How do you all track your car maintenance?

Lotus Eater@lemmy.blahaj.zone to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 35 points –

I uninstalled the Fuelly app now that it has become hot garbage, everything is a subscription service even though it's just a simple Excel sheet. I could go back to using an excel sheet, but I was curious if anyone has any recommendations. TIA!

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I use an excel spreadsheet that I made. I use conditional formatting to tell me when I need to change something of at least check it. If you're interested in making your own just ask if you have any questions

You're definitely winning the maintenance plan. Nice job.

I'm really just a data nerd who also likes working on cars. I often find excuses to make unnecessarily over complex spreadsheets, this one is just actually useful.

I sometimes glance at my dashboard to see if any lights are yellow or red.

When I get my oil changed they put a sticker on my windshield with the mileage for the next oil change. Anything more than that seems like too much effort.

I use Carfax. You can create an account and self-report services. Some shops will automatically report to Carfax on your behalf, but most don’t, and I certainly have to enter my own DIY work manually.

This came in clutch when I sold my last car private party because I was able to print out the Carfax for my vehicle and it included my self-reported records as well, the buyer loved it.

I wasn't even aware the dealership I got my car from automatically reported to Carfax until I started receiving reminders for oil changes, inspections, and registration renewals. I just went ahead and created an account and it's great to have an automatic record there in case I lose my receipts.

Wait... You guys keep track of maintenance? I just go to the mechanic once every six months approx, unless of course something unusual needs fixing.

Am I sinning? Why do you guys keep track of car maintenance?

I use fuelio on Android. Works well and has backup to Google Drive. Fuelio

This is what I use too. I'm not super happy with it but it gets the job done. Services and reminders are very confusing.

The car reminds me, otherwise I guess I'd make calendar entries for maintenance schedules?

Doesn't your car tell you when to do things now days? Or are there things you should do still?

My car has alerts for routine maintenance so I don't have to think about it. Old school method is a log book. Maybe add an event on the calendar for the next time when you take it in.

I sometimes have to take it for other things but that isn't really routine maintenance.

I just use Google keep to note when I do maintenance and I tag it as vehicle maintenance. If I need to know when I rotated the tires I can just look through everything in that tag to see. For things that I want to keep a receipt record of I scan the receipt and put it in a folder for the vehicle labeled something like "oil change engine air filter 34k miles" and save it on my nas(would work with drive/dropbox/one drive too)

A custom made Google Sheet to track everything - maintenance, repairs, insurance, and fuel ups. I'd like to move to an app that supports all of the above, but getting everything into an importable format was messy (tried it with Fuelio), and I gave up after a while. The fact that I'm also writing down parts purchased prior to installation does not make this easier.

My plan is to try and convert it all into plaintext accounting format (probably Beancont with a tailor-made plugin), but so far I've been mostly kicking that ball down the street.

I keep a small journal. I write the date, mileage, and fuel level in the journal for each entry. Then I detail what maintenance was performed, and when the next time that maintenance should be done. I also write other information such as part numbers, manufacturers, or any other important information regarding a repair or replacement so that I can reference back in the future if I need to do it again.

I am a professional mechanic, so its not a big deal for me. Just like making a repair order for my own vehicle, really.

Maybe im too tired, but what's the point of noting the fuel level?

Its for when I go to a gas station to fill the tank. I can keep track of gas mileage better. Not that it really matters since getting a 1968 carbureted V8 above 20mpg is a miracle.

Hondas built in maintenance minder. Excellent idea.

I use Trello. Both for planning mods and tracking service history.

Car service history in Trello

I use Carfax. I can input my DIY maintenance and get reminders about regular service like oil changes and tire rotations.

Road-trip app for tracking mileage and maintenance costs. Physical receipts are all scanned and archived via Paperless-NGX.

I have a service notebook in the glovebox and I also write them in Notes so that I can view it online from anywhere.

I take it to the garage whenever the little dash LCD asks or when I get the yearly letter from the ministry of transport.
Other than that I just assume it's fine if there's no weird noises...

158,000+ miles on my Subaru and only needed a new battery and bought new tires.

Subarus really go, I just rebuilt a 1999 foresters engine and it's got over 400,000 miles on it, 1000 after the rebuild, and it's still going fine.