Spring Car Maintenance with DIYZ Mobile App & My Teenager

By Rob Ainbinder

Disclosure: I am a compensated DIYZ^® app-sponsored blogger. Opinions are my own and additional products used in the project were selected by me.

There’s plenty to do around the house including car maintenance in the Spring. And with an up and coming driver in our house, I thought it might be a good time to impart some car maintenance wisdom to the next gen driver in my home. I solidified my decision when I found the DIYZ app, which includes tons of car repair projects!

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Spring Car Maintenance with Car Driver in Training

If you’re like me and have a new driver starting soon, it’s a good time to start an introduction to some basic maintenance.

Like any other teenager her age, my daughter researches projects and answers to her questions on her phone (when it’s not myself or my wife she’s asking).

In North Carolina, we see a lot of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. That causes our windshield wipers to work overtime. All that clearing action during the winter wears out wipers fairly quickly. And when your wipers stop clearing well, it’s time to replace them. The same can also be said for the air filter — your engine needs clean air for good combustion and if it’s clogged with dirt, dust, leaves and other debris, it’s time to replace it. Generally, I replace the air filter every two oil changes.

Hunkering down with the dog to get details on the engine air filter project.

After researching the projects, we headed out to local shop for the supplies. Digging through my, (mostly disorganized glovebox) my daughter managed to find the Jeep’s user guide.

At the Store

Unfortunately, the Jeep’s user guide did not have the necessary specs for the air filter or the windshield wipers. Why? I don’t know. I guess that stuff is only important to people with DVD players that can view the full owner’s manual. ;-) So, my daughter looked it up in a book. Look, I got a real picture of a teen using a book.

Have you ever tried to find an air filter among the mélange of filters arranged mercilessly on the shelf in some almost randomized order? Yes, that! That is why she reacted like this when she found the correct filter!

Believe me, I was proud of her too!

With the engine air filter selected we moved over to the windshield wipers. Same process as the air filter, check the fit guide and select the wipers for my Jeep.

With the air filter and windshield wipers in hand, we headed to a second store to get the rear wiper blade then, home to take care of business. It’s tool time!

Windshield Wiper Blade Replacement

Our daughter quickly got down to business with the windshield wiper blade replacement. We viewed the

“How to Change Windshield Wiper Blades” project in the DIYZ app and got started! She quickly removed both wipers.

Next, we viewed the app to see how to put the new ones on. It takes some concentration when you are doing something new.

What you don’t see is us trying to replace the rear windshield wiper blade. That one was a real bugger! We tried maybe four or five times before I finally managed to get the thing on!

Next up on our project list was the engine air filter. Keeping the engine’s air clean (for fuel combustion) is just as important as keeping your windshield view clear.

Engine Air Filter Replacement

We started the engine air filter replacement by “poppin’ the hood”.

Propping the hood up with the hood prop, we gathered some tools, talked a bit about how an engine works, and then, got down to business.

Here’s my daughter, beginning to remove the screws that hold the air filter cover down.

After removing the screws to the cover, we get access to the filter. Looks like it was ready for replacement!

Here’s the new filter, ready to go in. Nice and clean looking.

Installing the new filter then, reinstalling the air filter cover we wrapped up the spring car maintenance. The wife’s car is next!

All in all, a good day! As far as my daughter driving, I have no idea yet. But, she won’t be afraid to do a few things around the car.

If she ever does get stuck on a car repair, she can always video-chat with a Pro Advisor in the DIYZ app. DIYZ Pro Advisors are licensed professionals available to chat from 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM ET Monday through Friday. On weekends, DIYZ advisors are available to help tackle projects from 8:00 AM to 1:00 AM ET.

Impressions of the DIYZ App

Overall, I was fairly impressed with the DIYZ app. Installation on my Android and my daughter’s iPhone was a breeze. The app has a good size library of DIY projects and they are all well laid out with step-by-step guides and segmented videos to help you tackle home improvement projects. Each step has its own video making it easy to repeat steps while you are following a project.

As you might expect, the app recommends the proper tools and materials to complete each project but, in an interesting twist, it provides the option to easily purchase tools and materials without leaving the app via Amazon. If you find yourself in a pinch, the DIYZ app allows you to speak directly with a professional contractor at your fingertips via video-chat or, voice chat. For a limited time, the video chat feature is FREE!