Car Maintenance Tips
Keep your car—and the environment—running smoothly by following some simple automotive best practices.
- Maintain: Keep up with regular car maintenance to prevent leakage of oil, antifreeze, and other fluids and save money on car repair.
- Recycle & properly dispose: Lincoln residents have 2 FREE resources to help with properly disposing used oil, oil filters, antifreeze, and car batteries:
- 1) Curbside pickup service for hazardous waste disposal by appointment only for automotive batteries, used motor oil, filters, and more. Call (916) 434-2450 to confirm the service is available in your area and schedule your pickup.
- 2) Take your used oil, oil filters, antifreeze, and car batteries to the household hazardous waste collection center on 3195 Athens Avenue. Find information about facility hours and location at the Western Placer Waste Management Authority site.
- Clean up spills: Use a drip pan to collect spills when changing car fluids. Quickly clean up any leaks or spills with an absorbent material like kitty litter and dispose of it at a collection center.
- Manage trash: Keep a reusable bag inside your car to place litter and garbage into as you travel.
Car Washing Tips
When you wash your car in the driveway, the wash water containing detergent, motor oil, gas, and other residues can flow into nearby storm drains without being treated. These car washing best practices can help protect our creeks and rivers:
- Leave it to the pros: Most commercial car wash facilities recycle the wash water or are connected to the sanitary sewer system that will treat the wash water.
- Get on the grass: Washing your car on a permeable surface like grass or gravel will allow the ground to absorb the wash water and filter the soap and other residues rather than allowing it to flow to the storm drain and, eventually, to the local creeks and rivers.
- Switch products: Look for products labeled “non-toxic,” “phosphate free,” and “biodegradable,” which are more environmentally friendly.
- Be water wise: Did you know that in the City of Lincoln, all hoses must be fitted with a positive pressure, manually operated hose nozzle as part of a water conservation measure? Otherwise, you may be fined or penalized. To learn more about the City’s water restriction measures, click here.
- Bucket list: Always empty buckets of wash water onto landscaped areas (where the water cannot reach a storm drain) or into sinks or toilets.
Find a River-Friendly Partner for your next fundraiser car wash here.
