100 Car Maintenance Tasks You Can Do on Your Own
Car maintenance seems daunting at first, but start small and work up the car repair ladder. Here are 100 car repair tasks and maintenance you can do yourself.
Replace Engine Air Filter
Inspect and replace your engine air filter. Just unscrew or unclip the air filter box retainers and remove the old filter. Then check the filter to see how much light passes through by holding a shop light behind it. If the filter blocks 50 percent of more of the light, replace the filter. If not, put it back in, secure the air filter box cover and keep driving. It's one of the easier things you can do to fix up cars.
Proper Way to Torque Lug Nuts
Spin the lug nuts on by hand. Never coat the stud with grease, oil or anti-seize. Lower the jack only enough to bring the tire into contact with the road. Tighten each nut to half the specified torque. Then lower the vehicle completely and tighten each nut to full torque. Consult your owner’s manual or a shop manual and set your torque wrench to one-half the recommended torque specification. Reset the wrench and tighten each nut to full torque. Move the socket from one nut to the next in a star-shaped sequence.
