You couldn’t possibly stay home the whole of winter and not go to work although in the coldest of days, you just want to spend your time lazing about in bed. For these times that you must and have to go out, you can winterize your car to ensure that you’re on the road safe, you ensure that you’re keeping your car in a good condition and you keep yourself away from expensive repair costs.

Regardless of the type of vehicle you drive, you’ll have a few tips to use when you’re driving in cold winter days. You can find these tips and recommendations on your vehicles manual. Keep this manual in your car and if you have time, read thoroughly on it. Take note of things like fuel consumption, maintenance and how to keep your car in tune even in the coldest of temperature. The more you know about winter car maintenance, the better you and your family will be when you’re riding out in winter.

Here are some tips for ensuring your car is in perfect running order in winter:

1. When you go out for routine maintenance, put a little extra effort for your battery and charging system in the winter season. Make sure they’re working efficiently. You see in the wintertime, the cranking power your battery gives out is greatly reduced. You’re going to have problems with starting your car if you don’t check on this in routine maintenance in winter. Make sure you bring a portable power pack or quality jumper cables in the trunk of your car when you’re driving in the cold.
2. Other parts to check into are your heater and your defrosters. Make sure they’re in good operating condition. Also, check your wiper blades.If they’re brittle or worn, replace them. If they’re smeary, replace them. It will be hard for you to see if your wipers don’t work well.
3. Winter driving will be easier for you if you check your filters, hoses and coolant. Filters for gas, air and oil have to be in good condition and your coolant level as well as your hermostat has to be fully functional so you can guarantee proper engine warmup. After every two years, your coolant has to be changed. Don’t forget your coolant tank pressure cap or your radiator cap. Hoses with leaks on it or feel soft need to be replaced.
4. One of the important things to remember before driving out in winter is lubrication. Use something like a multiviscosity oil like Mobil 1 0W30 or the 5W30. This will help you with engine startup. When temperature goes below zero, you need to have lubrication like fully synthetic oils to protect your engine. A tip to note is that when you use low viscosity oil, you have more speed with startup and you also reduce wear and tear on your car engine parts when the oil flows quickly in startup.
5. With regard to the condition of your tires, tread and pressure matter when you’re driving in cold weather. Check your tires for wear. Just like in normal temperatures, your tire air pressure has to be exact, anything over or under the recommended pressure is undesirable. You’ll be wearing your tire out more and using up more fuel if your tires are low in pressure. Overinflation and you reduce traction for your tires which can be very dangerous for you when you’re driving on icy roads. Tread matters so if you live in a place where there’s heavy snowfall, think about getting snow tires.
6. Vehicle warmup is another way to ensure the upkeep of your car in winter. When you start your car, run it idly for a few seconds. This will ensure that lubrication has already gone through the engine and this provides you with protection. Again, it’s only for a few seconds. If you keep your car running idly for a long time, you’re will be wasting fuel and it will do nothing for your car. After a few idle moments, drive extra slowly.
7. This next tip for winter car maintenance relates to number six. You have to drive slowly. Keep yourself within bounds of speed limits and if possible drive a notch or two slower than that. Drive a distance away from other cars. Pace yourself while your drive so you don’t need to make sudden stops. Remember, you’ll have mostly icy or wet road conditions to deal with and your car will have the tendency to slip before stopping entirely.
8. If you live in a place where snow comes in spades, have a few tools with you when you drive like de-icers, window ice scrapers, and a small shovel. Keep these tools in your trunk. You’ll use the de-icers for your locks just in case and if you have to dig out of snow, you can do it with ease using your shovel. It’s also good for your car if you keep a bag of sand in the trunk. This will provide you with traction if you have a rear wheel drive vehicle. Sprinkle the sand on the snow or ice if you need traction. Pack a blanket along in your car. That’s just in case you get stuck in a snow storm.
9. Drive in the snow fully equipped and this means, your rear window defroster has to be in good working order. Keep your window washer reservoir full. In your attempt to see clearly in inclement weather, these two thing will guarantee that. Don’t forget to check your fuel levels before you set out. You don’t want to get stranded in heavy snowfall.
10. Lastly, clean your car out of ice and snow and we mean your whole car.

You can rest easy if you’ve just bought yourself a car today. The cars in the market now are those that don’t need to be serviced all the time to keep them in go od working condition. What used to be a monthly exercise can now be done a few times in the year. In addition to that, you’re given a long factory warranty so if you ever have problems with your car, you can get these problems fixed and solved at no extra cost.

Sure car maintenance is easier with new cars but that doesn’t mean you can forgo car maintenance entirely. Here are just some of the things you need to remember with regard to new car maintenance.

There are three key tasks when you’ve purchased a new car and you want to maintain its upkeep.

1. Wash your car regularly. Since it’s a new car, you’ll be excited to wash your car and the recommended times for you to wash your car is every week. When you wash it, make sure you clean the body well and hose the undercarriage and fender wells with water. A lot of road salt and dirt will be gathering there and if you want a clean car, you have to get into those tight spaces too. You then wax your new car’s finish if you notice water beads gathering on your car after a wash or after the rain a size larger than a quarter.
2. Check engine oil. This task has to be performed regularly. Monthly is a good amount of time to check your new car’s engine oil. But if you notice that you have engine oil leaks, you have to check more often because you also need to add more oil. Park your car on level ground when you’re checking for oil level with a dipstick. Don’t over replenish your engine oil and if leaks are established, find the leaks and get them fixed.
3. Check tire pressure. When you have a new car, one of the things that can put a damper on the smoothness and quality of your ride is the tire air pressure. You have to make sure you check this monthly. If you’re going on a road trip, check the tire pressure before your trip. Use a tire pressure gauge to ensure that you have the right pressure. You’ll have details on the amount of tire pressure your car needs on the manual or on the tire’s sidewall. Make sure that your spare tire also has the right tire pressure.

After checking for these three things in new car maintenance, you then have to check the other parts as well. When you’re getting your oil changed, make sure that you also get your air filter, exhaust system, brakes, radiator, battery, fluids and constant velocity joint boots checked. With regard to the air filter, you just have to hold a light up to it and if you don’t see any light shining through the filter, it needs to be replaced. You’ll also have service interval instructions to follow when you have a new car.

The exhaust system should be checked for rusted parts and loose parts. Since your car is new, it’s highly unlikely you’ll have rust under your car, but it’s better safe than sorry. While your car is on the ramps, the exhaust system can be checked thoroughly. You also have to listen for any changes with the sound of your exhaust when you’re driving. Brakes need to be checked for worn out brake pads and also for scored drums or rotors. You have to check the condition of your brakes every six months.

In the case of the radiator, you can prevent your new car from ever overheating if you just clean off debris on it and wash the outside with detergent solution. The battery cables and terminals have to be attached securely. Look out for signs of corrosion. With your car, you don’t have to worry about transmission but if you get a new car with unsealed automatic transmission, you have to check your fluids like transmission, power steering, brake fluid and top them off. For the constant velocity joint boots or CV boots, check for any leaks, cuts or cracks.

When you check all these parts of your new car regularly, you can ensure yourself of a smooth and comfy ride every time. When two years has passed, you then have to set off with maintenance relating to your car’s cooling system, your drive belts and hoses, your timing belt and your automatic transmission fluid. For the cooling system, make sure you drain and flush it two years from the time you bought your car. You have to do this after every two years.

For drive belts and hoses, check for wear and tear. If you have a noisy belt, you need to adjust it. For the timing belt, this has to be changed based on the manufacturer’s replacement interval.

If you don’t check on this, you have to replace your whole engine if the belt breaks. As for the automatic transmission fluid, you might have bought a car that doesn’t need this fluid to be changed. If you bought a different model, you might have to replace filter and fluid after every 36,000 miles or 100,000 miles.

It’s easy to lengthen the life of your car and keep it running as good as the day you bought it from the car dealer if you do new car maintenance.

If you do your own maintenance and auto repairs, purchase your Ford, BMW, Chevy and Nissan parts at discount prices.