How to Keep Your Car Going...and Going

How long do you want your car to last? According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average vehicle in the United States pulls into the Great Parking Lot in the Sky after a little more than 13 years and 145,000 miles. Like humans, cars keep living longer and longer. For that you can thank better technology, better materials and better engineering. But nothing affects your car's longevity more than you. Treat it with loving care, and you can expect year after year of healthy, happy service. The 10 secrets listed below will help your car live to its fullest.

1. Change the oil often. Driving with dirty oil is the automotive equivalent of smoking three packs a day. You're peeling pages off your car's life-expectancy calendar with every mile. Oil is the lifeblood of your engine but oil breaks down with use. The detergents in it break down, and it gets contaminated. And when it does, your engine wears prematurely.

Better lubricants and better-engineered engines have pushed the recommended oil change interval to 7,500 on most newer cars. Changing it more frequently than specified in the owner's manual won't hurt. It's the single most important preventive maintenance task you can perform, period.

2. Keep an eye on key fluids. Every month, check the level of the oil, anti-freeze/coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid and (if possible) the automatic transmission fluid. Investigate a sudden drop in any of these fluids immediately, since it could signal imminent catastrophe. For instance, lost coolant leads to overheating, which may lead to a cracked engine block, which leads to the junkyard.

3. Refresh the transmission or risk rebuilding it. After the engine, the transmission represents the most expensive system on your car. A new or rebuilt one can easily run two grand. Most owner's manuals recommend servicing the transmission at 30,000 miles. At minimum, that means replacing the filter and changing the fluid, which removes accumulated contaminants and bathes the gears with fresh, new lubricant.

4. Replace plugs regularly. If oil is the lifeblood of your engine, then the spark plugs are surely its heartbeat. Their controlled explosions power the engine. Depending on the kind of plugs that came on your car from the factory, the change interval may range from 24,000 to 100,000 miles. Following that schedule will keep your car performing at its peak.

5. Attend to the timing belt. In your engine, the timing belt coordinates the opening and closing of the valves with the up-and-down movement of the pistons in each cylinder. When it breaks, you risk bending or breaking a valve--in which case you'll probably need to drop in a new engine. On some cars, a timing chain performs this function, and it never needs replacing. But if your car has a belt, the owner's manual probably recommends a change at five years or 60,000 miles. Exceed that recommendation, and your engine is living on borrowed time.

6. Remember the radiator. "Your radiator and cooling system help pull heat away from your engine, and excessive heat is enemy No. 1," says Sean Lyon, senior product manager for antifreeze products at Prestone. Although antifreeze doesn't lose its freeze-up and boil-over protection over time, it does lose its ability to fight corrosion. And corrosion can clog or eat away the super-thin tubes in most radiators, which may lead to engine overheating. Change your antifreeze as directed in your owner's manual--anywhere from two years/24,000 miles to five years/50,000 miles.

7. Forget filters at your peril. Changing the fuel, air and oil filters will not only keep your car running its best, but will also keep it running longer. The air filter acts like a surgical mask for your engine, keeping it from breathing in dust, dirt and other contaminants. Change it every 24,000 miles; on most cars, you can do it easily yourself. The fuel filter keeps rust and sediment from clogging and perhaps killing your injectors; have a pro change it every 30,000 miles or as specified in your owner's manual. The oil filter, of course, should be changed with every oil change.

8. Keep a clean machine. How can washing your car extend its life? Very simply, because it helps prevent rust. Road salt, acid rain and other contaminants attack your car's sheet metal and undercarriage constantly. And what good is a pristine engine if rust perforates the body or eats away from below? Wash your car once a week, using lots of fresh water to flush away road salt and other corrosive stuff.

9. Curl up with a good read. By now you've no doubt noticed that most of the secrets above refer to the owner's manual. Read it as you would a personalized medical guide to max out your machine's useful life. It not only spells out scheduled maintenance (imperative to keep the warranty valid) but also clues you in on quirks peculiar to your vehicle. For instance, do you drive a European car? Then the owner's manual probably recommends changing the brake fluid every 24,000 miles--something most American carmakers never mention. Do you have a four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive vehicle? The manual will tell you how to check the fluid in the transfer case--the "other transmission" in your 4X4.

10. Practice healthful behind-the-wheel habits. Bad driving habits chip years off your car's life, just as junk food, lack of exercise and other bad lifestyle habits chip away at your health. Revving the engine immediately after ignition, shifting an automatic transmission from "R" to "D" (or vice-versa) without coming to a complete stop and regularly accelerating hard and fast cause unnecessary wear to critical systems. Drive gently and sensibly, and you'll lengthen not only your car's life, but yours too.