A few months ago, I got a new (well, new-to-me) car after driving the same car for over 14 years. When I finally traded my car in, it had over 220,000 miles on it. One of the reasons my car ran for so long is because my husband is a ninja at car maintenance and repair! While I was purchasing my new car, the sales manager told me about a customer they sold a car to who regularly had his car maintained and he drove it for over 700,000 miles!!! Car maintenance schedules are so important, but they’re often overlooked.
Car maintenance is extremely important, but it might not be something you think about often! If you keep up with the following tasks on a regular basis, your car will thank you!
Car Maintenance Schedules
Here are the maintenance items you’ll want to do on a regular basis:
Weekly Maintenance:
- Check your tires
- Check your oil level
- Check your headlights
- Check to see if any lights are on (check engine light, etc) on your dash
- Check your windshield washer fluid
Every 3,000 miles:
- Check your engine air filter
- Check your exhaust
- Check your power steering fluid
- Check your transmission fluid
- Check your tires for any damage and rotate if necessary
- Change oil and filter (For newer cars, you may be able to do this every 5,000-7,000 miles)
- Headlights
Once A Year:
- Check your transmission fluid
- Check your battery
- Check your belts
- Check your cabin air filter
- Check your chassis
- Check your brakes
- Check your engine air filter
- Check your wheel alignment
- Check your steering
- Check your suspension
- Replace your wiper blades (If you live in a place where it doesn’t rain or snow regularly, you may not need to replace your wiper blades, but since they’re very inexpensive, I like to replace mine yearly!)
- Check your coolant
While Car Maintenance Schedules may be boring, they are necessary!
This Printable Car Maintenance Checklist will help you keep your car in tip-top shape!
My car yells at me when there is something wrong or I need an oil change. That’s a good thing because I would totally forget 😉
This is a great list! maintenance is so important and it does give longer life to cars. Congrats on your new car!
My husband always makes sure to do everything exactly when it needs to be done when it comes to our car. I think this printable is a great way to help keep track!
I’m one of those people who waits until there is a problem with my car. This is so helpful for someone like me whose working on improving!
I’m a firm believer that if you keep up with the maintenance on a car you’ll have good reliable transpiration! That 700k mile car is beyond crazy but good for that guy taking good care of his car like that. Thank you for the very useful printable!
If I don’t have the mileage written down for an oil change, I can’t remember it. We mark them off in our car book.
I am so bad about forgetting to check my oil. I could definitely use this printable maintenance schedule.
This is such a great checklist! Our check engine light is on so we have to visit the mechanic soon!
I always have to get my car checked out before big trips. This checklist is helpful. You don’t want to forget about something that might need changing.
This is such a helpful post! I know for me, I have no clue about our car maintenance. I think everyone should print this schedule out and use it.
I always get my car maintained every few months. It is so important to keep up on it.
Car maintenance is so important. My husband usually takes care of all of that but of course I have to stay on him about it.
This is a great list to keep on hand. I treat my car like another child. But it wasn’t always that way.
I’m in definite need of a tune-up. I try to keep on top of these things, but a printable reminder is a great way to stay organized.
I’m very forgetful so this is a very useful printable.
I’m going to show this to my husband. I think he does all this already but it will be great for him to have a reminder.
I will keep this in mind. I am so sure that we are going to need this by the time we have our own car.
Definitely a good read and handy for those who know how to drive but hasn’t got any idea how to do maintenance (like me). Thanks for making the guide printable!
Checking the brakes should also be part of your basic car maintenance. It is highly suggested that you seek the assistance of a good mechanic to have your brakes checked. Remember that maintenance of your brakes is important for safety reasons. Low brake fluid levels can cause soft brake pedals.
So much paid in car maintenance this year, numbers are mind boggling, good to have plans for maintenance of your car
Hi Everyone,
I have worked in Toyota Service for 5 1/2 years. There is a book in your glove box called WARRANTY & Maintenance Guide (smallest book in glove box pgs 38-40) black highway on the cover. It has the entire maintenance schedule in it, which Toyota Corporate recommends you follow. At the bottom of each page is a place for the date and miles. This is important because if you do not put many miles on your car, you would go to the time table, every 6 mons for service. Most cars after 2010 have synthetic oil, so those oil changes are every 10k or 12 mons whichever comes first. We have a lot of retirees here, who don’t drive a lot, however you have to remember the car oil is still aging and losing viscosity. Just like cooking oil in your panty, after a year it is rancid and very thick an goopy, so is your car oil, and it becomes harder for the engine to work with thick goopy oil. Please pay attention to that schedule, and make sure you change long term coolant and transmission fluid at 100k and spark plugs at 120k.
One thing to remember service advisors come and go, so you want to be on the same black and white page that Toyota puts out. They will always go back and see if you have followed the recommended schedule. I strongly recommend this because if anything ever happens, the first thing that is checked is the maintenance schedule, to see if the car has been maintained as recommended? I can promise you, if you do this, your car will run for a long time, and down the road if an issue arises and you have followed the schedule it looks more like a car issue, rather a car owner issue hint, hint, hint!
PS in the back of the book Explanation of Maintenance Items explains in about a paragraph the importance of the different areas that need attention.
Hi Everyone,
Two other items to pay attention too, tires and brakes. Here is why, when there is a wreck, 2 things I see adjusters come through checking all the time. Tire depth— and brake pad wear and tear. Here is why, if tires are in the red zone, and you usually get a report card showing red, yellow or green, if tires in the red zone, it means they are not safe on the highway, this could influence insurance companies decisions whether or not to cover your car in a wreck, if the tires are not at the proper depth to hug the road and stop properly. Same thing with the brakes, adjusters will measure the depth of the brake pads, if they are in the dangerous red zone and you are in a wreck, again, insurance adjusters are checking, if they are in the red zone, it influences how they proceed with your claims or not. These items are deemed proper operating standards for the safety of you and others. There are many guides online for taking a Nickle and putting it in the treads and measuring the safety of the tire tread.
Thank you for the checklist. Car maintenance is important, but not always at the top of my list.
People dont realize how much it can save you to do these little things