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A Little Car Maintenance Myself

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know I try to take care of things myself instead of paying someone to do them for me. It’s one of the ways I save time and money. I’m not afraid to get dirty by trying my hand at something new if I think it’s within my abilities. For example, I’m not even close to being a mechanic, but there are some things I can easily do myself.

My windshield wipers were in desperate need of replacement. I knew it, but I’d been putting it off for several months. After driving in heavy rain a couple of weeks ago, I knew I could put it off no more when I couldn’t see through the streaks. So, I moseyed down to the auto section of my local big box store and bought a couple of Michelin wiper blades, which were the least expensive the store had. I paid less than $10.00 each for them and installed them myself. It took me less than 10 minutes and wouldn’t have taken that long if I’d changed them when the temperature was cooler. It was 95 degrees, and the wiper arms were too hot to comfortably handle.

I noticed the air conditioner in my car had been blowing much weaker than it used to, and the air wasn’t getting as cool as it should. My husband bought an A/C tester, and it showed I had plenty of freon. That led me to my question my airflow. I believe that was the issue.

I replaced my cabin filter last weekend. I paid less than $15.00 for it and installed it in less than five minutes. The most difficult part was fighting with one of the filter cover’s latches. It was a bit stubborn. My air conditioner’s power increased, and the air is cooler.

I don’t know about older cars, but mine is nine years old and has the filter located under the hood just below the passenger wiper. Up to that point, I had never changed it. I don’t know if my auto shop has ever changed it or not. They do most of my repairs and maintenance for me, but it was definitely time to change that filter. It’s recommended to replace the cabin filter once a year.

I have done other minor repairs to my car such as replacing the light bulbs in my taillights and the battery, but nothing that requires a vast amount of technical knowledge. My dad once told me that with my luck if I crawled under my car, it would fall on me. He wasn’t wrong, which is why I don’t change my own oil. I have never been great with machines, but I can certainly take care of the small things that don’t require getting under it. It hurts my heart to pay someone $75.00 labor to install a part that costs less than $20.00.

What kinds of things do you fix/maintain yourself?

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