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Maintenance Log

2K views 17 replies 14 participants last post by  Stealth01 
#1 ·
I know there are other engineers/nerds/organized persons on this site that track maintenance on their car. Does anyone have a really good Excel-based Maintenance Log that they would like to attach and share with the community?

If not Excel-based, is there another program that you use?
 
#4 ·
The mazdausa.com thing is just a bare minimum. I'm interested in something that's more functional. Something that automatically tracks how many miles on each modification, for instance. As in, you enter in that you did an oil change last night at X miles, and there's a little box that updates how long your new springs have been on.

I made something that I use, but I was interested in what creative ways other people have come up with for keeping tabs on their car. I know I'm not the only one...

...or am I? :huh:
 
#5 ·
I use the Mazda maintenance tracker, but I also use my own Excel spreadsheet. It's pretty simple. I just added the fields thusly:

DATE MILEAGE SERVICE FACILITY NOTES COST

At the bottom of the page is a "Running Total" filed with a basic sum formula to keep a track on total maintenance cost. I keep the list in chronological order and add in any warranty/TSB work that has been done on the car. I plan on refining it to include Mazda's Recommemded maint schedule, but haven't had time.
 
#6 ·
I just use an excel workbook.
I have 4 spreadsheets in it. The first is mileage and fuel put in the car. Tracked from the receipts and the odometer at every fill up. The second is a graph of the data in the first. The third is a list of all the regular maintance done to the car, when and at what mileage (oil changes, tire rotates, etc). The fourth is a list of all the aftermarket things I have done to it, what mileage and when.

That way I can keep everything thing straight. I guess I could write a little app to handle the data input and number calculations and such, but all I do during the day is write little app's, so I'm not about to spend my evenings doing the same.

I did try looking for something I could put on my Palm, but didn't find any thing that would work for that.
 
#7 ·
I'm disappointed that there aren't more replys. Are there only four people that track information on their car?!

I have two spreadsheets - one for fuel, and one for maintenance/mods.

The fuel one I track miles/gallons/brand/octane/price. There is a chart of octane vs. fuel economy - just to prove to myself that mileage get worse as octane increases. Another chart is of gas price vs. time - just to remind myself of the good old days in 2003 when gas was cheap. The third and final chart is trip fuel economy vs. time with a running average line. This lets me see any changes in fuel economy, and lets me know when I'm dropping below average.

The maintenance/mods file tracks date and mileage of any maintenance/modification/dealer trip. At the top of the file I track how many miles are on each mod. I also track how many miles since the last oil change and rotation, and use my miles/day average to predict when I should expect to peform those tasks in the future. The only chart is total miles versus time. I just like to see how my usage varies over the years, and it can also predict how many miles I'll have in the future (using the trendline).
 
#8 ·
I used to do this on previous cars, but I found it's not really worth the time and trouble as I received no value from it. I had a notebook where I kept every drop of gas, nut, bolt, bulb, or service done to the car with every tank calculated... even when I replaced floormats. I never used the data.

I just keep all my service forms and receipts in a file and can easily find what I need in there.

I do some calculations in my head from time to time, and mentally calculate my mpg at each fillup but have no need or desire to store them anywhere.
 
#9 ·
I have an Access Database I built to track MPG, but that it. No cost. No grade. Just date, miles, fuel used, type of driving and mpg. It will also show averages and graphs of the mpg by overall avg and different types of miles.

For maintenance I use the log that came with the car and staple the receipts in there.

I don't do mods where date installed or time or anything matters, so I don't track them.
 
#10 ·
I just keep a file in the cabinet that has all the receipts. BTW, don't ever add them up. You'll crap yourself!
As far as gas useage. I don't want to know how much cash is flying out of the tailpipe.
 
#12 ·
I just use an excel workbook.

/snip/

I did try looking for something I could put on my Palm, but didn't find any thing that would work for that.
[/b]
I use "Documents To Go" on my Palm and that lets me update my Excel spreadsheets for mpg calculations and for my service log. Documents To Go is pretty full-featured and worth a look if you haven't got it already. (A lot of Palms have a lightweight version on the install CD that comes with the Palm ... the lightweight version may be all you need if your needs are just for this kind of worksheet, etc)

HTH.
 
#13 ·
I have two Excel workbooks that I use for each of my cars.

• On the MPG workbook I input the date, gallons pumped and total cost and Excel calculates mpg for the interval between the last and current fill plus shows Year-to-Date and Cumulative mpg, price per gallon, etc.

• On the Car History workbook, I have a number of spreadsheets.
• The first is a summary page that shows the acquisition cost and cumulative costs for maintenance and add-on equipment.
• The second page is my "acquisition page" that shows the dealer price sheet, discounts, trade-in value and net purchase price. I also have the amortization schedule for my financing on this sheet.
• The third page is a maintenance log showing what services were done, itemized and aggregate cost, mileage of service, and cumulative maintenance expenses.
• Fourth page is an equipment page showing what I bought, when and mileage, and itemized cost plus cumulative cost.
• Fifth page is my "tire page" where I show date(s) I swapped winter and summer tires and any rotations between the tire swaps.
• Sixth page is a "troubleshooting" page where I note date/mileage of any problems/questionable operating behavior -- right now I've got an intermittent untriggered alarm issue.
• The last page is "notes" page where I have comments on various items (e.g. specs from Edmunds.com, observations on operation/problems) etc.

I haven't put together any predictive data as to when my next maintenance may be due ... with two cars, my mileage btw cars varies too much. Most of my maintenance is done either by my dealer (the Mazda6 has free oil changes for life through my dealer) or at an independent shop for my Miata. I just use the service reminders they stick on the windshields for most of it ... tire rotations are every 6,000 miles so that's pretty easy to figure out as well. If I need to check it, the workbooks are on my Palm so it's simpler to just look up the information on an as-needed basis.

Having the data on both my home computer and the Palm makes the record keeping pretty easy and straightforward ... having two cars means having separate workbooks for each.
 
#14 ·
just a notebook and pen. i save all the paperwork since all that stuff is in there anyways.

although i started this a months after so i left huge gaps for things that i didnt log in.


still gaps in the first few pages.
i'd fix but im lazy.
 
#15 ·
I made a basic Excel to keep track of maintenance (oil changes, filters, tire rotation, fluid checks etc) But I made a print out of it and keep track of it by hand. That way I thought it would look more authentic as it gets filled in chronologically. I just though having it electronically, if I ever had a warranty claim to make, they could say:" Oh well you just filled this in and printed it before you came in"
I dont know its just me being paranoid I guess, I still have all the receipts too and they are numbered corresponding to the line item on the worksheet...
 
#16 ·
I always toss my reciepts for buying oil change stuff - didn't know it was wise to keep them around. I guess if worse comes to worse, I can show them that I bought stuff at Advance/Pep/Murrays...

Maybe I'll keep my receipts around from now on.
 
#17 ·
I just write down what I did on a 3"x5" index card and staple any reciepts to it. If the service was done at the dealer, I just hold onto the invoice. All this is in a folder in a file cabinet.
As for milage, I write the miles driven on the gas reciept and figure out the miles per gallon. After that I toss them out.
 
#18 ·
MS Works spreadsheet. One for the MPV, one for my 6.
 
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