Winter

With winter finally here, it is time to talk about getting the car ready for the withering weather conditions. Dead batteries are usually the biggest culprit on cold days. This happens because as a battery gets cold, the chemical reaction that makes a battery work slows down as the temperature gets colder. There are several ways to prevent this from happening.

• One is to make sure the car is parked in a garage on colder days.
• Take the battery out of the car and store it inside when you know the vehicle is going to be sitting for a while.
• If none of those options are very realistic for you for whatever reason, there are warming pads designed to go around the battery to keep it warm.

With all of these options being available, one of the best ways to prevent such a problem is to be proactive. Before the cold weather starts to set in it is a good idea to get your car into a repair facility for a battery check. This would also be a good time for a maintenance check.

A thorough maintenance check should include a good look at all of the cars components to make sure everything is ready for winter. Some of the more important things to have checked would be the tires, as well as the coolant. Coolant is a very vital fluid in your vehicle for several different reasons. Coolant not only helps to transfer unwanted heat away from the engine while it is running, it also has additives to help prevent corrosion in your engine as well as additives to lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point. With all of the important things that coolant does you can see why it is an important fluid to keep in proper working condition. Another important component of your car that needs to be in good working order for the winter would be your tires. Having enough traction, and keeping the air pressures at the proper level are very important. There has been some discussion the past couple of years as to if the best tread should be on the front or the rear of the vehicle. The biggest discussion is on front wheel drive vehicles. Some say that you want the best tread on the front of the vehicle, while others say to put the best tread on the rear. Putting the best tread on the front is done because that is where your drive wheels are, putting the best on the rear is done because that is where there is less weight. In this particular situation I find it best to consider the shops advice. Discuss with them the driving conditions you find yourself in the most. Hilly conditions, icy roads or other things that might be particular to you and go with what makes you the most comfortable. After all you are the one driving the vehicle.

Information to Provide

So far we have been talking about the components that make up a well run automotive repair facility. We have also talked about what signs you should be looking for when you are a new customer. From what kind of questions you should be asking the service writer, to what you should be looking for in the automotive technicians. The one thing that we have not been talking about is the what kind of information that you should be walking into the shop with. The more information that you give the service writer the better the chances are that the technician will be able to find your problem faster. The sooner the problem is found the less money will be tied up in diagnostic testing and that means more money in your pocket. So here is some information that you can go into the shop with that can help everyone involved. Here are only a few of the bits of information that a technician finds to be very helpful.

1. How long has the problem been occurring?

• Days?
• Weeks?
• Months?

2. What are the conditions when the problem occurs?

• Is speed a factor?
• When turning?
• Going over bumps?
• When the brakes are applied?

3. How often does the problem occur?

• Every morning?
• After the car has time to warm up?
• After the car has time to sit and cool down?
• All the time?

This is a very short list of some of the things that an automotive technician would find helpful when trying to diagnose the problem that your car is having. When you first start to notice the problem with the car, pay very close attention to what is happening when the car is acting up. And when you go into the repair facility, be as specific as possible. The more accurate information that you give the service writer, the better the chances that the technician can duplicate the problem in a timely manner. One of my other favorite things to do when the customer has a problem that I think would be a little tougher to find is to send one of my technicians for a ride with the customer. This helps to insure that we are all looking for the same problem. So if you think that your problem might be a little harder to find, offer to go for a ride.