
I have a confession to make: I have a history of treating my vehicles shamefully.
While my husband probably doesn’t want me blasting it out on my blog, I have to say, he isn’t any better than I am! (Sorry babe, it’s true.) Between the two of us we have burned out 3 (or was is 4?) car engines.
Between long commutes to work for Jonathan, and frequent cross country road trips, coupled with little to no regular car maintenance, it’s no wonder our cars live about 5 years before they give up the ghost.
With our recent home refinance, we did a cash out option and purchased TWO new vehicles – a Chrysler Town and Country and a Chrysler 200 – one as a family car and on as a work commute car for Jonathan. (If you are curious as to what we think of our new “mom van”, you can read my previous post on it HERE!)
Anyhoo, with brand spanking new cars on our hands, and a clean slate of sorts, I am DETERMINED to break our cycle of buy, abuse and trash when it comes to cars.
With Jonathan deploying soon, not only will I be solely responsible for the family car, but the care and upkeep of HIS car will ultimately fall to me as well. So I have been researching like crazy (I actually read the car manuals cover to cover!) and I have compiled multiple checklists of car care upkeep tips, tricks and to dos. Military spouses, it’s a good idea to use these tips on your husbands car while he is gone!
Below are six important car upkeep tasks that often get overlooked by lazy car owners like myself!

Clean your car battery and protect the contacts.
Most batteries these days don’t require much in the way of maintenance, but once you let a battery go, it’s no fun.
The dirtier a vehicle battery becomes, the more crud can interfere with the terminal connections and your ability to start the vehicle or keep it started. Summer heat is especially hard on the internal mechanism of a car battery. The heat can cause some of your battery fluid to evaporate, damaging the internal structure of a vehicle battery as the corrosive fluid makes contact with other components. This evaporated battery fluid then escapes through the terminal connections to cause corrosion.
Even slightly corroded battery connections hinder current flow and lower the effectiveness of your battery, eventually causing starting problems which will only get worse. If you have not checked your battery connections in a long time, it’s possible the corrosion will have stuck your cables in place or even fully compromised the structure of your connections.
Once when we were borrowing my dads truck and the battery died, and the connections were so corrode and crusty we couldn’t even get the connection off. It was a multi hour project just to get the battery out to swap it out.. trust me, when you let a battery go, it’s not pretty!
While this task is often overlooked until it becomes a problems, it is a great idea to add this upkeep tip to your regular under the hood fluid inspection routine.
While our cars are new and don’t look like they need much in the way of battery upkeep, I am starting the habit NOW of regularly using GUNK brand battery cleaner and battery protectant sprays as a one two punch to keep my battery connections sparkling clean. It’s crazy simple and easy to do.

First, be sure to use extreme caution whenever working with a car battery. Before you start, make sure your car is completely turned off and once you locate your car battery under the hood, DO NOT try to remove it.
Once you’re ready to start cleaning, disconnect your car battery. Remove the negative clamp first (marked “-“) and then the positive one. Make sure any metal tools you’re using don’t touch the car frame.
Spray the battery connections with GUNK battery cleaner, and (depending on how dirty your battery is) gently scrape the area with a cleaning brush, or rub clean with a damp rag will work to wipe the area dry. Follow up with GUNK brand battery protectant spray.
Replace the positive clamp, then the negative one, then cover the battery up. You’re done! It’s seriously that easy!
More Easy Preventative Maintenance Tasks For Your Vehicle
Learn to check your cars fluids.
While you are under your hood cleaning the battery, check your car fluids. This includes your antifreeze, power steering, coolant, wiper fluid, etc. This is a big ‘un. You NEED to learn how to check those fluid levels. In some cases, you can see the tank level directly, but most have gauges or dipsticks you can pull out to check current levels against a notch that indicates optimal levels. If you’re running low, add more or take it somewhere to get it changed.

Inspect your tires for air and wear.
It’s a good idea to check the air pressure in your tires every month. You can buy a cheap tire air pressure gauge at any auto supplies store, or just pick one up on Amazon. It’s insanely easy to do and keeping your tires aired up is great for the tires, gets you better mileage, and saves you money in gas if you discover that the pressure is off. Make sure your tires have enough tread and keep your tires clean. Look out for the wear indicators on the tire treads. If anything’s out of the ordinary, don’t ignore it. While inspecting your tires, give the hubcaps a wipe down and apply a tire shine and protectant to your wheels to keep them looking snazzy and protects against visable surface aging. We are using GUNK brand Tire Shine, and have found that it provides a long lasting “wet tire” look that makes the tires ultra black, which looks fan-freaking-tastic against our silver cars. (Yes, my husband and I got matching car colors.. dawwww, we’re so romantic!)

Replace your windshield wipers when streaks appear.
Wipers are cheap and easy to replace yourself! Don’t wait until you can barely see through your windshield. Visibility is important while driving!
Run your car through a car wash and give it a quick interior clean at LEAST once a month.
We recently got a monthly membership to a car wash that allows unlimited car washes and use of vacuums. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS, and I highly recommend it! Keeping your car body clean of dirt and buildup protects your paint job, and regular vacuuming protects your carpets. I am just now getting in the habit of getting my car regularly buffed and waxed, and keeping on top of my interior cleaning so I don’t have to pull out the heavy cleaners inside my car as often. As a general rule I try to limit the number of chemical cleaning solutions I use in my car, and when I do use them I usually allow my car to air out by opening all the doors for a few hours to air out the VOCs. But the nature of car carpets and vinyl dashboards usually require SOME degree of aggressive protectant treatments. So at least quarterly, it is a good idea to follow up your regular vacuuming with an interior dashboard / vinyl protector and a carpet cleaning spray for a deeper clean, just be mindful that if you don’t air out your car, you and your kids are breathing in car cleaner. Yuck.
Every spring, give your engine a quick clean.
Clean your engine with a foamy engine cleaner after each winter to keep your engine free from salt and debris that can cause corrosion on vital engine parts. The internet is swimming in video tutorials of how to do this safely for your particular type of vehicle, so it’s a good idea to watch a step by step visual guide before poking around with your engine if you are new to DIY car upkeep. After washing, follow up with a good engine protectant spray.
Looking for more great car upkeep tools and tips?
Check out more great GUNK and Liquid Wrench brand products by following any of the social media links below:
GUNK
LIQUID WRENCH
www.instagram.com/liquidwrench
From carpet cleaners, to liquid wrench products (with attached guidance lights, saw whaaaaat?!) this brand has some cutting edge car upkeep tools suitable for car fanatics to DIY newbies like me.

[Disclaimer: There are no affiliate links in this review. I am an independent product reviewer. I only review products I am truly interested in. I don’t accept payment for reviews. The products I take the time to jabber on about are either items I have personally purchased, or the product has been provided for review after me initiating contact and incessantly nagging for a sample. All of my reviews are unbiased regardless of how the item was obtained.]
Do you have any additional car upkeep tips? Share below!
Great things to know.
For sure!
I’m always worried about my vehicle. I finally paid her off and I can’t afford another bill so I make sure to do all of my preventative maintenance and a little extra just to keep my ole girl happy. I’m going to check out this Battery Terminal Cleaner. Thanks for the tip Gingi 🙂
Yay! Glad you found the info useful / helpful! <3
I’m the worst at checking on my car and keeping it in check. Thankfully my dad knows everything about cars to help me out LOL!
http://www.fashionradi.com
I am still learning as I go, but I’m determined to do it right this time around!
Regular servicing is the most important in my mind.
I guess I just assumed that one was a given.. should probably add it to the list, yeah?!
Gosh this is so smart. It’s so easy to get out of the habit of the upkeep, but it is so worth it!!
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Too true!! We have prematurely lost cars due to neglect, so I am super serious about upkeep now!!
Very useful post, happy weekend my dear!
Happy weekend to you too my dear!
Umm err, I epically fail. I check my tires, but I let the rain clean my car and then inside, bah hahaha funny, my place you can eat off the floor, but my car, yeah I just don’t car about the inside. Not that it’s bad, just dusty and some cat hair and such.
Another good tip for the battery, if it ever dies and jumping doesn’t work, take a small hammer and whack the side. Sometimes the plates inside touch and that kills everything. A good whack can break them apart long enough for you to get going.
LOL, is that for real?!?! Knowing me, I would legit break something if I tried that…
Those are great tips. Hubby showed me how to check all of those.
That’s awesome you had someone to show you the ropes!
I definitely need to clean the inside of my car. The winter always makes my car dirtier. 🙂
Sounds like great advice!
I find that the hardest task to upkeep.. regular interior cleaning!
I am so bad about car maintenance, and the sad thing is, I don’t really care, ha ha.
Oh noooo, you will lose a car that way!!!! Trust me, I have! lol…
These are some awesome tips! I’m so guilty of just letting my husband take care of these things, which he often doesn’t and I don’t blame him…These seem like they would be a great place to start!
My husband is set to deploy soon, so I figured I needed to get these tasks in hand for when he is gone!!
A car is definitely a convenience but it can also require quite a bit of maintenance. I guess it’s good I don’t have one LOL
Thats looking on the bright side, haha! <3
Oh wow, I’ve just realised how little I know about this topic haha. Time to get clued up!!
aglassofice.com
x
Not a bad thing if you don’t have a car… if you DO.. shame! haha (kidding)
Lovely products, dear! xoxo
Thanks! <3
I’m so bad at looking after my car, thanks so much for this!!
Have a lovely day 🙂
Rosanna x
Of course, and good luck with your car!
Three engines?? Oh my. My car is over 20 years old and runs fine.
Well the count breaks down to: 1 car when I was a teen, 1 car when my hubs was a teen, and 1 when we were newlyweds, lol!
Right now I’m struggling with issues with my car, which is killing me, because hubby doesn’t want to be bothered with my coupon and crafts shopping, so this is a great post. I remember years ago when a friend used coca-cola to clean the battery cables, and it worked, but we knew that wasn’t recommended. Thanks for giving some great products to try. You always give me some great info. Hugs…RO
Glad you found the post helpful my dear!! And good luck with your car! <3
Lots of great info here we could use, it’s tough to find time for car maintenance with our schedules, but so important. Thanks!
I have an app that reminds me of chores that need to be done on a weekly, bi-weekly and monthly basis, it is a LIFESAVER!
You made me laugh out loud with this post! I’m so lucky that my husband obsesses over car maintenance and takes care of all of that. This is especially good since I am incapable of putting gas in the car (he knew that when he married me and still went through with it!) This post is so relevant to us in Buffalo because if you don’t take care of your Buffalo with the frigid temps here, it’s dead in one bad day. Then you are stranded! No fun. Our Town and Country is….drum roll please…..20 years old! Yup. But it’s a Limited with heated seats, okay, just one of them works now. Hello rust in the B-lo!
Hahaha, my husband HATES maintaining the cars.. and in all fairness, so do I too! I NEVER pump gas too, unless I am on fumes, haha! 😉 Trying to get better with that since I know it’s rough on the engine!
These car tips are really important! Gotta keep it running right!
-Ashley
Soooo important!
thanks for these tips. Now I get why I’ve been having battery problems.
The Glossychic
I am glad you found the post helpful!! <3
Hey, great tips! 🙂
xx
LOVE 🙂
xx
Hadasah Love | http://www.styletolove.com
Interesting and useful post honey!
http://www.recklessdiary.ru