Car maintenance tips in the winter
Regular car maintenance is essential, and some parts need to be checked and maintained more often during the winter.
Hot sun, storms and cold weather are the types of weather that make it easy for cars to encounter strange “diseases” while traveling. This time, winter is coming very close so proper car care and maintenance must be done regularly to ensure stable operation of the car.
Why do auto parts break down quickly in the winter?
Cars as well as people, it is very easy to encounter health problems when the weather changes. In the winter, when the temperature is low, the car’s interior parts often appear strange signs. Specifically, along with the uneven elasticity of the plastic and rubber from the car parts will affect the safety.
Therefore, before the temperature of the weather has not dropped too low, drivers need to equip themselves. The necessary experience will help to take care and maintain the car effectively in the coming cold days.
1.Take care of your car engine
In the winter, low temperatures can cause the lubricating oil in the engine to solidify. In addition, it combined with the dirt to create a layer of oil that reduces the efficiency of the oil filter. More importantly, this leads to a decrease in the lubrication of the internal parts of the engine, which prolongs the life of parts and friction surfaces.
Drivers need to actively change engine oil as well as change old oil filters before the winter season to ensure the engine is well lubricated.
Low temperatures also make it difficult for the fuel to evaporate. Moreover, it can lead to engine difficulty starting or weaker engine ignition, especially diesel engines. To improve this, drivers should replace the old fuel filter before winter. In addition, take the car to maintenance centers to clean and adjust injectors and fuel systems. For guarantee of safety, the driver need to ensure that the combustion of the mixture of fuel and air takes place steadily inside the combustion chamber.
2.Car tires – essential car maintenance
Due to the characteristics of using rubber, tires are the most affected part when the weather changes. In the summer, the tire often expands, in the winter the tire will shrink like wood. When the tire is stretchy due to weather changes, it often results in a slight degradation resulting in the younger tire being faster than normal. Therefore, vehicle owners need to regularly keep the correct tire pressure to make traveling on the road safer.
Lack of pressure: At this time, when observing with the naked eye, you will see that the tire is slightly concave, deflated or simply understood that it will be flared to the sides. It will make the tire wall easily corroded, broken into the tire and when the tire is small punctured more.
If you do not know the standard pressure parameters required by the manufacturer for the tire, you can see more on the driver’s side door or some cars will be on the energy sticker on the window of the car.
3.Car lighting system
Car lighting is indispensable for the vehicle to move in dark weather, especially in the winter. Because the winter weather is very cold, accompanied by dense fog in the morning will limit the visibility of the driver. At this time, the car lights must be fully functional to ensure the safety of people and vehicles in operation.
Accordingly, the light sockets are parts that should be checked first, similar to the battery terminals. It is necessary to keep the plugs dry and less dirty to ensure good electrical contact, stable lighting.
4. Exterior hygiene care
On the body, paint, glass, details around the car and the car door are affected significantly when the weather is changed. Drivers should use specialized solutions to clean the body of the vehicle to protect the exterior paint and remove any dirt that could harm the vehicle body.
5. Interior cleaning
The interior part that should be cleaned is the carpet of the car floor. Besides, the driver also need to clean the interior with the heating system, open and close the glass properly. So, it help to avoid dew condensation or obscuring the glass, obstructing the driving vision. One more thing, you should deodorize by placing scented wax or perfumes to reduce the dampness in the car. For the air conditioning system, be aware that adjusting the temperature just enough. Because cold weather can also cause the compressor not to work or lack of gas.
6. Heating maintenance
In fact, the heating system in the car used in the winter is just as important as using air conditioning in the summer. Therefore, you need to pay attention to maintaining the heating system, ensuring the comfort of driving.
For proper maintenance, you should bring your car to a professional garage. So, they can check on the operating status of the fan and the smoothness of the duct in the car’s heating system.
7. Check the car battery – Useful car maintenance
In the winter, drivers need to make sure your battery is always full and ready for use. To avoid vehicle stalling, check the battery voltage. If the measured voltage is greater than 12V, the battery is normal. The value of voltage less than 12V battery is not enough. If it is lower than 10.5V, you should replace the battery with a new one.
For the cold days, the driver should restart every 30 seconds, avoid frequent ignition, easily damage the starter and drain the battery. In particular, to prolong the life of the battery, turn off high-power electrical equipment such as head lights and stereo before parking your car.
8. Overcoming condensation phenomenon
In the winter, low temperatures cause condensation in the windshield, which causes blurring and obscuring vision. To deal with this problem, as soon as you get in the car, turn on the glass heater. If there is no glass heater, turn on the air conditioner loudly and direct the wind on the glass. About a few tens of seconds to a minute the glass will dry completely.
9. Start the car properly in winter
Starting the car in the winter is a problem many people have to deal with. Due to the poor evaporation of the fuel, making it difficult to burn. To overcome this situation, the driver can pull the wind butterfly to reduce air entering the engine, so that the fuel will evaporate more easily, making the car start easily. For vehicles, using electronic fuel injection engines, this phenomenon is rarely encountered because of its special design.
In addition, low temperatures make the lubricating oil thicker when left overnight because the engine is not running. Therefore, car owners can use dilute synthetic lubricants in the winter to make the engine easier to lubricate, and the start will be easier.
The article above are experiences of car maintenance tips in the winter. Hopefully, it will be useful to help drivers take care of their cars in the coming winter.
Subscribe for new driving tips!
