Car Maintenance Checklist For Road Trips - A Preparation For Long Driving

Carefully checking the car before the road trip is never excessive. Even with a malfunction or a minor failure, it will put the trip under an unsafe situation and cause unexpected incidents. Here are some helpful tips to help you check the car before having a trip.

1. Check the tyre

Tyre is the first part to be checked because this is a regularly affected part and that how smooth and safe the car is, depends directly on the tyre. You should check the wet and tear and replace the car’s tyres if necessary.

Check the tyre pressure

Next, the tyre pressure of the four tyres also should be checked. It should not be too tense or too immature which will affect the performance, grip and fuel consumption. Be sure to check the tire pressure or spare tires to ensure replacement tires when the problem is working well.

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How to check your tyre tread

Read more: All you need to know about car tyre maintenance

2. Check the light system

The car's light system is a very important part, which plays a decisive role in signalling as well as extending the visibility operating at night or in bad weather conditions. Therefore, regular inspection of front and rear lighting and signalling system is very necessary, especially before long trips. If there is any abnormality with the light or any bulb blackening trouble, then we should replace that lamp without hesitation.

Check the lighting system

3. Check windows and mirrors

Make sure your rearview mirrors are always aligned to the driver's vision, and that the entire window is not dirty to ensure the best viewing experience.

Check windows and mirrors

Read more: How To Adjust Your Car Mirrors To Avoid The Blind Spots In Indian Roads

4. Check engine coolant

Engine coolant is an important detail as it greatly influences the stability of the engine when operating continuously for a long duration. Without proper heat dissipation, the engine will have to work very hard. Therefore, to prepare for the long trip, we should spend some time to check it in a simple way which is opening the bonnet, finding the location of the water tank and checking whether the water level is guaranteed or not. The best cooling water level is between two full/low lines printed on the body. If the water level is beyond those two bars or there is a strange colour or odour, we need to replace the fresh water immediately.

Check engine coolant

5. Check the battery

Battery relates directly to the electrical equipment and the entire electronic system inside the car. If the battery is malfunctioning or "empty" in the middle of the road, your car will be totally an "out of power" and no longer able to use the facilities and the electronic safety support powered from this battery. Therefore, carefully checking the battery before each trip is essential.

Check the battery

The first thing we need to do is check the electrodes located above the cap. Make sure that all the electrodes are perfectly connected and that there is no electrical shock or burns, strange colours or leaks from the inside of the kettle. Next, we will check the water level inside the battery. Looking down at the bottom of the body, you will see that the water inside is between the upper and lower levels. If you feel the water level is low, you should add or replace the battery if it is "old". Generally speaking, these types of batteries typically last 2-3 years depending on the brand and the quality of the batteries.

Read more: What you should know about changing a car battery

6. Check engine oil

Engine lubrication is a core factor that directly affects the engine's stable, smooth, and durable performance. If there are any problems with the engine oil, the car will find hard to operate extremely, consume a lot of fuel and may even damage the engine. Therefore, paying attention to visit the machine regularly is one thing you should do.

To check the condition of the engine lubricant, you can find the engine lubricator (usually located next to the engine and yellow). Then, you pull the stick out, using a paper towel or a clean rag to wipe from top to bottom. Next, plug in the engine oil plug and pull out. Then, we see that the oil level in the machine is between two lines Max and Min or not. If it is outside of the two lines, we must treat it immediately by adding or removing it.

Check engine oil

In addition, you should pay attention to the colour and smell of engine lubricants, if they are black or smell bad, then your engine may have problems. In this case, we should put the car into the workshop of the company to check carefully and know the exact status of the engine. In addition, if the increase or even decrease of the oil level occurs regularly, this indicates that the engine lubricant has leaked out or another fluid leak in because the engine encounters a problem. In this case, you should also have the mechanic store check carefully to come up with the best solution.

Read more: How to change the oil with 4 easy steps

These above pieces of advice from IndianAuto are the basic vehicle inspection steps that we should perform periodically or before each long trip. You should make that habit to ensure your beloved car is always in perfect condition and ensure absolute safety during each trip.

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