Some people are extremely passionate about cars and won't think twice about keeping up with all kinds of meticulous maintenance routines on their vehicles. On the other hand, most people see their vehicle as a tool that takes them from point A to point B.

There's nothing wrong with this, but if you view your vehicle utilitarianly, then getting stranded while driving is a major annoyance. To avoid this, be sure to keep up with essential maintenance items. Read on to find out how to keep your car running forever!

1. Change The Engine Oil

You've probably heard this a million times before, but changing your oil is the life of your internal combustion vehicle's engine. Your vehicle's manufacturer established regular service intervals for a reason. It's beyond important to abide by their guidelines regarding when your oil needs to be changed.

Oil changes are exceedingly important in vehicles that use timing chains because, unlike cars that use timing belts, timing chains are usually considered items that will last the vehicle's life. Oil changes are key to ensuring that the timing chains are well lubricated and functioning properly and are also clean of buildup and crud. Even if your vehicle doesn't have a timing chain, it's essential to keep up with regular maintenance.

Oil lubricates your engine's moving parts and keeps the friction to a minimum. Without a fresh layer of oil, your vehicle's internals will begin to wear out. This is why regular oil changes are so important. Once oil gets old and starts to wear down, it can't protect critical parts as well as it used to.

Oil is also an important player in the cooling of your engine. Another important reason to change your oil is that sludge can build up inside your engine when you don't change the oil as per the manufacturer's indications. Regular oil changes help keep sludge to a minimum and protect your engine's internals from getting clogged with sludge. Basically, not taking care of your vehicle's routine oil changes is a surefire way to destroy your engine.

Scanning your vehicle from time to time with an OBD2 app is also recommended to see what's going on with your car at a deeper level.

2. Coolant Flush

A coolant flush is a much less popular car maintenance recommendation, but it's still extremely important. Your car's cooling system is essential in keeping your car operating at a safe temperature. If your car's cooling system isn't working correctly, the engine will end up suffering catastrophic failure from overheating. Antifreeze keeps your engine cool, and contrary to popular belief, you can't just switch out antifreeze for water.

The proper manufacturer-recommended coolant for your vehicle is indispensable, especially during the winter, because it lowers the freezing point of the water it's mixed with. If you were to simply add water to your car's cooling system during the winter months, the engine water could end up freezing in the engine block and cracking it.

In order to keep the coolant fresh and doing its job properly, it's essential to flush the old coolant out and put in a fresh batch. Any reputable shop can help you accomplish this, and they'll use specialty vacuum tools that will bleed air out of the system.

3. Change the Transmission Oil

Changing your car's transmission oil is just as essential as changing its engine oil, but many people completely neglect this aspect of maintaining your car. It's a strange phenomenon, but even cars that have been meticulously taken care of (with regular oil changes) sometimes have completely neglected transmissions. Partly to blame is that many manufacturers don't even offer dipsticks to check the transmission oil level, so the owner is left thinking that it's not that important.

Some transmissions are supposedly "lifetime filled." Transmission fluid doesn't just help lubricate the insides of your vehicle's transmission, it also keeps the transmission cool. Many vehicles feature transmission cooler lines that take oil from the transmission all the way to the radiator, and once it's in the radiator, it is cooled and then sent back to the transmission. Changing the transmission oil will help keep your transmission working great and help to extend its life.

4. Get Your Wheels Aligned

Wheels alignments are also crucial aspects of vehicle maintenance. Most car owners know that vehicles need alignments from time to time, especially when critical suspension components, such as tie-rod ends, have been changed. But, most people don't know that maintaining your vehicle with properly aligned wheels will bring tons of benefits. For example, a properly aligned vehicle will cruise down the road securely, constantly maintaining a straight trajectory if the wheel isn't receiving any driver input.

On the contrary, a car out of alignment will move left or right on its own, which makes driving the vehicle uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. Misaligned vehicles also eat away at the tires in an uneven manner, damaging tires faster than a properly aligned car would. Alignments are much cheaper than replacing expensive tires many times over the life of your car, and a properly aligned car is also easier to drive. The great thing about alignments is that they're much cheaper than constantly replacing expensive tires.

5. Intake Air Filter

The intake air filter on your vehicle is another essential part in properly maintaining your car. This is the barrier of protection between your vehicle's internal components and the hostile outside world. When shopping for a used car, you should always inspect the air box and verify that the filter doesn't look disastrously dirty.

In fact, you should verify that there's a filter at all. Some used cars are so neglected that they don't even have an intake air filter. The benefits of regularly changing the intake air filter are many. One of the greatest benefits is keeping your engine clean from debris. A clogged air filter can also reduce airflow to the engine, which reduces performance. One of the benefits of owning an EV is that you'll never have to replace an intake air filter, along with many other routine service items that EVs don't have.

Maintaining Your Car Is Easier Than You Think

Keeping your car running forever isn't difficult. It just requires a little planning and some research. Go through the tips mentioned in this article, and make sure your vehicle is up-to-date on all of these important maintenance items.