Maintaining the basic needs of your vehicle is always a must, but it’s even more critical to ensure your car is running properly for the winter season. You can visit East End Body Shop for your car maintenance in Huntington, West Virginia.
End Body Shop has unbeatable customer service, quality, and prices. This company is committed to improving the care of people and their vehicles.
The shop is also staffed with friendly, talented mechanics to assist you with your repair needs. The auto experts in Huntington, West Virginia offer a variety of services including mobile claims management, interest-free financing, auto body repair, frame repair, collision repair, auto painting, glass repair, automotive detailing, auto mechanical repair, automotive claims, insurance repair work, and auto body paint.
East End Body Shop’s Top 5 Maintenance Tips for this Winter
Ensure tire pressure is adequate and the battery is working
Invest in a pressure gauge to check your tire pressure once a month. Your car manual will have a recommended psi for your tire pressure. You also want to check for cracking or wearing in your tire tread.
You should inspect your battery terminals and clean them monthly to maintain a secure connection. If you notice signs of your battery going out, you can bring it to a shop to check it and determine if you need to replace it. Your vehicle’s battery has a higher risk of malfunctioning in cold, rainy, and icy weather.
Ensure all your essential lights are working
You should regularly check that your blinkers, fog lights, headlights, taillights, and brake lights are working. It is especially important in the winter months that your lights are working because there is less daylight. These lights are essential, and you will get pulled over if they’re out. Make sure to take it to the shop as soon as you notice one is out.
Top off your car oils
Regularly check and top off the oils in your car. Some oils like your power steering don’t need to be topped off as often, but it’s still important to keep an eye on them. You also want to check your engine oil, transmission oil (you can only check this underneath the car if you have a lift), coolant, and windshield wiper fluid.
Keeping your car’s oils topped off is an important step in car maintenance in Huntington, West Virginia.
Add antifreeze to your engine coolant
To protect your vehicle’s cooling system from the cold weather, you will want to add antifreeze to your engine coolant because it lowers the freezing point of the water.
Clean the windshield and check your wiper blades
Before the weather gets too bad, you want to ensure that your windshield wipers are working appropriately and replace them if necessary. You will also want to top off your windshield wiper fluid to ensure you can keep your windshield clean.
Cold water can lead to more fog, mist, or frost build-up on our car’s windshield, impairing your ability to see the road. Therefore, you should make it a habit to clean your windshield whenever you are filling up on gas.
You can take your car to East End Body Shop to manage your car maintenance in Huntington, West Virginia.
Signs something is wrong with my car
Even when you keep up your car maintenance in Huntington, West Virginia, you may experience major signs that your car needs attention somewhere.
Check engine light
Your check engine light is typically the first sign that something is wrong with your car internally. The light illuminates when the vehicle’s engine control unit detects an error code triggered by a sensor. The best way to determine the problem is to take it to an auto parts store that will plug a machine into your port that will give them a code for whatever is wrong with the car.
A sputtering engine
Your engine will sputter or misfire if the fuel and ignition system components are not working properly. To avoid this issue, make sure to replace the necessary components of your car’s fuel and ignition system as your car maintenance.
Dead battery
You should replace your car battery every 3 years or 50,000 miles to avoid issues with your battery or other parts of your car. A dead battery can mean your car has a damaged alternator, battery temperature sensor, or other charging systems. It could also be caused by reduced amps which naturally decrease as the battery loses its charging ability.
Flat tire
A simple issue like striking an object or being punctured can be the cause of a flat tire, but it can also be from wear and tear. To extend the life of your tires, keep them properly rotated and replace them when needed.
Breaks squeaking or grinding
As with any other part of your car, your brakes wear out over time and need to be replaced eventually. When you notice issues like squealing or squeaking, get it inspected by a professional to ensure everything is fine. A squealing break can be caused by a minor reason, but when they start grinding, they definitely need to be replaced to ensure your and other people’s safety.
Alternator failure
Your car’s alternator is what keeps the electrical system running once the car starts. It also sends a charge to your battery to keep it in its best condition. A broken alternator will cause your battery to wear out sooner. Typically, when you have issues with your car starting, it may be caused by a failed alternator.
Broken starter motor
Your car’s starter motor cranks the engine, which begins the starting process. If your car fails to start, the cause may be a damaged electrical solenoid, a broken starter motor, or another faulty electrical component. It’s difficult to tell when your starter needs to be replaced. If you suspect there is an issue, you should have a car-starting inspection to determine if it’s the starter or something else.
East End Body Shop is an excellent auto body shop that will help you manage your car maintenance in Huntington, West Virginia.
