General Guidelines.

Oil: Change oil and filter every 3,000-4,000 miles. It's highly recommend you have a safety inspection on your vehicle at every oil change. Most quality repair facilities will do this for you, usually free of charge.

Fluids: Check coolant, transmission, brake, power steering and windshield wiper fluid at each oil change. Most automotive fluids systems are closed, this means you should not lose any significant amount of fluid over a long periods of time.

Cooling System: Flush and replace antifreeze every 2 years or 30,000 miles.

Transmission Service: Fluid and filter change, every 30,000 miles.

Belts & Hoses: Check every 15,000 miles, most generally you can expect to replace them between 30,000-40,000 miles.

Timing Belt: Replace timing belt at 60,000 - 90,000 miles (depending on the manufacturers recommended mileage, check your owner's manual or ask us to look it up for you). Your Car's engine can be classified as either free-running or interference. In the free-running engines the crankshaft can continue to move the piston with out causing major engine damage, because there is enough clearance between the valve and piston to avoid a collision.

However, an interference engine may allow the piston and the valve to collide. The least damage that could occur is a bent valve. The most damage that could occur is a hole in the piston, damage to the head, gouged cylinder heads, or worse yet, a completely ruined engine.

This occurs because the piston-to-valve synchronization is lost due to a failed timing belt.

Most domestic cars are free-running. Several notable exceptions are some models of the Chevy Spectrum and Chevette, Plymouth Colt, and the Pontiac LeMans and Sunbird. (The majority of these models have foreign-made engines.) Most import cars, however, have higher compression engines, and are most likely to be the interference type.

Tune-up: Inspect components every 15,000 miles, expect to replace some of them every 30,000 miles. Most cars will NOT go 100,000 miles without a tune up of some sort!

Brakes: Check system every 15,000 miles, on average you can expect to replace front pads every 20,000-40,000 miles, rear shoes or pads every 40,000-60,000 miles.