Summer Car Maintenance Tips

After an unusually cold winter, most people are excited that summer has finally arrived. However, there are some drawbacks that people need to be aware of in the summer. According to Esurance, there were more fatal accidents during the summer in 2013 than the winter. In fact, there were more car accidents in August than any other month of the year.

One of the issues that they need to be prepared for is the possibility that they will have certain car problems that they don’t need to worry about other times of the year. You need to make sure that your car is prepared for the summer.

Getting Your Car Ready for Summer

Many people think that they only need to worry about getting their car ready for the winter. However, there are a number of things that you need to do differently when it starts to warm up. Here are some tips to get started. Keep in mind that you can always find the parts that you need at U Pull and Pay.

Get the Right Tires

A lot of people choose to drive their vehicle with their winter tires throughout the year. This is a bad decision, because snow tires don’t have poor traction on gravel and other solid surfaces. You need to replace them with regular tires as soon as the ground thaws and the snow melts.

Change Your Oil

Your car is a lot more likely to overheat during the summer, so it’s important to take the right precautions. Since oil plays a very important role in keeping your engine cool, you will need to make sure that it is changed before the weather starts to heat up. If you haven’t changed your oil for at least 5,000 miles, then it is a good idea.

Change the Air Filter

Your air filter serves a number of important functions, so you will need to carefully inspect it before getting your car on the road. It is important if you are going to be running your air conditioner, because you want to make sure that only clean air is circulating through your vehicle. You also need to make sure that it doesn’t get clogged up, because your heating system can stop working properly. If you haven’t changed your air filter for a while, then it is a very good idea to do so this summer.

Inspect Your Serpentine Belt

The serpentine belt is another major component that plays a role in keeping the engine cool. If it doesn’t work optimally, then you run the serious risk of overheating. You will need to inspect the serpentine belt and replace it if it seems to be in bad condition.

The serpentine belt generally needs to be replaced around 100,000 miles, but it can start to fail before that. It is an especially good idea to take a look at it if your car has over 90,000 miles on it.