As the title says:

I have 3 cars, I am now in charge of taking care of my g/f's Focus and I've been on and off again with my mom's Cavalier.

Bottom line, I'm making a chart of all 5 cars with important infomation at a glance. Should I add anything else to the list below? It's not really in order right now, but you get the idea

• year
• make
• model
• engine
• oil type
• oil capacity
• oil weight or grade
• oil filter size
• oil filter type
• oil plug head
• coolant capacity
• coolant type
• coolant mix
• headlight bulb
• front t/s bulb
• rear t/s bulb
• backup blub
• fog light bulb
• rear fog light bulb
• CMHSL bulb
• tire size
• wheel size
• lug nut torque
• lug nut socket required
• fuel tank capacity
• min fuel octane required
• No. of cyl
• spark plug part no.
• spark plug gap
• number of spark plugs
• type of ingition
• drive train layout
• engine manfacture
• engine model
• engine type
• timing drive
• timing drive change requirement
• oil change frequency
• transmission
• transmission speeds
• number of cams
• water pump location

 

• inspection month
• submodel
• brake type

 

I would add;

Time or mileage intervals for periodic maintenance and inspections.
Part #s for all filters (oil, air, fuel, transmission, cabin if so equipped).
Wiper blade sizes.


Location of spare wheel, jacking equipment and instructions on how to change a wheel may be useful for your Mom and Girlfriend.


Roger.

 

I just made excel sheets for each of my 5 vehicles, and keep the maintanence records there. I color coolant related stuff one color, tire stuff another, oil changes on another sheet.
I add dates and mileage and have the cells change color if something is due (conditional formatting).
I also add costs and notes as needed.
I kept only the basic stuff there, as too much info can make clutter.
I make them so they can be easily printed if needed.

On the oil change pan cover I wrote which tools are needed for each vehicle.
Filter types I have memorized but they can be written there, too...

These sheets are an excellent way to know what is due at a glance.

 

You know that there is software out there that does what you are doing. I use VRS (Vehicle Record System) myself.

 

I think you have about 50% more there than you need. For example, what's the difference between "engine" as the 4th item on your list and "engine manufacturer," "engine model," and "engine type" further down? Couldn't all of this just be under "engine." And isn't "number of cylinders" also unnecessary as a separate category, since whatever you put under "engine" is likely to say "V-6" or "V-8" or whatever?

Why do you need to list the fuel tank capacity? How does that ever figure into a car's maintenance?

Bulb types are in the owner's manuals. If you have those, you don't need to keep a separate list.

Do you need minimum octane? Isn't it 87 or whatever the lowest is at your local gas station for these cars? None of the cars on your list take anything but unleaded regular.

Type of ignition? What are the choices besides "electronic?"

There are other examples of either redundancy or not-terribly-relevant in the list as well.


What you need to keep track of is the major, regular maintenance items and when they've been performed. What oil type (viscosity), oil filter, air filter, coolant type (green or long-life--there's no need to note the "mix" as they all take 50/50), perhaps spark plugs, although those get changed so infrequently on modern cars that you could just look it up whenever you have to change them, if you ever do.

You should keep track of how often the tires are rotated and how many miles are on them, but it's not necessary to keep a separate record of tire size. Whenever a car needs new tires, just look at the sidewall on one of them to see what's on there now, and you're ready to start shopping. That's what I've always done.




One thing I don't see on your list is vehicle VIN. There have been occasions when searching for parts that a site has asked for a VIN. I have the VIN's of all my vehicles handy on my computer.

 

Or, just put it in an excel spreadsheet.

 

Assuming you have Excel. While it's pretty universal, it shouldn't be assumed that everyone has it as it's not a free program.

There are free alternatives available. Here's two well-known ones.

http://www.kingsoftstore.com/index.html

http://www.openoffice.org/

 

Or you could just follow the recommended maintenance schedule in the owners manual as all that info is in there on newer cars. Seems like a bit of busy work to me. If you think your wife will understand... ummmm maybe not go there. My method of keeping track of stuff is putting all the receipts in a big envelope to never be seen again until the car sells. Then I hand the little parcel over to the new owner with all the other misc. artifacts.

 

I'm going to put this in my garage where I do not have a computer, that's why a worksheet.

Wiper size is good. I like that.

Engine: 5.0L/307
Engine Man: Oldsmobile
Engine type: Olds V8
Engine Modle: (whatever the number is on the 307, I forget and my book's at home)

 

But why all the categories?

Why not just have one line:

Engine: Olds 307 V8

 

Hmm, I seem to recall being told to use the old KISS method..........