The sun has risen and winter is officially over so it is time for seasonal inspection of your vehicle. A lot of you probably already know what to do but for those who don’t we have couple of recommendations. Basically you should check everything, starting from the small things all the way to more complex components. So here we have visibility, interior and exterior lights, engine and fluids, and finally safety.
It is difficult to say which one of these is more important than the other because all of them are closely tied with your safety. For example sometimes in heavy rain or other kind of bad weather visibility can be extremely important so in that case your windshield wipers are just as important as , for example, power steering fluid level.
Car inspection after winter could be separated to two segments, one being the cleaning of certain parts which is the easier, and the other checking for things which are ultimately going to be replaced. Most notable candidates for change would be cabin, air, fuel and oil filters.
If you spent a lot of time driving on bad roads taking a look underneath is a good idea. So besides all the things you should check regularly on your car, regardless of the season, there are few things that took the real punishment from icy and snowy roads.
Cleaning
As you already know roads are treated with salt, and that can have huge negative effect on your car primarily in the form of corrosion.
To make sure you keep your car safe from it, you have to wash it thoroughly, and pay special attention to areas where salt might accumulate.
As we mentioned above you should inspect the undercarriage of your car for any damaged brake lines as well as corrosion.
Inspection of other components
Suspension
This is one of the areas you have to pay special attention to mainly because of the fact that its components take constant beating from uneven roads. Check every part, its connections as well as linkages, there shouldn’t be any unwanted movement. If you are not familiar with this, leave it to your mechanic.
Battery
Batteries are especially vulnerable to drastic temperature changes. If you want your car to work properly, take it to your mechanic and check the state of the battery.
AC
Of course as summer arrives air condition needs some work as well. Last thing you want is to be sweaty and nervous while driving. So to prevent that check your system, does is spread uncomfortable smell or maybe it blows hot air instead of cold, can you hear weird noises or is there a freon leak.
Some of these you can solve yourselves. Disinfecting your system with spray which you can buy in pretty much any gas station can take care of uncomfortable smell but your health too. We should mention that not every single air condition is the same so read the manual on how to clean yours. Also sprays are cheap so don’t worry about the price.
If you get warm air instead of cold or you feel lack of power you should probably change the filters in the cabin. If the there is no power at all or you can smell freon then you would be better off visiting the mechanic.
As you can see doing a car inspection after winter is not hard at all and it doesn’t cost much, unless you come up to serious issue which requires extensive professional repairs. On the other side besides safety, cost is probably the second reason why you might want to do it. If you catch potential issue like corrosion early, it won’t cost much to repair, and it won’t get a chance to devalue your car significantly.
Fluids
Since most of us don’t bother to check fluids during the harsh weather, now it is perfect time to do just that. Start with engine oil and go over everything from brake fluid, to power steering and coolant. Top everything off and you are good to go.
Tires
Lastly check out the tires, if you were riding on winter tires replace them with ones for summer, or if you have M + S tires, check for the condition. We have to put accent on tire pressure, so make sure you check that. Due to the extreme temperature fluctuations, tire pressure will be off for sure.