The title says it all. Some car maintenance jobs are very easy. If you do them yourself, you can save hundreds of dollars. I’m not a handy person at all. I have never operated a drill (don’t laugh). If I’m able to do some simple maintenance for my car, I’m sure you can too.
Windshield Wiper Blades. These are the easiest. Press a clip, slide off, and slide on the replacement. Time: 5 minutes. Cost: about $10 each.
Battery. The dealership does a vehicle inspection for me whenever they do an oil change. They told me my battery’s cranking power was low and they would charge me $150 to replace it. I went to Wal-Mart. They install the battery for free if you buy it there. I waited nearly two hours and it still wasn’t my turn yet. I got fed up and just bought the battery.
The job turned out to be really easy too. Unscrew two nuts on a metal bracket, disconnect the battery cables (negative off first, on last), remove and replace. Time: 15 minutes. Cost: about $80.
Air Filter. Another easy one. The air filter stays in a plastic box under the hood. You can see it easily because there is a big hose connected to the box. Either unclip some clips or loosen some nuts. Open up the lid, remove and replace. A piece of cake. Time: 5 minutes. Cost: about $15.
Cabin Air Filter. Also known as A/C Air Filter. This one may be a little tricky depending on the car. On my Honda Accord, it’s also a 2-minute job, but the dealership wanted to charge me $100 for doing it.
The cabin air filter is behind the glove box. Drop down the glove box, pull out and replace. Time: 2 minutes. Cost: about $15.
Oil change. I haven’t done this yet. I heard it’s also easy but somehow I’m afraid of crawling under the car and having oil gushing onto my face.
What other car maintenance work can an owner do easily?
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The Incidental Economist says
Your comment about never having used a drill reminds me of a story. Decades ago my dad’s friend hadn’t used one either. Then he needed to. He went to the hardware store and bought a drill and returned home to find it was useless. No bits! He didn’t know he needed to buy them separately.
He went back to the hardware store and bought bits. He returned home, loaded a bit and discovered that the drill’s cord was only one foot long. He had no extension cord.
He went back to the hardware store and bought an extension cord. Finally he could drill his hole.
KC says
I clean my own car usually. The exceptions being when its over 90 degrees (about 3 months out of the year) or the rare occasion that it snows and they put salt and sand on the roads. The theory being I don’t like to sweat profusely in the summertime and in the winter I’d really like the automatic car wash cause it does a good under car rinse to get all that crap off.
But when the weather is reasonable I’ll put on some dishwashing gloves and clean my car myself. I do a way better job that the auto car wash (I can actually get my tires and rims clean of brake dust), but the savings is minimal since car washes are pretty cheap.
I can save quite a bit detailing the interior myself, too. I’m usually the only person in my car so it isn’t filthy. I vacuum it out, take a swiffer over the dash and then run some cleaner over the leather seats, steering wheel, etc. Since interior cleaning is a little more costly the savings are pretty high here.
I don’t save a tremendous amount doing this, but in both cases I do a better job than the person or machine I pay to do it.
I’ve also done small things like add brake fluid when needed, washer fluid, replace bulb for various lights, and change fuses. In all cases I either consulted the internet, my dad or another experienced person, or the fellas at the auto parts store. I’ve saved hundreds of dollars over the years not paying my mechanic or the dealer to do these small things.
Don says
One tip I usually follow about batteries. The last battery I took in to be tested showed on the tester as “no good.” That was what I expected since I was having problems, so I chose a replacement battery to purchase.
I wanted to make sure that the tester didn’t always say “no good” so I had them test the new battery before I bought it. Turns out it was no good also which made a me a little suspicious. However, we picked a 2nd new battery off the shelf and it was fine.
Now I suppose I could have purchased the no good battery and brought it back for a return, but it was definitely better to find out right away at the service desk. As a result of the experience, I wouldn’t buy a new battery off the shelf without having them hook the tester on it before the purchase.
anie says
I like to do the bulb repair and the windshield wiper replacement myself. I’ve also done the easy stuff like fluid adds and fuse replacement. I’ve often gotten stuck in front of the auto parts stores giving advice to others (usually men) about how and why to diy!
I like Sears for batteries~also a free install and taking care of the old one. I currently have a $150 3 year International battery in my car and dad just tested it this summer and it’s still at a new battery volt reading 6.5 years later! Woot!
ernie says
I did spark plugs myself .. pretty simple, just need a torque wrench. Also the radiator isn’t too difficult — ‘plug and play’ as they say in computers. Mind you this was an older car with fewer bits to it then nowadays – I bet a Model T could be maintained with a few wrenches.
Kristen from FiLife says
Nice tips.
I had some trouble replacing my wipers on my own. After trying to replace them I found that they didn’t stay flat to the jeep’s windshield when I drove at fast speeds with them on. My advice: make sure you buy the right kind. Not any old blade will work.
Robert says
I’ve done my own spark plugs, oil changes, thermostat replacement, replaced an EGR tube on my wife’s car that cracked (saved 300 bucks doing it myself), replaced lamps, took out and put back a fuel pump (located in the gas tank!), replaced radiator hoses…but for the life of my I can’t change out wiper blades. I let the guy at Advanced Auto Parts do it.
There are times when I’ve taken the car to the dealer or another shop to get an estimate and it just burns me up what they charge for stuff. I was going to be charged 300 dollars to change out a part that took me 15 minutes to do myself and the part cost about 70 dollars. If your mechanic gets his pricing from a book, you’re going to pay too much.
Mechanics, Lawyers and Doctors: If you know one of each of those very personally, you can save a lot of money in life.
thad (my2fish) says
I get really chapped when the oil change place CONSTANTLY recommends I change filters, upgrade oil type, etc. Last time, they pulled out my air filter, brought it over, and said “this one’s not too bad, but we can replace it for $40”. I had literally JUST changed it a few weeks previously.
Oil changes are debatable for me – on our Tahoe, I can easily slide underneath it (no jack, jack stands, etc) to do the work, BUT, it is really hard to lube the chassis. My Mazda sedan, though, would have to be jacked up onto jack stands, but the chassis on the Mazda is sealed so no lube points required. I sometimes find it easier (and a better use of my time) to just have the oil change shops do it (and just tune out all their up-selling).
Other than that – light bulbs can often be easy, PCV valves, batteries. Spark plugs are debatable – some are REALLY hard to reach! I spent a good hour laying across the top of our Tahoe trying to change out the last spark plug way in the back. Some parts require special tools, too, which is frustrating that a normal set of wrenches can’t do all the work.