jason's blog

Well winter is approaching and it’s time to do biannual car checkup. The time that you put on your winter wheels is the perfect time to do a walkaround and check everything else on the car.

Check your oil level. Yes cars come with oil lights but those don’t really warn you when the oil is low, only when the oil pressure is low. Those are not the same thing. If low, top it up. Check when your last oil change was. If it’s been over 6 months change it, regardless of the mileage.

Check your washer fluid. Now would be a good time to drain the summer fluid and put in a winter fluid that has antifreeze in it.

Check  your tire pressure. The manual should say how mcuh pressure should be in the tires. If you regularlly have the car full of passengers, the manual will probably recommend an increased tire pressure. Low tire pressures can hurt fuel economy and make your tires wear out prematurely.

Check your tire tread. Is the tread even? Uneven tread is a sign of poor wheel alignment. Is the tire tread too low, consider getting new tires. Keep in mind that some special winter tires have tread that don’t work past 50%. Be sure to follow the tire’s guidelines.

Check that all your lights are working. This includes accessory lights in the trunk, hood, doors, etc. Lights are generally easy to replace and can be done yourself.

Emergency Supplies. Make sure your have a spare or a tire pump kit in the trunk. Also good is a pair of thick gloves, a shovel, snow brush, ice scraper and a bag of sand/kitty litter. A lot of people recommend having a blanket and candle in the car in case you get stuck.

Happy Driving!

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 6:46 pm and is filed under Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.