Maintenance in winter

When the winter is coming, vehicles will have many troubles because of low temperature such as difficulties in start and too low water temperature, etc. These troubles will add abrasion besides having impacts on normal use. Therefore, a timely and meticulous maintenance and check before winter will avoid many troubles occurring. First, to check antifreeze; it looks like a trifle, but will cause worse problems for vehicles, blocking pipelines or corroding and even damaging cylinder at worst. So it is necessary to check whether it is starveling or deteriorated, and to replenish or change it if required. Then, be cautious to use antifreeze, never mixing different brands or adopting counterfeit and shoddy products, and the best is to use branded antifreeze for famous vehicles. In addition, as standard the original antifreeze should be replaced once every two years, before that the cooling system must be rinsed thoroughly with fresh water. Second, to check the cooling system, involving water tank, water pump, belts and other parts, if having problems, they should be repaired or replaced in time. Third, the air conditioner is usually going wrong once staying idle for a summer, so it would be best to try it and find whether everything is ok like warm air, fan and air hose. Sometimes, antifreeze in the hose blocks the circulation line because of long-term stagnancy, which will be very difficult to fix despite it has no impact for driving. Fourth, to check engine oil, whether the oil grade is right for low temperature, is it lacking or deteriorated? In winter, the engine oil is too thicker to start at low temperature, which will worsen wear and abrasion. At the same time, the engine oil will be too thinner to keep its best lubrication and sealing performance after heated. Therefore, the high-quality compound oil suitable for winter is the best. If the time specified to change oil arrives, it should be finished before it is cold. Fifth, to check storage batteries; as the temperature is low, the first friction clearance of the engine will get smaller and the engine oil will get thicker, so start current will get larger, for this, the regular check to liquid level height and specific gravity of electrolyte is requested to keep battery under a good status. Meanwhile, the generated energy of generator should be tested. Sixth, to clean the filter cartridge, for it is dry in northern regions, tiny sand grains floating in the air will enter the cylinder to form abrasive materials on the cylinder wall, which will accelerate abrasion of cylinder or deterioration of oil once mixing into engine oil, so the filter should be maintained at every 5000km, making dust attached on the filter away. Seventh, to check brake oil; it will absorb moisture in the air during use, the moisture content will get larger after long-time using, so the oil will be frozen in severe cold, cause the worst results although it is not common. Please conduct scheduled maintenance as the manufacturer required. Eighth, to check underpan; it is unrelated to cold temperature seemingly, but gear oil in differential mechanism and transmission is very thick and is heated by mechanical motion. If it is too cold, the gear oil of improper grade will freeze, which is possible to damage gears or oil seal. Besides checking whether the grade is suitable for local temperature, it will be regarded as a good habit to run it at low speed for a while after started on a winter morning. Ninth, make tire pressure down appropriately, just because rubber and asphalt will have poor strength and toughness once affected by cold, the friction coefficient between both will be reduced consequently, to make tire pressure down appropriately will enlarge the contact area to keep the efficient brake effect. Source: www.qcxh.org.cn   How to well take care of your car in winter? }