Quick truck maintenance tips

Quick truck maintenance tips

There are two types of truck owners—those who get a truck for its tough, reliable reputation, but also make sure to properly maintain and care for it, and those you frequently see stranded by the side of the road. If you’re reading this, then you’re already taking steps in the right direction. After all, maintaining a truck is like maintaining most other things: all it takes is time and a little planning. What follows is a series of quick maintenance tips you can follow to ensure your truck loves you back as much as you love it.

Trust the experts

Who knows more about your truck than the company that manufactured it? To ensure you know how to properly care for your vehicle, the first thing you should do is read the manual for your make and model. Pay particularly close attention to the sections on maintaining the truck and troubleshooting problems. Here you’ll find a list of recommended scheduled maintenance items, how to interpret various dashboard indicator lights, warranty details, and how to perform the most basic maintenance activities.

Perform scheduled maintenance on time

It’s easy to push a transmission fluid flush and refill back a few months when everything appears to be running fine, but if your manufacturer recommends performing the service after a certain number of miles or years in service, you could do damage by postponing them. In addition to keeping things running smoothly, performing these regular maintenance functions (and keeping all receipts for those service visits) will also ensure that your warranty remains in effect for its full duration. You’ll also be protecting the resale value of your truck in case you decide to sell at some point down the road.

Get a second opinion

Traditionally, being able to change the oil, filters, and fluids and even perform minor repairs can really save you money. Even if you’re knowledgeable enough and have the skills, we recommend having the truck inspected at an authorized service center to ensure you haven’t missed something. The high-tech diagnostic equipment at these establishments can reveal issues you may not be equipped to detect or address. If you miss something major, a minor expense could balloon into something significantly more costly.

Perform the walk around

Every time you plan to get behind the wheel, you should walk around the truck to ensure it is visually road-ready. Look at the tyres for proper inflation and tread depth, examine your mirrors to make sure they’re aimed correctly, check your taillights and test your headlights. Although you don’t need to do it as often, you should also periodically check your battery terminals for corrosion, check your brakes for sticking or reduced stopping power, examine fluid levels, drain air tanks fitted to your truck daily (if applicable), look for fluid leaks, and test your truck’s steering for excessive play that might prompt an unplanned service visit. The other big part of the walkaround is determining the current driving conditions, and adjusting your behavior accordingly. For instance, increase your following distance in wet conditions, or turning your lights on in dense fog.

Keep your truck clean

Keeping your truck looking like new inside and out isn’t just a matter of aesthetics. Mud, dust, dirt, and other gunk that you drive through can work its way into the grease meant to protect your truck’s moving parts and slowly corrode components and chew through the protective paint and chassis coating, leading to premature rust.

If you follow these simple steps, you’re significantly more likely to keep your truck running for the long haul. Performing routine maintenance on your truck can be expensive, but you can budget for these expenditures in advance. The catastrophic problems that arise from not taking care of your truck, on the other hand, are impossible to budget for.