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The middle of summer is a great time to take adventurous road trips with friends, but you should make sure to prepare your vehicle for the hot days ahead. Summer’s extreme temperatures, dry and humid climates, and the occasional downpour of warm rain can all take a toll on your vehicle’s essential systems. But with the following fundamental car care services, you can prepare your car to ensure it runs smoothly and safely through the whole season.
Change the Oil and Oil Filter
Across all seasons, extreme weather conditions (wet, hot, or cold) can make your vehicle’s oil and oil filters work harder. Your oil helps keep your engine’s parts lubricated while the filter is designed to capture harmful debris, dust, and metal fragments that have found a way into the vehicle’s oil system. A clean filter means more material gets blocked from harming your car. And more material getting blocked means cleaner oil, which leads to a healthier engine overall.
Carefully Check the Fluid Levels
Seasonal temperature and weather changes can result in low transmission fluid, power steering fluid, coolant, and even windshield wiper fluid, so check to be sure there’s plenty of each in your car! Out of all the fluid levels, Coolant fluid is an especially important one to maintain before your car endures extreme heat on the road. Based on evaluations from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, the biggest cause of summer breakdowns is overheating. If you aren’t sure how to perform these checks on your own, stop by Carman Lincoln and let one of our technicians take a look!
Keep an Eye on Your Tire Pressure
To handle avoiding or even enduring hidden potholes and challenging road conditions, your tires should get a check up. Every day, tires lose or gain pressure based on the outside temperature. For instance, In cool weather a tire will usually lose one or two pounds of air every month. Make certain that your tires are inflated at the right levels before embarking on your next summer adventure because low air pressure tends to wear them out much faster. Get started by finding your vehicle’s recommended tire pressure.
Test Your Vehicle’s Battery
Many drivers don’t realize that heat is the number one cause of battery failure and reduced battery life. Summer heat increases the rate of vehicle fluid loss and the related rate of oxidation for the battery components, which can leave you stranded without a working vehicle in the dead of summer. Be sure to have your battery’s health inspected by a professional so you can drive with peace of mind wherever adventure calls this summer.
Get Your Vehicle’s Brakes Inspected
There’s arguably no more important part to maintain than your car’s brakes.With stop-and-go traffic, immersive and long road trips, and poor weather conditions, there are a wide range of potential challenges your brakes can encounter on the road that wear them down. Whether your brakes are making strange noises or seem to need extra pressure to come to a full stop quickly, it’s probably a great time for a professional brake inspection so everyone in the vehicle can stay safe.
The summer heat and related tough road conditions can make any vehicle need a checkup before your next adventure behind the wheel. At Carman Lincoln in New Castle, summer car care couldn’t be easier! Schedule an appointment with us online today.
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