Do it Yourself Petrol Engine Maintenance

Petrol engines are generally easy to maintain when compared with diesel engines. They are lighter, easy to drive and go about their job rather silently. The petrol engines are even cheaper as compared to a diesel engine. Once you have decided to buy a vehicle, you would find that the difference between a diesel variant and a petrol variant is approximately a lakh of rupees. Keeping your engine in a good shape would always give you utmost satisfaction.

Here are some tips on how you could spend a little money on the basics to avoid more costly repairs later on:

Do it Yourself Inspection

It’s basic, but give your car a once-over periodically so you catch anything that looks out of the ordinary. Make sure all your lights are working. Check the air pressure in your tires every month or so (and buy a cheap tire air pressure gauge and keep it in the glove compartment). Doing so is good for your tires gets you better mileage and saves you money in gas if you discover that the pressure is off. Listen for any strange sounds, inside and out. Make sure your tires have enough tread.

Check the fluids

Even if you don’t ever learn how to change your antifreeze, power steering, coolant or even your wiper fluid (although seriously, don’t let someone charge you to change wiper fluid), you should learn how to check those fluid levels. In some cases, you can see the tank level directly, but most have gauges you can pull out to check current levels against a notch that indicates optimal levels. Even if your owner’s manual doesn’t have much to say about checking your transmission fluid or antifreeze, don’t be afraid to open the hood and see if you can find it. If you’re running low, add more (if you can) or get it changed.

Most importantly, never ignore a leak.

Check the oil and get it replaced/changed regularly

There are generally indicators in the car for a check, so if you experience that one of the indicators is blinking or is showing up repeatedly, be a little cautious and immediately check the gauge for any leakage. There might be instances when the level of oil in the car is low and this could be the reason also that the indicators are showing up. Get the oil refilled in case the engine needs more oil or in case the brake oil is low, fill it up to the desired level.

Do not follow the 5000 km rule every time, there are synthetic oils which last 10,000 kms too. So the recommendation would be to use the higher quality oil in case your car runs daily. This would, in turn, save you from paying more.

Replace your oil and air filter

Reading the owner’s manual would give you a better idea of how to change the air and oil filter. In case you still feel that more guidance is required, take a step forward and then visit a mechanic.

At Capital Hyundai, we make sure that your engine remains in the best of its health, even years and thousands of kilometers after. Contact us to book your engine’s service today.