Maintenance Sched / Checklist for non-techie?

[TheRogue]

Hello Everyone!

We bought a used 2011 Nissan Rogue back in 2018 with 106,231 KMs.

I am not a handy guy. I have no plans to work on the car myself. I will try to look around the car looking for things that need to be fixed or serviced. But when work needs to be done, I'll take it to someone to have it done.

I've read through the manual and put together a spreadsheet to map out what I've done and what the manual tells me needs to be done.

But I am wondering what else needs to be done, or monitored in addition to what is in the manual.

Basically looking for a Coles Notes / Easy-to-follow list of what to do to maintain this vehicle.

What I've done so far . . .

1) Rust proof the car. I figure . . . if I can keep the car looking good and structurally sound . . . then it might be worth it to keep dumping money into this car to try to keep it on the road.

2) I read through the manual and put together a maintenance chart to keep track of what has been changed, and what needs to be changed / when. I have replaced the major fluids. But wondering what else I need to look at?

The items on my Maintenance Chart -- So Far: (What am I missing?) (All mileage in KMs.)

- Cabin Filter -- Replace as needed
- Air Filter -- Replace as needed
- ATrans Fluid -- Replaced at 122,529 KM. Replace every 96K. Probably will do sooner.
- Spark Plugs -- I don't know if they have ever been replaced. If not this is past due.
- HEV Inv.Cool -- I don't know what this is?
- PCV Valve -- I am hoping that by doing all the other maintenance that this will reduce the need to replace PCV valves?
- Eng Coolant -- Replaced at 108,857 KM. Replace every 120K or as needed.
- Trans Case Oil -- Replaced at 136,913 KM. Replace every 48K or as needed. May do sooner.
- Rad Cap -- Seems ok.
- Rad Hoses -- Seems ok.
- Differential Oil -- Replaced at 129,342 KM. Replace every 48K or as needed. May do sooner.
- Engine Belts -- Done before car purchased at 106,231 K.
- Tire Rotation -- Done when switching from summer to winter tires.

- I haven't taken it to a mechanic since we bought it. But it was looked at at my wife's work (garage) before we bought it. But I am planning to make a trip to the local mechanic a yearly thing so they can take an overall look at the vehicle to see if anything is starting to wear out and needs replacing / fixing.

- Rust Proofing. I have taken it to be rust proofed to hopefully slow down the rusting underneath. Planning to take it every 1.5 years. (Sched for Corrision-Free.)

- Got one of those cheap ODBII readers to see if there were any error codes or warnings. According to the phone app, no errors registered.

Things I think I need to take a closer look at sooner than later.

- There is a clunking sound from the front suspension. I have scanned through the posts here, and have been trying to read up on the suspension. I have found three posts. So three things to look at. Upper Strut bearing, ball joints, or sway bar. After reading the posts, it mostly sounds like the sway bar. But ultimately I will take it to a shop to be looked at and fixed. I just want to have a better idea of what is going wrong.

- The battery needs to be replaced. On the 2 coldest days last year the car wouldn't start. So I plan to replace it this year.

- There is some, what I think is, surface rust on the BR door. And a bit on the body at that spot as well. I am planning to sand down that area, prime it and then paint it.

3) Learning more about the car and what can wear out.

I have bought the Haynes Repair manual and have scanned through the entire book. Not that I am going to do any repair work myself. But more so so I can get familiar with the systems and components that are in the car. And so when I talk to a mechanic, there might be a chance I know what system they are talking about. LOL.

I have actually scanned through the posts here and booked marked ones that I thought might be useful for me. Especially on maintenance and repair.

But, what else (as a not-so-handy-guy) should I be keeping my eyes (and ears) open for? What else should I be doing?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Thank you!
TheRogue.

[casperfun]

The weird part is, I always thought people who read the Haynes Repair manuals are car advance mechanic minded people. I’m actually intimidated by those things and don’t bother looking at them fearing I won’t understand a word of it.

With that said, you can do everything you mentioned up there by watching YouTube videos which allowed me to do the majority if not all of those procedures; and I know nothing about cars if not for the internet. Basically only knew oil changes growing up.

Only thing I would not know above is the HEV inv.Cool either.

I let my dealer change my belt as convenience, but did change a belt on a Toyota Camry.

If you ever drop the transmission pan, change the strainer while you’re in there. Fel-pro Gaskets easily found at local Advance-Auto.

If you add a transmission cooler, change the mini filter in the beehive. I did neither since I don’t tow or overheat my transmission.

Did my brakes & rotors, they were oem and only 1 pair of brakes were changed in the last decade cuz of squeal. Replaced everything and I never maintained the whole time previously. YouTube-assisted.

Radiator might go bad in a few years, I changed mine recently, yes YouTube again!

Thermostat should be changed, but I didn’t bother since personally too complicated for me in my opinion.

Front lower cross arms should be changed after 100,000k or at least mine were to pass inspection even though it drove perfectly for me. Supposedly worn at 95,000k in my case. Got it done at stealership.

Change the coil packs, did mine recently.

Clean fuel system and injectors. Did it with pour out bottle routine, pick your poison.

Other than waiting for my original cvt to implode, it’s been basically bulletproof car. It accelerates smooth with no disconnect feel whatsoever. Which means not a hint of hesitation or shudder when pressing the gas. 100% pleasure to drive and the cvt close to perfection.

It drove like crap the middle years because I knew nothing about changing the other fluids. Unlike now, absolutely fantastic. But it did shudder like $hit when my spark plug 1 went bad recently. Put the old one back that I saved and changed all coils while I was at it. Smooth sailing again.

Use 303-aerospace protectant on the plastic rubber near bottom windows, they tend to dry out over the years. I also spray my axle boots and all the other rubber stuff to make them last longer. Original axles still but boots were replaced after leaking back in the day.

Don’t get much rust where I live but I do hit small areas with rust convertor.

Silicone spray the window channels to make it easier for the motor, avoid it getting stuck. Moreover, spray inside drain holes to prevent rust.

Clear foggy headlights with a kit or if you’re cheap, with toothpaste.

WD-40 key-holes for lock and ignition to make last longer. Silicone spray hood mechanism & door joints.

Make sure you use a blower from a vacuum to blast the inside of the cabin air filter enclosure. Alot of crap will fly out of there such as dirt, leaves, dust & bugs. Vacuum inside air filter engine box too.

If your a risk-taker, hose the engine clean at car wash, I’m lazy and just use my garden hose. I use degreaser and cover electrical with plastic bags and aluminum foil. Turn engine on and drive to dry.

Clay-bar once in a blue moon really takes out dirt ingrained into your paint job and makes it nice and smooth.

Battery maintainer quick connects. Self-explanatory.

I found that I get less ticking sound at start-up from my engine using the smaller extended performance Mobil 1 oil filters (oem-sized) instead of the longer 7317 version Fram ultra filters.

Change your rear shocks.

Even though my dealer bled my brakes last November, I still flush them this month since I was bored. Moisture builds up in the brake fluid.

I get an occasional clunk, but I lifted my vehicle.

I’m sure I have not changed things that could be done, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it is my mantra.

You can save a lot of money doing this yourself. I got my rogue when I was a middle age dude, so I was a dinosaur fixing my car. We’ve been good partners in crime; my rogue & me.

Good Luck on your rogue

[TheRogue]

@casperfun

Thank you! Your list is awesome! This is exactly what I was hoping someone would come back with!

There are so many things there that . . . yes, I know its in the car, but I totally forget to look at or consider. Like looking at the condition of the radiator. Hidden filters that are not mentioned in the maintenance schedule. Treating the plastic / rubber!!! Silicone spray for the windows. WD-40 in the keyholes, etc. These are things I can do! Or at least consider! LOL.

I am copying all your points over to my maintenance chart / check list!

RE: Clay-bar . . . I actually just bought that. I'm cleaning up my dad's car and thought I'd try that out, but totally going to use it on my Rogue!

RE: Haynes Repair manual. I bought the Haynes Repair manual mostly so I can get familiar with the specifics of the Rogue. But also so when I have to talk to a mechanic, I know what to call the different things. Like when I pulled off the wheels to clean them, I noticed that the R.F. Outer CV Boot (I looked that up in the manual. LOL.) had come loose and the grease had all come out. So having the manual makes it easy to look up that part in the picture to tell the mechanic what I am talking about. Or if they mention something, there might be a remote chance I know what they are talking about. LOL.

RE: Doing the work myself. I may, in the future, get a cheap little car that I drive myself around in -- something like a old manual transmission Nissan Versa or Micra. And I may try to do more work myself on that car. But in the short term, this Rogue is also being driven by my wife and my oldest daughter. So I don't want it breaking down on them -- hence not wanting to do the work myself. LOL. But . . . I figure . . . yes, I am spending money getting all this service done, but . . . if that may mean the vehicle may last a bit longer, then I'll recoup those costs at the end -- along with hopefully having a few less headaches along the way. LOL.

I'm going to add something else to the list.

*) Just look around every now-and-then. Open up the hood. Look underneath.
Last night, I wanted to check out the drive belt. I know it was replaced just before we bought the vehicle, but I just wanted to take a look. And its a good thing I happened to look. Because the cable for the block heater had some how got loose and was dangling beside the belt and rubbing up against it. The belt had worn through the plastic casing, and was just starting to wear away the rubber coating to the wire. One wire was exposed, but not damaged. So I put electrical tape around the wire and re-routed the block heater cable so that there is no chance that it can fall back down around the belt. I have to look around on a regular basis. LOL.

Again. Thank you for the list. I'm copying it over to my list tonight. And starting to work through it, like WD-40 in the key holes. I have some WD-40 in the garage.

Take care!
TheRogue.

[TheRogue]

Ok. I added some checklist items to my maintenance schedule / checklist last night.

Here is a picture of what it looks like now.

https://ibb.co/NjtRk45

1) At the top are checklists for things to do Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Twice a Year and Yearly. (Along with a few misc. and questions I still want to resolve.)

Yes. Walking around the vehicle daily is not something I really see many people doing. But I have read it is something that is useful. Especially to see flat tires . . . or if someone has damaged your car while in the parking lot, at least you can track down when / where the damage occurred. I used to drive a forklift, and actually all three of these daily things were things you needed to do to the forklift every time you got in one.

Any comments on whether I kinda got a half decent list going?

2) The bottom half is my general maintenance chart.

It is a spreadsheet with the major fluids / items across the top. And mileage (in Kilometers for me since I am in Canada.) down the side.

Red is when that fluid / item needs to be replaced -- according to the maintenance manual. Orange is if you want to follow the more severe conditions schedule. (I got these from the maintenance manual that came with the car.)

Green is when I had that fluid / item changed.

Purple is when it is supposed to be changed next.

I put it in this spreadsheet format so that I could see at a glance when something was changed, and when it should be changed next.

I actually did this 1st for our 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan when we got it back in 2016. (Actually bought it used, 1-year-old.) When we got this 2011 Nissan Rogue in 2018, I created this maintenance chart for it.

3) How I use this chart

I have this printed out and in the car.

When I go to get the oil changed, I have this out while I am talking to the person at the oil change place.

That way, if they say, I think you need such-and-such replaced, I know when I last had that replaced or looked at so its not so much of a surprise. Or . . . if its been a while since they've commented on a particular fluid, I can ask if it looks OK.

Then after the oil change, I just go home, update the spreadsheet and then print out the updated one and put it in the car.

Now that I have the checklists added to the top, whenever I am somewhere waiting . . . like when picking up my wife or one of my kids, and I have 15-20 minutes to kill, I can pull out the list and see if there is anything that I haven't looked at recently and check it out.

4) NOTE: Wipers are not on the list. I figure something like wipers, it's pretty obvious when they start to fail so no need to have them on the list. LOL.

QUESTION: What am I missing? Is there anything that I should be adding to the maintenance or checklist section that I would be able to monitor or do?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Take care!
TheRogue.

[KoiMaxx]

Ok. I added some checklist items to my maintenance schedule / checklist last night.

Here is a picture of what it looks like now.

https://ibb.co/NjtRk45

As a fellow Excel user, I approve this!

About the wipers though, I think the rule of thumb is every 6-12 months; but practically when the wiping starts to streak. Admittedly, I think I've only changed mine once in the 3 years despite the weather in the Prairies.

[TheRogue]

@KoiMaxx,

Thank you for the feedback! Greatly appreciated!

RE: Excel . . . yes. I am a spreadsheet fanatic! LOL. But I totally think it works here!

RE: Wipers . . . yeah. I try to remember to clean the gunk off of them when I wash the car. But other than that I kinda forget about them. I figure . . . when they start streaking, then that is my trigger to replace them. But if my daughter takes over this car, I'll have to remember to tell her to clean the blades every now-and-then, kinda make that part of washing the car.

Take care!
TheRogue.