Car maintenance is something that needs to be done round the clock, but the winter period can test your ability to take care of your car. The winter season can be fantastically cruel, with rain and snow settling into car parts and on the road, making everyday journeys a lot more dangerous. However, we can offer you a few tips for keeping your car in good shape throughout winter so that you can show it off throughout spring and summer without any hindrances.
Car Lights
The days get drastically shorter in winter, which means you’ve got to be making use of your car lights more, which means you need a stellar set of headlights and fog lights to give you the best possible sight of the roads, as well as the best means of communication with other drivers. Ideally, you should consider replacing your bulbs at the start of winter, giving yourself top-quality lighting right from the get-go.
Engine Oil
A Ford Engine is durable, but can only take so much during winter. Because of the drastic decrease in temperature, oil can thicken over winter. This causes a lot of problems for routine car maintenance and means that oil takes a lot longer to circulate through your engine. While you could crank it up, this is not recommended as the only thing you’ll achieve is a damaged engine. Throughout winter, you should ditch conventional oil in favour of synthetics in the region of 5W. This will provide you with the best oil turnover performance and will see you through long journeys with low temperatures.
Checking the Tyres
Your tyres should have thick treads, but the winter will put those grips to the test, especially when the roads are iced up. Before the worst of the frost kicks in, your best bet would be to fit your tyres with tiny metal studs that will give you that extra grip when driving along the road.
Car Battery
Car batteries are reliable parts of a car. But they lose a lot of that reliability come winter. You can check the battery power using a voltmeter. Try to do this in the summer if possible, otherwise, you will be in for a turbulent winter. The cold will also take its toll on the battery terminals, leading to a build-up of rust and corrosion. If you happen to find any, you can remove the battery terminals and apply Vaseline for protection.
Gas Tank
It’s always ideal to keep a full gas tank, but doing so in the winter will help to prevent the moisture that accumulates in the fuel pump from freezing. And of course, if you’re making a long journey in treacherous weather conditions you need to keep your engine running for as long as possible.
If you follow all these tips to the letter, you can enter winter with a car fully prepared to take on even the worst of snowstorms and be in the best possible shape when summer comes rolling around again.