Caring for a car can save fuel costs, environment (cont'd)

5. Flush and fill your cooling system
This is cheap insurance against engine failure. The recommended service is to flush a vehicle's system every two years, or 24,000 miles for most vehicles. Then, refill with a 50/50 mixture of coolant and water. (Motorists living in a more severe climate should increase the percentage of coolant to about 70.)

6. Maintain A/C system
NASCAR drivers may drive 500 miles every weekend without the luxury of air conditioning with temperatures in the car well higher than 100 degrees, but that doesn't mean motorists have to! A vehicle's A/C system should be checked before the heat sets in. Because of high A/C usage during the hot summer months, this is the time it will be likely to fail. A trained technician can test car owners' A/C systems and prevent them from breaking a sweat.

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7. Check the radiator and gas caps
A snug radiator cap helps raise the cooling system pressure, giving added protection against boilovers. Radiator caps don't last forever, and must be replaced when the cooling system is flushed. With gas at record prices, be sure there's a tight seal on the gas cap, too, to prevent that high-priced octane from vaporizing. Nearly 20 percent of vehicles have gas caps that are damaged, loose or missing altogether, wasting some 147 million gallons of gas every year.

8. Inspect wiper blades
Racecars have windshield tearoffs. Off the racetrack, cars have wipers that work hard all winter removing dirt and debris, including salt spray. Since the life expectancy of a wiper blade is only six months, motorists should check that the car's blades are making full contact with the windshield and have not dried out. Don't wait for a heavy summer rainstorm to discover blades aren't performing properly. Also, refill the wiper fluid reservoir.

9. Have your oil changed regularly
While this very well may be the least costly of all the routine maintenance services on a vehicle, it is the most important. Most manufacturers require the oil to be changed every 3,000-5,000 miles.

10. Clean the cabin
Extra weight in the car reduces fuel mileage by as much as 2 percent per 100 pounds. Discard the debris that's been hibernating all winter. Remove unnecessary cargo from the trunk and be sure to check the air pressure in your spare tire. Most likely it will need air, so remember to do that the next you time you fill the tank.

Fans can make a pit stop for a spring maintenance makeover by logging on to NASCAR.COM and clicking on the NASCAR Performance logo. Car owners need to simply enter their zip codes to locate a top quality local NASCAR Performance Network repair facility.

"We can't guarantee you'll be in and out in 15 seconds, but we can trust your ride will be more safe, dependable and economical," Lloyd said.