car maintenance, one check per page
Twenty-four lessons on the checks a car actually asks for: the ten-minute monthly walk-around, the owner's manual as the boss document, tire pressure read cold and tread read with a penny, the dipstick, coolant and brake fluid, battery terminals, lights, wipers and washer fluid, the dashboard's red and amber signals, and the boundary where you call a professional.
One check, one diagram, and one thing to look at this month. That's a page.
car maintenance, one check per page
Twenty-four lessons on the checks a car actually asks for: the ten-minute monthly walk-around, the owner's manual as the boss document, tire pressure read cold and tread read with a penny, the dipstick, coolant and brake fluid, battery terminals, lights, wipers and washer fluid, the dashboard's red and amber signals, and the boundary where you call a professional.
Set in Space Grotesk, Inter and JetBrains Mono (SIL Open Font License).
Every fact in this book is as the primary source states it, fetched and read during this build: the NHTSA tire safety page, the Tire Rack air pressure guide, and the Wikipedia articles Tire, Tire rotation, Tire-pressure gauge, Tire-pressure monitoring system, Dipstick, Motor oil, Antifreeze, Brake fluid, Lead-acid battery, Windshield wiper, Windshield washer fluid and Malfunction indicator lamp, all cached at build time and quoted in each lesson's source line. Where a number is a range (tire rotation intervals, seasonal washer dilutions), each is stated as its source states it, with the owner's manual named as the authority for your specific car. This is a book of checks, not repairs: anything involving brakes, cooling system repairs or suspension says stop and call a professional. General information only, not professional mechanical advice; when in doubt, consult a qualified professional. An independent guide; not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA, Tire Rack or Wikipedia. No facts are sourced from Reddit, YouTube, forums or search engines.
Your purchase is for personal use only. You do not have redistribution rights: please do not share, resell, or republish this book or its pages.
© 2026 Steve Hodgkiss. All rights reserved. Personal use only; no redistribution rights.
Edition 1.0 · stevehodgkiss.net
Contents
This book's plan: one monthly walk-around of the parked car. Per the NHTSA tire safety page: 'Check the pressure of all tires, including your spare, at least once a month when the tires are cold,' and 'Check your tire's tread at least once a month when you're checking their pressure.' The rest of the lap (fluids, lights, wipers, the log) is this book's own checklist.
The ten-minute check
This whole book hangs off one habit. Once a month, walk around the parked car, once, with your eyes and a gauge. NHTSA asks for tire pressure and tread at least monthly; this book adds the fluids, the lights and the wipers so it is a single trip, not four.
The conditions matter: flat ground, engine off and cold, in daylight. Ten minutes. Every check in the following pages is a stop on this same lap.
One lap, once a month, and nothing in this book ever takes longer than the coffee you bring with you.
Pick a monthly date you will actually remember, set a repeating phone reminder now, and do the first lap this week.
Per the NHTSA tire safety page, the recommended pressure is 'the proper psi ... when a tire is cold, meaning it has not been driven on for at least three hours,' and 'To get an accurate tire pressure reading, you must measure tire pressure when the tires are cold or compensate for the extra pressure in warm tires.' Per the Tire Rack air pressure guide, pressure 'must be checked with a quality air gauge as the inflation pressure cannot be accurately estimated through visual inspection.' Per the Wikipedia article Tire-pressure gauge: 'Tire gauges come in various types, including analog, digital, and dial gauges.'
Pressure when cold
Cold is a defined word, not a weather report. Cold means the tire has not been driven on for at least three hours. Drive even a few miles and the tire warms, the air expands, and the gauge reads high, hiding a slow loss.
And it must be a gauge: the Tire Rack guide is blunt, pressure cannot be accurately estimated by eye. An underinflated tire still looks round.
A gauge lives in the car, any kind, stick, dial or digital. The morning before the first drive is the honest reading window.
Tomorrow morning, before driving anywhere, gauge all four tires cold and write each number in the log.
Per the Wikipedia article Dipstick: 'The lower end of an oil dipstick with markings for minimum and maximum oil levels,' and a dipstick measures 'by inserting and removing the stick and then checking the extent of it covered by the liquid.' Per the Wikipedia article Motor oil: motor oil 'cools the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts,' and 'improves the sealing of piston rings'; manufacturers specify the viscosity grade and advise not exceeding their own time or distance interval for a change.
Read the dipstick
The dipstick is the engine's fuel gauge. Oil lubricates, cools by carrying heat away from moving parts, and seals the piston rings, and the stick's lower end carries marks for minimum and maximum.
The read takes four moves: pull, wipe, push fully home, pull again, and see where the oil film reaches. Between the marks is right; below minimum means a top up with the grade your manual names.
Engine off, car level, and the reading you trust is the second one. Ten seconds, once a month.
With the engine off and the car level, do the pull, wipe, re-dip read this week and log where the film sits.
This book's plan: every lamp, every month. The sources this book cites state no light-check procedure, so the routine here is the plan's own: work the switches in the driver's seat and verify from outside, with a helper or a wall's reflection for the brake and reverse lights.
Every light works
You cannot see your own brake lights, and nobody else will tell you kindly. Once a month, run every switch from the driver's seat: low and high beam, brake, turn, reverse, plate and hazard lights.
Then verify from outside. A helper is fastest. Alone, reverse up to a garage door or a shop window at night and watch the reflection while you work the brake and the reverse.
A bulb found dead in your driveway costs a few minutes. The same bulb found on a dark road costs a lot more.
Tonight, back up to a wall or window and confirm the brake and reverse lights in the reflection, then walk the rest.
This book's plan: red lights end the drive. Per the Wikipedia article Malfunction indicator lamp: 'This warning light can indicate almost anything from a loose gas cap to a serious knock or fault in the engine,' and its flashing stage indicates 'a severe fault and an emergency that makes the vehicle unsafe to drive.' Per the Wikipedia article Antifreeze, overheating can lead to 'the catastrophic failure of the engine.' The grouping of the red oil pressure and temperature glyphs is this book's plan.
Red means stop now
The dashboard sorts itself by color, and red is the short list: oil pressure and temperature, the glyphs that mean stop. The plan's rule is absolute: a red light ends the drive.
Pull off safely, engine off. The stakes in plain words: warning lights range from a loose gas cap to a serious fault, and overheating can end in catastrophic engine failure.
Continuing on a red light is betting an engine against a tow ride. It is a bad bet every time.
Look at your cluster today and find the red oil pressure and temperature glyphs, so you know them before they glow.
This book's plan: checks stop at a hard boundary. Per the Wikipedia article Brake fluid, brakes are a hydraulic system that 'transfer[s] force into pressure'; per the Wikipedia article Antifreeze, overheating can mean 'the catastrophic failure of the engine.' Symptoms in brakes, cooling or suspension are not checks; they are a professional's territory, and the plan names them so you never attempt them.
Call a professional
This is a book of checks, and it ends at a line. Your side: look, note it, log it. Levels, lights, tread, pressure, streaks, corrosion. All sight-based, all safe.
The other side: brakes, cooling repairs, suspension, anything that opens a system. The sources underline why: brakes are hydraulic force carriers, and cooling failures destroy engines.
Your log is your half of the repair conversation: symptoms plus dates plus findings, exactly what a professional can use.
Write the boundary into the log's first page: brakes, cooling repairs, suspension mean shop, and list this month's symptoms.