This chapter will help the car enthusiast to keep the car in good condition, to ensure economy, safety, long life and the best performance. It provides a basic maintenance schedule, followed by paragraphs on how to complete each item on the schedule. Descriptions of visual checks, adjustments, replacement of elements and other useful things are included. To get acquainted with the location of individual elements in the engine compartment and under the bottom of the car, refer to the accompanying illustrations.
Maintaining your vehicle according to the mileage/time schedule shown and as described below is a one-stop scheduled maintenance program to ensure long and reliable operation. All positions of the program, performed at prescribed intervals, are interconnected. Therefore, performing certain elements at prescribed maintenance intervals and ignoring others will not give the desired result.
When performing maintenance, you will find that many procedures can and should be grouped together. This is due to the nature of the procedure being performed or the proximity of the location of two, in general, unrelated elements.
For example, any time you raise your car, while under it, along with the exhaust system, you should inspect the suspension, steering, and fuel systems. When you swap tires, it's a good idea to check the brakes and wheel bearings, as removing the wheels makes this a no-brainer.
And finally, let's assume that you don't have a torque wrench and need to rent one. Even if you only intend to tighten the spark plugs, you can check the tightness of most of the critical fasteners at the same time if you have time to do so.
The first step in this maintenance program is self-preparation before starting work. Read all paragraphs regarding the operation to be performed. Make a list and prepare all necessary spare parts and tools. If you have any questions, consult a parts specialist or consult your dealer's technical service department.