DIY Car Maintenance tips

As newer vehicles have become increasingly complex with onboard computers and high-tech gadgetry, maintenance jobs now often require a mechanic with the proper training and tools to correctly complete the task.

But there are still a few maintenance jobs that most men can do themselves on most models, and below I list three of the most accessible. It’s true that taking care of these tasks doesn’t save you very much in either time or money, but it is satisfying nonetheless and I recommend trying each job at least once, as they’ll give you a reason to look under your hood as well as a small bit of insight into how your trusted chariot works.

Change oil every 5,000 miles. We’ve written a guide on how to change your car’s motor oil yourself. But for those living in an apartment or dorm, this might not be an option. Whether you do it yourself or take it to a mechanic, getting your oil changed regularly is one of the most important ways of keeping your car running smoothly.

Change air filter every 12,000 miles. This is quite possibly one of the easiest car maintenance jobs you can do yourself. We wrote how to do ithere. Regularly changing your car’s air filter will increase fuel efficiency, prolong your engine’s life, and reduce emissions.

While changing your car’s oil comes with the hassle of finding a way to dispose of the used oil properly, no such inconvenience exists for the air filter, and doing it yourself will easily save you half the cost of having a service shop take care of it.

Rotate tires every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. Front and rear tires wear differently. Regularly rotating your tires equalizes their natural wear patterns, ensuring a smoother and safer ride. It also extends the life of your tires, which will save you money on costly replacements. Here’s how to rotate your car tires.

Simple Check at mornings

1. Clean windshield. A dirty, bug-splattered windshield is a safety hazard, as it obscures your view of the road. So give it a regular cleaning. Using the spongy part of the gas station squeegee, soak the whole windshield with the cleaning fluid. Then pull the squeegee tightly from the middle of the windshield to the sides, finishing off the remaining streaks by pulling it top to bottom. This is especially important after an extended drive on the highway when your windshield is littered with insect carcasses and using your car’s washing fluid and wipers to remove them only creates a big, smeary mess that obscures your line of sight even more.

If your headlights are dirty, give them a squeegeeing as well.

Your wipers have a role to play in keeping the windshield clean too, but we’ll talk about them later this week.

2. Check tire pressure. Maintaining proper tire pressure will keep you safe and even save you a little dough. Improperly inflated tires — and this may mean over-inflated or under-inflated — don’t handle or stop as well as tires with the correct pressure. They also increase your chance of a blow out. Plus, tires with the correct pressure have a longer life and increase your fuel efficiency.

You’ll often find your vehicle’s recommended tire pressure on a sticker inside the driver’s side door. Car manufacturers spend a lot of time coming up with this number, and it’s the one you should use.

Tire pressure is something you have to keep your eye on, as it constantly changes as the tires log miles and the temperature fluctuates. That’s why it’s so important to check it regularly and add air when needed. Some experts say you should do this at every gas fill-up, but just as with the oil check, every other fill-up should be enough to catch any deficiencies before they become big problems.

Checking your tire pressure takes less than two minutes. Here’s how to do it:

For an accurate reading, always check tire pressure when your tires are “cold,” that is before you’ve driven around on them. I only check my tires’ pressure at a gas station when I fill up at the one less than a mile from my house, first thing in the morning. If you’ve already been driving around for awhile, let the tires “rest” for at least four hours before checking the pressure.Find out the tire pressure recommended for your car (it’s in your owner’s manual and on a panel inside the driver’s side door, as picture above). Always fill the tires to this recommended level, regardless of tire brand, and not to the max PSI found on the tire sidewall – that number indicates the maximum pressure the tire needs to carry its heaviest load, not the tire’s ideal PSI.Check tire pressure with tire pressure gaugeFill when needed

3. Check oil level and top off as needed. Motor oil is essential to your car’s performance. Its most important job is to lubricate all the moving parts in your engine so they don’t grind and tear themselves into dysfunction. It also transfers heat away from the combustion cycle and traps and holds all the nasty byproducts of combustion, sending it to the oil filter. If your engine doesn’t have enough oil, your car is at risk of going kaput.

To ensure your car always has enough oil, it’s important to get in the habit of regularly checking it. Your owner’s manual probably recommends that you do this at every gas fill-up, but every other is typically sufficient. Checking your car’s oil level is super easy. All you need is a clean paper towel, adequate light, and about three minutes. You should save this job for last because you need to wait about five minutes after you turn the engine off for the oil to drain back into the pan:

Before checking your oil level, make sure your car is on level ground so you get an accurate reading. Locate your engine’s dipstick. It usually has an image of an oil can or just says “OIL.”

Pull the dipstick out. No snickering.

Wipe it clean with a paper towel. The gas station usually has some available near the pumps.

Back goes the dip stick. Make sure it goes all the way in.

Now, we’re actually going to check the oil level. Pull the dipstick out again, but don’t turn it upside down to look at it. This makes the oil run upward and ruins your reading. The dipstick will have two marks at the bottom. They are usually either lines or holes in the stick. Mine has two holes. The oil level can be read by looking where the oily part ends and the dry part begins. If the oil line is between the two marks, you’re good to go. If it’s below the bottom mark, you need to add some more oil.  Just a quart mind you.  You should never add more than a quart at once without driving and taking a new reading of the oil level. Too much oil isn’t good for the engine.  There you go. You just read a dipstick.

Most cars are designed to consume a bit of oil between changes, and many manufacturers consider a consumption rate of one quart every 1,000 miles to be normal. Some cars lose more than that because of leaks or because the engine is burning oil along with the gasoline. If you’re needing to add a quart of oil every 500 miles or so, you should take your car in ASAP to get it checked for external and internal leaks.

Follow the Maintenance Schedule Suggested in Your Vehicle’s Owner’s Manual

Your vehicle also requires maintenance tasks that are performed less frequently, but are vital to allowing your automobile to live a long and fruitful life. These tasks include oil changes, tire rotations, replacing transmission fluid, and the like.

Don’t follow the dealer’s or mechanics’ recommended maintenance schedule. They often suggest that you come in more frequently and perform maintenance that you really don’t need. For example, most quick lube and dealership service shops recommend you bring your car in every 3,000 miles for an oil change, despite the fact that most modern engines are designed to run for 5,000 miles before needing one. Another example is coolant replacement. A lot of mechanics recommend having it replaced every 30,000 miles, but many vehicles don’t need this service until they reach four times that. And after the 120k mark, manufacturers often recommend the coolant be replaced only every 60,000 miles.

Instead of relying on Muda at the Lube station  to tell you when you should service your car, pop open your glove compartment and pull out your owner’s manual.  There should be a section where it lists the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule, which tells you how often to get your oil changed, rotate the tires, and replace fluids and parts. If you can’t find the owner’s manual, a quick Google search will bring it up. By following your vehicle’s ideal maintenance schedule, you can prevent costly inspections, repairs, and replacements, and keep your car humming for many years.

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Worth the Watt: A Brief History of the Electric Car, 1830 to Present

Electric cars have been around a lot longer than today’s Tesla Motors or even the General Motors EV1 of 20 years ago. In fact, electric cars appeared long before the internal-combustion sort, and dreamers have never stopped trying to make them work both on the road and as a business proposition. A lack of historical perspective sometimes leads to misunderstandings of how things came to be as they are now, so let’s take the long view of the road that got us here. 

Start in the 1830s, with Scotland’s Robert Anderson, whose motorized carriage was built sometime between 1832 and ’39. Batteries (galvanic cells) were not yet rechargeable, so it was more parlor trick (“Look! No horse nor ox, yet it moves!”) than a transportation device. Another Scot, Robert Davidson of Aberdeen, built a prototype electric locomotive in 1837. A bigger, better version, demonstrated in 1841, could go 1.5 miles at 4 mph towing six tons. Then it needed new batteries. This impressive performance so alarmed railway workers (who saw it as a threat to their jobs tending steam engines) that they destroyed Davidson’s devil machine, which he’d named "Galvani." 

Batteries that could be recharged came along in 1859, making the electric-car idea more viable. By 1890, a Scottish-born chemist living in Des Moines, Iowa, William Morrison, applied for a patent on the electric carriage he’d built perhaps as early as 1887. It appeared in a city parade in 1888, according to the Des Moines Register. With front-wheel drive, 4 horsepower, and a reported top speed of 20 mph, it had 24 battery cells that needed recharging every 50 miles. Morrison’s self-propelled carriage was a sensation at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which was also known as the famed “World’s Columbian Exhibition.” Morrison himself was more interested in the batteries than in mobility, but he’d sparked the imagination of other inventors.

By Kevin A.

Worth the Watt: A Brief History of the Electric Car, 1830 to Present

Electric cars have been around a lot longer than today’s Tesla Motors or even the General Motors EV1 of 20 years ago. In fact, electric cars appeared long before the internal-combustion sort, and dreamers have never stopped trying to make them work both on the road and as a business proposition. A lack of historical perspective sometimes leads to misunderstandings of how things came to be as they are now, so let’s take the long view of the road that got us here. 

Start in the 1830s, with Scotland’s Robert Anderson, whose motorized carriage was built sometime between 1832 and ’39. Batteries (galvanic cells) were not yet rechargeable, so it was more parlor trick (“Look! No horse nor ox, yet it moves!”) than a transportation device. Another Scot, Robert Davidson of Aberdeen, built a prototype electric locomotive in 1837. A bigger, better version, demonstrated in 1841, could go 1.5 miles at 4 mph towing six tons. Then it needed new batteries. This impressive performance so alarmed railway workers (who saw it as a threat to their jobs tending steam engines) that they destroyed Davidson’s devil machine, which he’d named "Galvani." 

Batteries that could be recharged came along in 1859, making the electric-car idea more viable. By 1890, a Scottish-born chemist living in Des Moines, Iowa, William Morrison, applied for a patent on the electric carriage he’d built perhaps as early as 1887. It appeared in a city parade in 1888, according to the Des Moines Register. With front-wheel drive, 4 horsepower, and a reported top speed of 20 mph, it had 24 battery cells that needed recharging every 50 miles. Morrison’s self-propelled carriage was a sensation at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which was also known as the famed “World’s Columbian Exhibition.” Morrison himself was more interested in the batteries than in mobility, but he’d sparked the imagination of other inventors.

By Kevin A.

NAJA Car of the Year

THE Kia Rio automobile in a keenly contested competition, has beat other brands to earn the prestigious 2015 Car of the Year (COTY) Award. It got the highest number of votes across the country to top the competition.

The event, which was the annual Nigerian Automobile Journalists Association (NAJA) awards, saw the Kia Rio conquering some high-performance challengers to take the victory. The brand was adjudged to have ticked all the boxes in terms of value for money, safety, innovation, technology and dynamics.

The third generation Kia Rio’s fantastic engines, great handling, and lighter platform were adjudged the best amongst other competing brands.

In October this year, NAJA started conducting annual assessment of all selected cars that are eligible to be included in the car of the year category. All the cars went through rigorous testing, which also included driving on various Nigerian roads.

At the ceremony, which held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, NAJA’s judges revealed that the Kia Rio won because of its sophistication and fuel efficiency. Other factors considered were its handling and drivers’ involvement.

“Kia will continue to build cars that brighten people’s lives and exceed their expectations. The Kia Rio has just upped the ante once again. We aim to become a “one-and-only” brand for our customers; a brand they will choose again and again,” said Chief Commercial Officer, Kia Motors Nigeria, Sandeep Malhotra.

Intelligently designed and expertly engineered, every single detail of both the Kia Rio’s exterior and interior seems meticulously thought-out.

The Kia Rio, also dubbed as the People’s Car, is a top-of-the-segment sub-compact car featuring the engineering prowess, future-proofed safety technologies and classic design elements that ensure that they will remain remarkable for years to come.

The Rio is a solid pick for a small sedan or hatchback. It’s not quite as refined as some class-leading rivals, but it might still win you over with its inviting cabin, strong engine performance and excellent value.

It is stylish inside and out; ample standard and optional features; high-quality interior materials on EX and SX; long warranty; strong acceleration; feels bigger than it is.

“Grown-up” really would be the optimum expression to describe the Rio. Its exterior is notably European in appearance, with the sedan in particular, avoiding the awkward proportions of its competitors. And although the base LX trim is rather bare-bones, the EX and SX step things up considerably with higher-quality interior materials and near-luxury levels of equipment that are sure to make one forget that he’s in such a small car.

It comes with standard four-wheel antilock disc brakes, stability control, hill start assist, front side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags.

Overall, the Rio stays very composed when driven either gently or at whatever the engine can deliver. It handles remarkably well for a small, inexpensive hatchback with a basic strut and torsion-beam suspension and a short wheelbase, although one would appreciate some more feedback from the steering.

The interior is a little tighter on space than other subcompacts, but pleasing trims and materials and reasonably good cabin refinement keep it more cheerful than the other choices.