Is Your Car Ready for Winter?

Summer is gone and fall will be over before you know it. The time to prepare your car for colder temperatures is now! How ready is your vehicle for the cold winter months? Here’s a checklist of important car maintenance in Chino, CA to follow:

• Change the oil: Before the arrival of winter is a good time to get an oil change. If you’re about to hit a milestone on the odometer (30,000 miles, 60,000 miles or 200,000 miles, for example), then a full-service maintenance appointment is in order. Make sure there’s enough oil in the reservoir, but the oil should also be clean. Going into the colder winter months with dirty oil can lead to engine trouble and a lack of lubrication to properly protect the engine’s moving parts.
• Check the tires: First, take a look at the condition of your tires. Check around the tires to ensure there’s still plenty of tread left for gripping wet roads this winter. Too little traction can send you sliding along rain-soaked roadways. Next, test the air pressure in each tire and be sure the PSI matches the manufacturer’s recommendation—this information can be found in your owner’s manual, inside the door panel on the driver’s side or online. Finally, inspect all around each tire for damage such as bulging, bubbling, cracks, uneven tread wear and balding.
• Replace windshield wipers: You should replace your windshield wipers with brand new ones this winter—yes, even if you only used your wipers once or twice over the summer! Wiper blade material will breakdown with significant exposure to the elements—including frequent sunlight exposure, hot and dry weather and rain—and wear down from multiple passes over wet grit. The last thing you want is to be driving down the freeway, with rain pouring down and your wipers ripping apart before your eyes.
• Pamper the car battery: It’s good practice to check and clean your car battery at the start of the winter season. This gives you a chance to check for leaks, corrosion, loose connections and battery case bulging, all of which indicate the battery needs replacing.
• Check the antifreeze: Even if you don’t live in a place that sees snow during the wintertime, you still need to check the antifreeze. Your car’s engine cooling system stays cool when you pour in equal parts water and antifreeze. Without antifreeze, the engine could freeze and cause all sorts of damage to your vehicle.
• Inspect the radiator cap: The radiator cap may be a simple part, but a lot of people don’t think to check it. This cap plays an important role in your car’s heating and cooling system—it keeps the antifreeze in the vehicle. A lack of a radiator cap (or a leaking one) can cause the engine to overheat and let antifreeze leak out. A new cap costs only a few dollars, so consider replacing it this winter.

Although you can do a lot of car maintenance in Chino, CA yourself, you should bring your vehicle in for professional checks regularly. Call Gabriel’s Automotive & Towing to schedule an appointment today!

Categorised in: Car Maintenance

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