Car Maintenance

It is getting close now.. In only a little over 6 short weeks we will be heading out of Washington .. making our way to a new home. Hoping and praying that the weather during our trip is not bad.. We could use lots of prayers for that as we will be driving through the mountains, Montana, & South Dakota, among other places that are notorious for bad winter weather.

I have done all the maintenance on the van that I can to get it ready for the trip, including new tires, alignment, new plugs, wires, oil change, outer tie rods, and a coolant flush. I think that was everything.. but I can't remember now..lol..

I replaced my wiper blades but that will need to be done again before we leave because apparently the ones I purchased suck.. lol.. that is what I get for trying to buy the cheaper ones..haha..

The mazda is also getting worked on right now.. I took it into the shop because there is no way I wanted to deal with taking off the intake just to replace the pcv valve.. stupid mazda making everything complicated. So it is in the shop and has been there for about 4 days now because I had to order a valve hose and it took 3 days for it to get here from CA.. figures it would have to be a dealer only part.. bleh.. but at least now the mazda will be up and going.. I will be doing the maintenance on the car when we get to Illinois.. it hasn't been driven as much as the van so it doesn't need as much care..

Which reminds me.. I also replaced my battery in the van.. No there was nothing wrong with it.. But ladies this is what I mean by maintenance.. Batteries usually need to be replaced every 5-7 years.. Our battery is the one that originally came with the van, so it was 6 years old.. Why wait until we are in the middle of no where and break down to say, crap, guess I should have replaced it.. This is called PREVENTATIVE Maintenance. It prevents you from being stranded somewhere and dealing with all of that headache.

I replaced the battery on the car back in 2008.. but I had waited too long to do it.. It was at almost exactly 5 years old when that battery just died and the car wouldn't start.. I learned my lesson.. of course I was at home when it happened so I was lucky and it wasn't a big deal, but it gave me great information for future dealings with my vehicles.

If you don't know how to do all of the maintenance on your car that is fine.. It is going to cost you more but take it to a shop but be wary and do not let them tell you that you need something you don't! I have had shops try to take advantage of me as well but since I know a little something about cars that never works out well for them. If they say there is a problem with your car... make them SHOW you where the problem is cause there is always that chance that they are just trying to jack up your bill .. I even had this problem with a big name company.. AKA SEARS! Yes! SEARS! Now don't get me wrong, I like sears.. but the guys they have working in the shop are commission based.. the more "work" they get.. the more "money" they get.. so you do the math.

Anyways.. this was supposed to be about our move and ended up about car maintenance.. but really this is stuff every woman needs to know.. so I hope you take something away from this.. If you don't want to learn how to fix your car that is fine.. but just make sure you take it to someone to get regular maintenance done on it.. It will elongate the life of your car and keep it running smoothly...

Love & Spark Plugs..
~Pamela