Maintenance

Many car owners understand the importance of prepping their vehicles for winter, but springtime is likewise a good time to give your vehicle a once-over and do some basic maintenance.

It can be cheaper to change your oil yourself versus taking it to an oil-change shop or dealership, but it’s important to determine if it’s worth the time, trouble and risk.

Some maintenance tasks are easy enough for the average consumer to handle, but others might be best done by a shop or dealer — even if you have the skills to do it yourself.

Here are basic tools every car owner should consider buying.

A combination of costs, changing consumer tastes and packaging is why you hardly see spare tires in new cars anymore.

While the majority of motor mounts aren’t very expensive in and of themselves, the labor involved in replacing them can be.

Oxygen sensors are not among the maintenance items that need to be replaced regularly, so they typically are replaced only when they fail.

A car’s thermostat typically requires replacement only if it fails, but more complex systems in modern cars may require assistance from a mechanic.

Asking your mechanic for a general tuneup isn’t really a viable request anymore — nor is it likely to be the fix for a running problem.

A bad tank of gas can be caused by a variety of issues, and it can prevent a car’s engine from running as well as it should.