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By far, the most likely and expensive damage caused by imperfect operations and maintenance is from oil problems, (running dry, going bad, etc).
The next most likely (but probably the easiest to do), are the tires. Keeping the air pressure up, and replacing when damaged or warn, keeps a lot of other problems from happening.
For longevity, probably next is keeping everything clean.
The outside: Keep the bodywork clean, (paint vs hot sun, rusty scratches, and corrosive bird goo).
The underside: After every winter season, salt from the roads needs to be rinsed off from all the cracks and crevices. Running it though a car wash that has under-carriage sprayers.
The engine: water and road dirt (and salt) will splash up off the road and onto engine components. It should be kept pretty clean. Every year or so, clean everything in the appropriate way (as to not blast water into electronics, or damaging other things). There are a lot of Youtube vids on engine cleaning.
The insides: Use sun shades (or IR / UV tinted glass film) to keep the insides from getting too hot, and from fading the colors and drying out the plastics inside.
And as already said, follow the owners manual for Oil Change and other maintenance tasks.
A preventative tip:
When you are about to send your car in for some major repairs, or major preventative maintenance, take a moment to look at what else might be done, "while you're at it". Example. I had to replace a water pump at 60k miles, so all the belts and a few components had to be pulled.
I asked for the cost to also replace ALL the belts, and ALL water hoses, just as long as the engine compartment was open and these things were already super easy to get to. It turned out to cost parts plus maybe $50 for it all, when it would have been more for any one replacment. This is because hoses and belts have a lifetime of maybe 80k and I thought, do it now, even before they break, and they're all good for another 80k.
By far, the most likely and expensive damage caused by imperfect operations and maintenance is from oil problems, (running dry, going bad, etc)..
I don't discount oil changes but it is not life-threatening. Stretching a 6000 miles oil change to 10,000 is not going to kill the engine. There was a test when they welded the hood and drove the car for god knows how many miles without an oil change and nothing happened.
Hi, in your opinion after doing your oil changes, what is second most important regular maintenace item to increase car's longevity? - Thanks!
I would say, if you didn't do the oil change yourself, the most important thing is to check the car immediately to be sure everything was done properly. Oil level should be fine, no leaks, nothing missing and so on.
If you do the oil change yourself, just peek around for leaks, rotten rubber and so on. Catching things early helps.
I do regular transmission fluid drain and fills, every 2 year brake fluid change. Other than that just follow the manual for coolant. Belts every ~ 80k miles. I change the spark plugs usually earlier than the manual says just because I don't like them being stuck. The new engines call for 120K mile intervals which is a bit too long.
Hi, in your opinion after doing your oil changes, what is second most important regular maintenace item to increase car's longevity? - Thanks!
Keeping the car clean is excellent advice. Get a shop vac and vacuum regularly. Don't let the dust/dirt/coffee sink into fabric or carpet.
Change the automatic transmission fluid every 2 years. Even "lifetime" fluid needs to be changed. Some will state that they drove 100 kazillion miles and never changed the automatic transmission fluid. OK. Great for them. Always "gravity" drain. No machines. The debate about this is endless. Just stick to gravity drain of automatic transmission fluids. You have to state this up front or the shop or dealership will use the expensive machines. At minimum - do what the owners manual states.
One driver as stated above. Sometimes impossible if one has a spouse or teenage kids. Just don't loan out your car if possible.
If you live in snow belt area - get the car oil undercoated every year. Again, some will chime in and state that cars don't rust anymore. All steel rusts. Even the Ford pickup trucks made with aluminum have steel frames that will rust. Snow belt areas use rock salt on roads. Very corrosive. Now some states are using a liquid brine in addition to the salt. The liquid brine is even more corrosive then the rock salt.
Learn how to wax the car. Hand wax. Paste wax. Buffing. Avoid those miracle products that state spray it on wipe it off. A good wax requires work. Some will state that new cars have a clear coat paint that does not require any wax. Hogwash!
Parking. In parking lots - park away from other vehicles. Get out of the habit of attempting to find the closest parking spot.
Keep all of you maintenance records in a folder. Either a paper folder or scan/save on computer.
That’s the order I’d pick too. And then power steering fluid if hydraulic.
Too many transmission fluids today are listed as “lifetime” which really means the life of the warranty or lease. 60K should be the real duration.
Cooling system every 2 years.
Brake fluid every 2 years.
If you’re meticulous about changing fluids there are bound to be far less problems.
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