For the optimum performance of your car, regular maintenance of a car is vital. Regular car service will boost your car’s longevity and help you avoid costly repairs. However, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ as every car is different and manufacture’s recommendations on service intervals are specified in terms of time and mileage. Generally, to keep your car in the best possible condition the car makers recommended service in every 4 to 6 months.
Determining the Ideal & Flexible Car Service Interval:
Car service interval relies on various components like your vehicle’s age, quality of maintenance, usage pattern, and the types of roads that you drive on. Many manufactures suggest a maintenance schedule that suits most people that helps to keep your vehicle in tip-top condition. As per the usage conditions, they recognize your vehicle and provide service recommendations for severe driving conditions.
Based on your driving habits the maintenance schedule is divided into two sections ‘normal’ & ‘severe’. Although the vehicle manufacturer recommends tighter maintenance intervals for severe driving. Hot weather driving, shorts trips of under five miles, regular towing, constant driving on non-pavement surfaces like dirt, gravel, and off-road can put your vehicle in severe usage category.
If you drive your car rarely, it is advisable to take your car for service twice a year to monitor the condition of your vehicle. Things can go wrong with your vehicle if you are not driving a car frequently, this is because low usage creates its own sets of problems like a discharged battery, corroded battery cables, clogged air filter, ignition switch breakdown and failure of starter motor relay, these are few problems can be faced by the car owners.
Extending Car Service Intervals Affect the Car Performance:
A car manufacturer spends a lot of R&D time and money while designing the vehicle and determines the optimum time to inspect different components to ensure that the car will give a trouble-free performance. So, if you are skipping the car service interval or pushing them out too far then the components of the car will be started failing prematurely. This may have an additional flow-on effect on other components of the car like premature tyre wear.
With the delay in-car services some very essential checks and replacements will also get delayed like,
- Checking the performance of the car
- Keeping the car battery in good condition
- Checking wires & sparks plugs
- Testing Warning light & indicators
- Verifying the safety systems
Along with these essential checks a regular servicing can also uncover some hidden engine damages and prevent the most important part of your car from getting severe damage that is a car tyre. The tyres of the car are in constant touch with the road and intended to pick all kind of stuff such as small nails, metal wires lodged in the tyres. If you delay getting your car serviced then these will remain longer in the car tyre and cause a puncture.
Your car started losing efficiency over time and the important parts of the car like brake pads, spark plugs start wearing out. If there is constant delaying in the car servicing it means delaying in changing air filters & that will lead to decrease the air quality inside the cabin. This can cost you more money than a simple car service.
Non-regular servicing cause building of oil sludge in your engine that gets stick to the engine parts and blocks oil galleries preventing the normal flow of oil throughout the engine. Any kind of mechanical failure on the open road can have devastating consequences hence, regular servicing identifies potentially dangerous wear on the components of the car and prevent any severe damages.
Car Maintenance Schedule that You Should Follow:
As the owner of the car, you should make sure that your car stays in good working condition rather than relying on the professionals. All cars are having their maintenance schedules to follow to keep them operating well. If you have chosen to get your car serviced yearly then performing some checks at least once a week will help you to keep yourself from spending a lot more in the future.
- Checking engine oil and oil filter– It needs to be checked regularly and replace as necessary. Due to the frequent running of a car the oil end up getting contaminated by dirt and debris which can cause strain.
- Checking Tire Pressure– Incorrect tyre pressure leading uneven tyre wear, poor mileage or even a tyre blowout. It is always good for you to check the tyre pressure every time you fill up for gas.
- Checking Battery Terminals– Timely check the battery of your car, it is the central piece of equipment for your car and is subject to wear and tear.
- Checking Oil Leakage– Leaking oil can cause satins and increase the fire risk in a car engine compartment and can result in catastrophic engine failure. Hence, fixing oil leaks should be a priority.
These are some basic tips that would help you when you need to look for car maintenance. So, if your car servicing in Singapore is due then follow the recommended car maintenance guidelines to keep your car in good condition.