5 Easy Car Maintenance Tasks Every Guy Should Do Himself

5 Easy Car Maintenance Tasks Every Guy Should Do Himself

There’s certain stuff guys should just know how to do. It used to be that you could do nearly any general maintenance on your car with just some basic tools. But as they’ve become more complex, more and more repairs require a mechanic. But there is still a lot of vehicle maintenance you can do without special equipment, and no self-respecting man would leave these easy fixes to anybody else.

Change your own oil

This one is child’s play; all you need is an oil filter wrench, a pan to drain the oil, a funnel and some jack stands to support the car while you work. You’ll also want to get 6 quarts or so of oil and a new oil filter, which you’ll be replacing. You’ll drain the oil out of the engine into your pan and replace the oil filter. Then you just fill it back up with new oil and you’re done. It couldn’t be simpler.

Oil Change

Swap out the fuel filter

This is different from the oil filter; it keeps your fuel injector clear of obstructions, and a clogged fuel filter can cause your car to stall. The filter usually sits between the fuel pump and your car’s tank, which might be tougher to reach, depending on your vehicle. You probably will only need some basic wrenches, screwdrivers or sockets to get the old filter out. You’ll want to disconnect the car’s battery to prevent sparking, but the rest of the job is simply a matter of wrestling the bracket off and freeing the old filter.

Change Fuel Filter

Replace a bad spark plug

This is easy for anybody to do. You just need a socket wrench with a spark-plug socket and probably an extender that will help you reach the deep-set plug. You have to be careful to remove any debris or dirt that could fall into the engine when you remove the plug, but other than that, it’s a simply swap. Just make sure you don’t remove multiple plugs at the same time; you don’t want to mix up which distributer cables go with which plug.

Spark Plugs

Change a flat

As long as you have a spare in the trunk, a car-jack and a lug-nut wrench, you can change a tire. Check your manual for the best spot to place the jack on the car frame so you don’t damage anything underneath. Then it’s just a matter of jacking up the car, loosening the lug nuts and swapping out the bad tire. This is a skill that can save you from having to pay for a tow-truck.

Flat Tire Change

Fix a burned out tail-light

This can be a little bit tricky, depending on the design of your car and the tail-light setup you have. But essentially, you just have to pull out a twist-out plug that holds the burned-out bulb. Not all manufacturers make it easy to reach the bulbs, but there’s nothing really difficult about it. Just make sure you test for blown fuses in your car’s fuse-box before you bother dismantling the tail-light housing. You might need a screwdriver at most.

Tail Light