Winter Auto Maintenance Checklist

Fall and winter are hard on improperly maintained automobiles. Cold temperatures can increase wear on tires, belts, and hoses, render weak batteries useless, and can cause inadequately protected engine cooling systems to freeze. Motorists unfortunate enough to experience a winter breakdown can also find themselves facing life-threatening weather in addition to the dilemmas of unsafe or unfamiliar surroundings. Here are some tips to follow when preparing for cold weather driving:

• Replace Your Air Filter. In cold weather a dirty or clogged air filter will do more to affect performance and fuel economy than in the summer months. Cold air is denser than warm air and is more dependent on a clean filter to flow efficiently into the carburetor or fuel injection system for complete combustion.

• Battery. In winter temperatures it can take up to five times more battery power to start a car than when the thermometer reads a mild 65 or 75 degrees. If the battery or any other part of the car's electrical system is in marginal shape, you will have difficulty in cold weather. If your battery is more than three years old, the typical lifespan of most batteries, you are probably living on borrowed time. Have a mechanic or automotive technicians run a battery load test and check the complete electrical system, including the battery's reserve capacity. Replace severely corroded connectors. Have your voltage regulator checked, too.

• Cooling System. Winter weather can Flush the system and fill with the anti-freeze/water mixture recommended by your owner's manual (a 50/50 solution is a good rule of thumb).

• Click Here to read more ways to avoid problems when driving in cold weather.

Routine Maintenance, Restoration and Performance

Most people take pride in owning a reliable, attractive car or truck. The key to keeping a vehicle dependable and aesthetically pleasing is a normal maintenance regimen.

• Click Here to read the full article.

Fuel Economy Tips

Fuel economy continues to be a hot topic and Car-X Auto Service provides many services to help you maintain favorable fuel efficiency, such as:

• Tires - Repair/Rotations
• Oil Changes
• Tune-Ups

Other Ways in which to improve your fuel economy:

Properly Inflated Tires
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 25% of cars have one tire that is underinflated! That’s dangerous and wastes gas. Each year 33,000 injuries result from accidents caused by under inflated tires. Keeping your tires properly inflated can save you 10 cents per gallon in gas.

Don't Drive So Fast!
Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.

• Fuel Economy Benefit: 5-33%
• Equivalent Gasoline Savings: $0.12-$0.76/gallon

Observe the Speed Limit
As a rule of thumb, you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas.

Observing the speed limit is also a safety precaution.
• Fuel Economy Benefit: 7-23%
• Equivalent Gasoline Savings: $0.16-$0.53/gallon

Remove Excess Weight
Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2%. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle's weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.

• Fuel Economy Benefit: 1-2%/100 lbs
• Equivalent Gasoline Savings: $0.02-$0.05/gallon

Avoid Excess Idling
Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.

Use Cruise Control
Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.

Use Overdrive Gears
When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.

Note: Cost savings are based on an assumed fuel price of $2.31/gallon.

Data Sources:
• Estimates for fuel savings from sensible driving are based on studies and literature reviews performed by Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc., Washington, DC.

• Estimates for the effect of speed on MPG are based on a study by West, B.H., R.N. McGill, J.W. Hodgson, S.S. Sluder, and D.E. Smith, Development and Verification of Light-Duty Modal Emissions and Fuel Consumption Values for Traffic Models, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, March 1999.

Top 5 Items that Significantly Impact Fuel Economy
** Proper tire inflation
** Proper wheel alignment
** Properly tuned engine
** Properly following maintenance schedules
** Properly operating brakes