible, saving fuel.
There has long been a debate about whether driving on the freeway with the windows down, air conditioning off or windows up, air conditioning on uses more fuel. Several tests have shown (including my own admittedly unscientific comparisons on various cross-country trips) that in a modern car, the increased aerodynamic drag from driving at freeway speeds with the windows down uses more fuel than does the minimal additional load on the engine from a modern A/C system. But on some days, especially in Santa Barbara, there is nothing like fresh air and the wind in your hair.
— Chris Andropoulos is a master technician and service writer at Schneider Autohaus, 2703 De la Vina St. For more information, call 805.962.8015.
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