Maintaining a car means a lot of things to a lot of people, these are somethings that you can do to make sure its in tip-top shape 1. Clean the air filter as often as you can, once a month(or even sooner in dusty condition), this will make sure your engine is running clean, for the people who don't know..consult your owner's manual and find out where the air box is, open it and extract the air filter, shake it thoroughly and put it back in 2. engine oil can tell you a lot about what going on inside your engine, or more importantly, whats going wrong, pay attention when get your car serviced, the measure of the oil extracted should be slightly more than what you put in(Naturally aspirated motors), this is because of some blow by which occurs, excessively thin engine oil signals a lot of 'blow by' which means that soon you're gonna end up with a fat bill for an engine overhaul(the sleeves of the cylinders are worn out), if the engine oil is less, it signals that the piston rings are worn out and that your engine is essentially burning oil along with fuel. 3. spark plugs can also tell you a story about the health of the engine, white deposits on the spark plugs/worn out electrode are an indicator of two things..firstly you maybe using the spark plug of a different heat rating, and secondly, your engine is probably running warmer due to a lean charge. if there are black deposits on the spark plug, your engine is porbably running a rich air fuel ratio, which maybe due to the lambda sensor malfunction, or a maf sensor malfunction 4. the color of your coolant(antifreeze) should always be deep/vibrant green, traces of brown indicate that the glycol(key ingredient of antifreeze) is disintegrating which can be because of either age or high engine temperature, in which case you should check for radiator damage or lean charge. An engine which is running cool will give better power and better mileage so make sure that your radiator fins are straight and do not obstruct air flow, something you can do in the rainy season is maintain distance from the car in front, any dispense picked up from the tyres of the car in front is finding its way into your radiator/condensor which is gonna clog it. 5. terminals of the battery cables get erroded overtime, to slow down this erosion you can apply vaseline petroleum jelly or some kind of grease, apply it magnanimously so it engulfs the terminal not allowing it to be exposed to the air. 6. some small scratches on your windscreen(caused by running dirty wipers) can be taken out with the help of a cloth and some toothpaste, its a mild abrasive and will help clear those ones out. 7. screeching fan belts/v belts are irritating, which maybe an indicator that the belt is close to its cremation date, however if you feel that it has more left it in, you can use a belt dressing(a spary), if you can't locate one get hold of a soda can(pepsi/coke), and pour it on the screeching belt while the engine is operating, the sugar will make the belt sticky and it will stop slipping 9. if you feel that every so often the idle of your vehicle become erratic(too low/too high) momentarily, your IACV(idle air control valve), is probably dirty and needs some cleaning, usually its installed in the air box just before the throttle body