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Episode: 3247
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Title: HPR3247: Saturday Morning Automotive Routine
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Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr3247/hpr3247.mp3
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Transcribed: 2025-10-24 19:39:10
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---
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This is Haka Public Radio episode 3247.14.
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You may be 12th of January 2021.
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Today's show is entitled Saturday Morning Automotive Routine.
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It is the first show my new host trumpet on,
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and is about 19 minutes long, and carries a clean flag.
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The summer is, I have developed a relaxing 10-step routine
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for keeping your car in running condition.
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This episode of HBR is brought to you by an honest host.com.
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Get 15% discount on all shared hosting with the offer code
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HBR15. That's HBR15.
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Better web hosting that's honest and fair at an honesthost.com.
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Hello Hacker Public Radio. This is trumpet john.
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I chose that moniker. It kind of is reflective of my particular trade,
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and also my enjoyment, my passions, which is music.
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I'm a pastoral musician in the Midwest of the United States.
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So I have only gotten to know Hacker Public Radio in the past two months,
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but absolutely love it. And you all have taught me so very much.
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I'm not a hacker by trade, not a computer guy.
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I mean, I love computers and things like that, but you guys are well above my standard.
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However, I keep hearing the requests for more content, more content,
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and being a free program, I get that.
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And so what I thought I would do is give you something that I use.
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You can take away from it what you will.
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First of all, I will tell you I'm also not a mechanic by trade,
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but probably my the thing that I have to offer in these kind of situations is I understand systems
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very well. And I find that systems work well in life management.
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And so what I wanted to share with you today was my Saturday morning vehicle routine.
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Because I have found in the past couple of years, this has aided me greatly
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and making sure that I have two cars that are running well all the time.
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Now, when you live in the Midwest United States, a car is practically vital.
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You you just about have to have one, especially if you don't live in big city.
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And I do I live in in St. Louis, Missouri, but but still the car is is a vital piece of equipment
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when you live in in areas that sprawl like the United States does.
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And so having working automobiles is paramount. My wife works and I work.
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And so with that, I feel that it's important for me to keep the vehicles in running order
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all the time. So for years, I was constantly playing catch up. You know, you you leave for work.
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I used to teach at a university and you you have a nine a.m. class that you're going to be
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teaching. It's 830. You're leaving the house and you realize the gas needle is on e
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that you don't have enough gas to get to work and that all of a sudden you are now in a rush.
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And that's when I started working on my Saturday morning automotive routine that I'm going to share
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with you. And it's it's a 10 phase system. You can match, mix, borrow, whatever you want to do.
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The thing that I would encourage you is to have a system. And so again, not being a mechanic,
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I choose to do this system because I'm able to keep up on my cars this way.
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The first thing is I choose a day that at least an hour hour and a half that I feel like I
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can commit and do it in a restful manner. The nice thing about this routine is it can actually be
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very relaxing. It's it's very isolated. You're alone doing it. You you spend time yourself
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making this this happen. And so I've gotten to the point where my Saturday morning routine is
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something that I enjoy greatly. And so what I wanted to share with you is very quickly a couple of
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things ahead of time. My 10 steps very quickly and then I'll close the first thing you want to do
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is you want to scope out that one gas station that you feel is nearby that you feel has
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good quality gasoline. When I first moved to our house, now there was a there is a very close gas
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station that I rejoiced and seeing. And once I put a couple of tanks of that gasoline in my
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mini Cooper, which is very touchy about what I put in it, I had to change the spark plugs.
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And so I have found that that particular gas station is just not suitable for my requirements.
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So I found a quick trip. Now that may not mean anything to you if you're outside of the Midwest,
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but quick trip is kind of the gold standard in our area. And we have a quick trip gas station
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about a mile and a half from my house. So that works out perfectly. And I use it every time.
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I use the same kind of fuel every time I've researched what is the best fuel for both of my cars.
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And so I choose that. So anyway, not only that, you need to have a couple of things. You need to
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have a tire gauge in every vehicle. I have a tire gauge in every vehicle. I have a tire gauge in
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my garage as well. You also mechanics gloves are very handy. I would almost say crucial in this work
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because what you do when you inspect the tires is I rub my hand around the tire,
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make sure there are no knots or lumps. And also just feeling the tread makes me feel a little
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bit more careful, more like I'm in control of the tires wear and know what it's doing.
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Okay, so that being the case, you have spent your time, you've made this little modification in
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your life. Here are the 10 things that I do. The first thing that I do is I take each car separately,
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of course, one person. I top off the gas at the same gas station. Okay, it's a quick trip for me.
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Ever once in a while, I will skip a Saturday and let the gas deplete. That way I get to put in a
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full tank which most mechanics say instead of topping off constantly, it's good to let the gas
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exhaust itself. However, because I get it from the same source, I feel I feel pretty comfortable
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in topping it off there. So the first thing I do, I pull in, I top off the gas. I also, by the way,
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I keep my receipts. And the nice thing about this is if you use a program like CAM scanner or
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something like that that I do for my receipts, I can at the end of the year say, okay, here's what we
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need to budget for gas because what I do is once I get those receipts, I scan them under the word gas,
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don't think another thing about it until we have to come up with our budget for the next year.
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Then I can look and see exactly what I've been spending on gas and what I expect to
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spend on gas in the future. So that's one, top off gas. Number two, tire inflation and inspection.
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Now, the next thing, and understand when you are Tuesday morning in a hurry, you are 15 minutes
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behind schedule and you've got to get gas, you don't check your tires, you don't check your oil.
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And that's why this Saturday morning thing for me is so important because what I do then is I get
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down with every tire with my tire gauge, I inspect the tires. I feel around on them, make sure
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there are no knots I've had and not in my tire one time that came up within a five mile driving
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distance and ruined my tire. So that happens, especially if you have high pressure tires. So I
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check my tires, make sure there are the the pressure is I keep them all within five pounds per square
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inch of each other and you know, just do a visual and actually with my mechanics gloves,
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I feel the tire, make sure it feels nice and round, make sure that the threads look good.
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So that's number two. The next thing as I check my battery, I look to make sure there are no corrosion,
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there's no corrosion on the posts of my battery. That's very simple. Fourth is very simple as well.
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I just give a visual look at the hoses and belts and again with mechanics gloves, even though
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that my gas station is a mile and a half from my house, it's still things get a little warm.
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So I'm able with mechanics gloves to feel the hoses and make sure that they respond to a light
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squeeze that they're not brittle or anything like that. And I look at my belts, a visual inspection
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looking at your belts. That's number four. Number five is I check all my fluids.
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I check my oil and I check my power steering fluid, which right now I have a small leak in my
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my many Cooper, which is my commuter car. I have a small leak in it and I'm monitoring it and I
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need to fix it on the next it's winter. But on the next warm day, I need to to tighten up
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something or fix it, but I can't see where it's leaking currently. But I check the power steering
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fluid. I check the transmission fluid, check the coolant level every time. Just check it. Just make
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sure everything is is up to par. Even windshield wiper fluid. Make sure that's ready to go.
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The next thing number six is I do an external inspection. I just look around the car. I look,
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I have a couple of little rust spots, you know, and I go, okay, one of these days I need to fix it.
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But also I'll go through sometimes if I have time, I'll go through the lights. I'll go through
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backing lights, turn signals, that sort of thing. My turn signals, both of them, if they go out,
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you can easily tell that in the back because you'll you'll hear that it changes the resistance
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and the overall circuitry. And you have this very quick click instead of the slow click on the
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turn signal. So, but I check all that stuff. Check, check everything. Make sure that all of that is
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is in good working order. Number six is, or that's number six, number seven is I review my oil change
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mileage and date. Just take a look, look at my, you know, just take a look at your odometer,
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look at your, your next oil change. I change my own oil in both cars. And so I don't often times
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have a little sticker on my windshield. And I have it written in my journal when I changed the,
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the oil the last time. I have a back page in my journal that I just write those things down and
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make sure. The next thing is I will schedule and buy replacement parts. So one of the nice things
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about having this Saturday morning routine is perhaps you find something that maybe your windshield
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wipers are started. Maybe it's been six months or maybe maybe you have a light out or something small
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like that. You may go well, I don't have time this Saturday, but what you can do is throughout the
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week, you can pick up those parts, which for me oftentimes just picking up the parts takes more
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time than the actual exchange of the parts. And so pick up the part, you know, make a note to pick
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up your part that week. And then the next Saturday, I have the part in hand and I pop it on there.
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And that's what especially I do with windshield wipers. And I also, if I buy lights backing lights,
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turn signal lights, I always buy an extra set that way. I have them there if one should go out again.
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And if you replace turn signals, just replace both bulbs. Replace the set. Don't replace one.
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Both of them because they're both the same age and that way you just start fresh and a new. And
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it takes approximately five extra minutes to change the other signal once you kind of know what
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you're doing. The next thing, number nine, is I'll do a slight cleanup. And so when I'm at a quick
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trip, you know, I will kind of go through the car and pick up little scrap pieces of paper and
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things like that. We have these, most of you, if you have a car, have these side caches in your door
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like we do where you put, you know, notes, lists, receipts, soda straw wrappers, all sorts of
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napkins, all sorts of stuff. And on Saturday, and I don't do a deep clean, I just do, it's, you
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know, maybe it's a 30 second kind of thing, you know, and I just kind of pick all that stuff up,
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put it in the garbage while I'm at quick trip filling up my gas. Then this is kind of interesting.
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I choose one of the cars each week for a car wash. We have a car wash that is approximately a half
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a mile away from our house and it's not used that much. It costs me a dollar 50 to hand wash for
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four minutes of the car there. It's real cheap. So I'll choose one of the cars and just run it
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through the wash, you know, just hit the hit the major spots and you know, it takes me again,
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five minutes to do, but when you've parceled out this amount of time, it doesn't seem like much time
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at all. And it's just kind of a nice way to pass the time. Now what I want to also, before I conclude
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this short podcast, and I know it would be short, but short doesn't necessarily mean bad.
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One thing that is number 11, and this is just for me, is reward. I'm a big believer in reward.
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There is a new book out that I would encourage you to read. It's called Tiny Habits,
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and it talks about that reward principle that you have. And for me,
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quick trip makes really good custard donuts and I eat very little sugar or gluten. And so,
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usually what I will do is after I've done my top 10 things, which I will, I'll go through again
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for you in just a moment, I'll then pick up a custard-filled chocolate-covered donut there
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at the quick trip. I will drive my last car. I don't do it on the first car. I do it on the last
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car when everything is done. I'll drive it to a vacant school parking lot on Saturday because
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it's always vacant. I will, if it's a beautiful day, I'll roll down the window. I will have a coffee
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and a donut and reward myself for a job well done. So, let me run, and I know that maybe
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to you, you may be shaking your head. But for me, I find it helpful. So, let me review the 10
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again and the very simple. One is top off the gas. Keep the receipts. This is actually a time
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that you can use the receipts. Again, it will help you in budgeting. Find some way to track
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the receipts that you use. Second, check your tire inflation and do a visual external and even
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a field check on your tires. Make sure your tires are looking good. Check for anywhere on any of the
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side walls or anything like that. You want to find this here. You don't want to find this. Again,
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if you're in the Midwest and you're driving 40 miles between towns, and I've had this happen,
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you don't want to find it on the side of the road, 20 miles from town. So, you want to find it here.
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So, two, check your tires. Tires, again, is your contact with the ground. So, it's vital that they
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are in good shape. You can also take a look at your brakes, but that's for another mechanic and
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another podcast. And honestly, I don't spend any time looking at my brakes for that. Number three,
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you check your battery. Make sure that your batteries posts are corrosion-free. Also, you might
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ever once in a while just choose to take a tool, a screwdriver, or a wrench, whatever your battery
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uses, and make sure the posts are nice and tight. You want to have good contact. You guys are
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electrical electronics guys. You know that good contact is very important. Number four,
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check your hoses. Check your belts. Just a visual check. You can do a squeeze check on some of your
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hoses. Number five, check your fluids. Make sure they're topped off. Make sure they're at the
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correct level. Number six, external inspection. Look over the car. Make sure that the car is in good
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shape externally. Look for little cracks or dings in the windshield. That sort of thing.
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Number seven, review oil change, mileage, and dates. Make sure you're keeping your oil changed.
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Most people know this is crucial to the operation of any car and the life expectancy of any car.
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Number eight, schedule and buy replacement parts. Be cognizant of what you need and buy that part.
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And consider like for me, when I had to change out spark plugs, I didn't just buy one set. I bought
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two sets. Now I have an operating set of spark plugs. Should I need to change them in the near future?
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Number nine, slight cleanup. As you're waiting for that gas to pump those, you're going to have
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plenty of things to do while you're doing that. Just clean out your little caches and stuff like that.
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Number 10, choose one of your cars for a quick car wash. If you have two or you have three,
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choose to wash one of them and kind of give it a treat. Now why do this? Why take this kind of time?
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Because your car, if it's like mine, is its operation and its consistency is invaluable.
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And I just wanted to give you an opportunity to do something that would be good for you
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and good for your car as well. And so for Hacker Public Radio, I'm trumpet john and it's great
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talking to you.
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You've been listening to Hacker Public Radio at Hacker Public Radio dot org. We are a community
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podcast network that releases shows every weekday Monday through Friday. Today's show, like all our
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shows, was contributed by an HPR listener like yourself. If you ever thought of recording a podcast,
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then click on our contributing to find out how easy it really is. Hacker Public Radio was
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founded by the digital dog pound and the infonomicum computer club and is part of the binary
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revolution at binrev.com. If you have comments on today's show, please email the host directly,
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leave a comment on the website or record a follow-up episode yourself. Unless otherwise status,
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today's show is released under creative comments, attribution, share a life, 3.0 license.
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