Car maintenance

Among the things I've considered as a regular chore is car maintenance. It started when I first was given the responsibility by my father with my first car. He took me to the shop to have me observe how oil changes and tune-ups were done and to introduce me to the mechanics who were his suki. Many of those mechanics eventually left the shop to start their own repair shops elsewhere. One even worked abroad and was said to have been successful and now leads a more prosperous life with his family somewhere in San Mateo. I now have my own sukis and they have been so since the late 1990's. They have maintained all our cars since then and have proven to be trustworthy.

Draining the oil from the car engine - you definitely know it was time to have an oil change based on the color alone. The car is elevated for gravity to help in draining the oil from the car and for easy access to the oil filter that also had to be changed. That filter had to be removed by a special instrument (clamp) as the filter is tightly installed to eliminate the risk of leaks.

Changing the spark plugs of our Mazda 3 requires removing the filter and cover of the engine to get to the engine itself.

Finally getting to the engine, the contacts are removed to access the spark plugs.

The spark plugs are removed with a special instrument after unscrewing it from their slots.

Used spark plugs from the car - I always use Bosch spark plugs; either the Super 4's or the Platinums. I've had the best experience with these compared with the spark plugs of other brands.

After changing the plugs, we have to return the cover and the filter. This part requires some memory to make sure all the clamps and screws are returned.

With the engine cover back, the filter should be returned to the slot in the center of the photo.

That's my dependable mechanic, Rico, who's been maintaining our cars since the 90's, placing the cover to the filter.