15145 NE 90th Street RedmondLuke's Car Tips & Auto Maintenance Advice
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Luke ShaffWinterization for your car is very important to help you prepare in advances for the upcoming snow and black ice in the roads. Winter driving condition can be challenging to your car. It is important to prepare for the challenge in a hazardous race. Nowadays automobile industry is really modernized to withstand and support all climatic conditions but it’s always recommended to follow few basic steps to avoid chaos in a dropping temperature approaching us.
Basic Steps
1. Inspect or replace tires
Tires are key factors for our car. Entering winter, the temperature is less then 45 degrees now a days in our region. We see enough signs for winter precipitation there are no substitute for the traction provided by the winter tires. Winter tires are greatly designed with a tread formulation that stays flexible at low temperature and will not harden or stiffen in low temperatures like all season tires and hence comparatively gives great control in the snow. Are you confused about the installation and tire alignment? It is easy just come to Luke’s automotive.
2. Refill all the Fluids
Major fluids in our car are engine oil, coolant, brake fluid, steering fluid and windshield washer fluid.
Engine oil – Open your hood remove the dip indicator. Wipe the dip stick and insert it again then remove once again. Now you can see the level of oil. If it is low than the indicated range, add oil in the engine till the level is reached but never over fill the oil.
Coolant – Look for a transparent plastic container near the radiator. The transparent container has a minimum/ maximum level indicated in the container. If the level is low then fill the coolant (water + anti-freeze) in the transparent container. Commonly its 50/50 ratio.
Brake fluid – Mostly it’s near the driver side and has a transparent reservoir with a min/max marking in the reservoir. You can fill till the max level. Do not over fill the fluid.
Steering Fluid – Most of the cars have a power steering pump driven with a belt which has a reservoir connected to it and has a dip stick in the cover/cap. But modern cars have electric assist steering so they would have fluid in them.
For every fluid check and change visit Luke automotive Redmond.
3. Check all electrical system and battery
We can check our battery and few other electrical systems in our car using a simple multi meter. The current used on car is Direct current(DC). A multi meter can check voltage, resistances and current. With this method connect positive, negative or earth to the system and check its voltage or flow of current to understand the working of the system.
4. Inspect heater system
The heating system works off of the same coolant that circulate throughout the engine. It circulates through the radiator, heater valve, hoses and core which is blown by a fan. So, checking the coolant, anti-freeze and thermostat will help the heater functionality.
5. Inspect or replace windshield
Sometime rain water may flow into the car because of a leaky windshield. In that case, replacing your windshield is recommended. Sometime the wiper doesn’t work properly due to low washer fluid which is responsible for the functioning of wiper motion. To check washer fluid, open the hood and you can see a white transparent reservoir with the windshield symbol on the cap. You can fill the washer fluid if the level is low.
