Vehicle Maintenance

Weather you maintain your vehicle yourself or pay some to do it, maintenance is very important to keep your vehicle running as long as possible.

Most vehicle manufacturers have specific intervals for maintenance to be done during the life of your vehicle.  And most manufacturers also have scheduled maintenance intervals printed in the owner’s manual for your vehicle.  If your vehicle didn’t come with an owners manual, you can find a maintenance schedule for your vehicle online.

Being aware of maintenance services due on your vehicle, can also help you when its time for a maintenance service.  Keeping a record of maintenance done is also very helpful.  You can reference back to previous maintenance done or repairs made.  Many vehicles now a days have a maintenance reminder or a service indicator.  When the service is complete, a scan tool is used to reset the interval back to zero again.  For example: a Mercedes-Benz c-class, e-class, and ml-class have a maintenance interval for oil service every 10,000 miles.  So once the service is done, the technician connects the scan tool to the vehicle to reset the interval back to zero.  However it is our experience that the interval is too long for some people’s driving habits.  The oil tends to sludge up prematurely if you don’t put a lot of miles on your vehicle.  It is very important to consider this when a maintenance is due.

Manufacturers recommend longer intervals due to the synthetic oils available on the market today.  But most importantly they don’t consider the individual driving habits that the consumers may have.  So if you have a newer vehicle you might be doing more damage by prolonging your oil service interval.  Here at Dan’s Automotive we recommend 6,000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first for full synthetic oils.  Keep in mind even synthetic oils break down over time.  If you use conventional or synthetic blend oil, the interval should be 4,000 miles or 6 months whichever comes first.

So the bottom line is when it comes to maintenance, it helps to be aware and organized before you take your car in for maintenance.  Here at Dan’s Automotive, we can maintain your vehicle and recommend what’s best for your vehicle.