Over the last month, restrictions have been put in place to prevent people from leaving their homes and motorists are not using their car as regularly as they normally would. However this shouldn’t prevent you from ensuring your car is working in tip top order.
To avoid any unwanted suprises once the Coronavirus crisis has passed, there are several things you can be doing to ensure you are properly maintaining your car for when it is back on the road.
Battery
Your battery is one of the most crucial parts of the car and it is important to ensure that it is in good working order. Even when your car is not transporting you on your travels, the battery will still consume some energy to power other aspects of car.
Without a working battery, your car will have no lights, heating, sound or any way to start the engine. If the battery is kept at 80% of its charge then the acid cells within the battery start to gather at the bottom, and this prevents the battery from holding its charge. To avoid this, you should try and keep the battery running for at least 15 minutes once a week.
Liquids
Whilst you have plenty of time on your hands, this is a great opportunity to ensure that your car’s fluid levels are topped up to keep your car ready for when you need to use it again.
Ensure your car has plenty of oil. It is important to try and drain as much used oil as possible, as used oil can leave behind corrosive elements. Once you have topped up with oil, it is a good idea to take your car on an essential journey such as shopping or picking up medication so that the fresh oil can circulate around the engine.
Coolant is something that often gets overlooked but plays an essential role in the maintenance of your cars health. The coolant mixes with water in your engines cooling system and is designed to lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point of the system. By adding coolant to your cars cooling system, you will be able to increase the temperature that your car can run at before the cooling system will boil.
The importance of screen wash is not something to be understated. This essential item is used all year round and lets you carry on driving no matter what condition you are driving through. Not many know this; but keeping your wind screen clean is a legal requirement therefore it is essential that you keep your screen wash topped up at all times.
Engine performance
Your car may not be being driven as much as it usually would meaning that your engines performance could be affected. If water condenses inside the fuel tank, it will eventually settle at the bottom seen as it is heavier than the surrounding fuel. When this happens, it can get sucked into the fuel lines and can make your car chug or even stall.
Your engine has a clever way of self lubricating itself once the car starts, however, if you leave your car too long, this can hinder the process. You may need to start your car a few times over for the engine to warm up
If you have any worries or questions about your car, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to help. Whilst we are still open to our customers, we have implemented the Governments social distancing rules and we also ask that all payments, where possible are made via contactless payment.
