Car Care Tips

Here, at CNYAUTO.COM, we want our customers to understand how their automobile operates. It is important for you to understand how your tires wear, how to obtain the best gas mileage, and how to best care for your engine and its related components. Hopefully, with the helpful tips itemized below, you will be able to improve gas mileage, maximize the life of your tires, and understand when and why your car needs to be serviced.

Car Maintenance and Care

  • Change your fluids on time, every time.
  • Change your oil every 5,000 miles for synthetic blend oils
  • Change antifreeze fluid every 30,000 miles.
  • Change brake fluid every 30,000 miles.
  • Change transmission fluid every 30,000 miles.
  • Schedule maintenance checks in accordance to the manufacturers scheduled recommendations
  • Replace your air filter every 12 months or 12,000 miles (whichever comes first).
  • Replace your fuel filter every 2 years or 24,000 miles (whichever comes first).

Tire Maintenance and Care

  • Rotate your tires every 5,000 miles or every 6 months.
  • Check your tire pressures occasionally. Low tire pressures adversely affect fuel economy, handling and comfort. To accurately measure your tire pressure, check tires when they are cold. Wait at least three hours after driving.
  • Always make sure that your wheels are properly aligned. Badly aligned wheels will again lead to dragging of the car on the road.
  • Check your spare tire each month and keep it properly inflated so it¹s ready to go when you need it most.
  • Use the penny trick to determine if the tread on your tires is worn to low. Take a penny and put Abraham Lincoln's head into one of the grooves of the tread. If part of his head is covered by the tread, you're ok. If you can see all of his head, it's time to replace the tire. When the tread is worn down to 1/16 of an inch, tires must be replaced.

Gas Mileage Tips

  • Check and/or change your air filter every 6 months to improve fuel economy and keep your engine running smoothly.
  • Don't top off. Don't bother topping off when filling your car's gas tank. Any additional gas is just going to slop around or seep out.
  • Tighten up that gas cap. Gas will evaporate from your car's gas tank if it has an escape. Loose, missing or damaged gas caps cause million of gallons of gas to evaporate each year.
  • Use the right oil. You can improve your car's gas mileage by 1 percent to 2 percent by using the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil.

Other Considerations

  • Keep your car clean from mud. Mud on the undercarriage can weigh a significant amount and slow you down or cause rubbing noises.
  • Consolidate your daily trips and errands. This will also save you the cost of restarting your engine, which uses a lot of gas.
  • Avoid air conditioning when possible. However, when driving at higher speeds, having your windows open also creates drag.
  • Don’t throttle the gas or brake. Sudden starts or stops use more gas than gradual changes of speed.
  • Don’t idle for too long. Turn off the engine if you anticipate a lengthy wait.
  • Limit car warm-ups in winter.
  • Clear out the trunk. More weight, more drag and reduces gas mileage.
  • Avoid high speeds. This may be difficult to resist, but you can improve your gas mileage almost 15 percent by driving at 55 mph rather than 65 mph.
  • Use overdrive. If your car is equipped with an overdrive gear, use it as soon as your speed is high enough.
  • Use cruise control. Keeping a constant speed is ideal for improving your gas mileage