Summer Motoring Tips

Summers coming, well so they keep telling us, so be prepared,
Whilst winter motoring brings it’s own set of challenges to the motorist so does the summer, in fact summer driving is more likely to catch us by surprise, as more of us will be packing the car till the roof with everything but the kitchen sink for a simple day trip, add this extra weight to your car, plus hot weather and traffic jams it all puts strain on the engine, many will overheat very quickly if stood still in traffic for even a short period of time.
How can I stop my car from overheating?
Well ultimatly it’s going to be hard especially with older cars, the trick is to be prepared, forwarned is forearmed as the saying goes, so let’s cover the basics,
Check and top up the water ( radiator, do the screen wash at the same time)
Fan belts, check and either tighten or replace if they look frayed
Oil, when was this last changed, top up or change
Air filter, again when was this last changed, take it out and check / clean or replace ( will also help improve fuel consumption)
Tyres, okay so not limited to the summer, but cars that are used to short local journeys could have older bearly legal tyres so check the pressures and shop around for new car tyres online if needed rather than havng a blow out miles from home and paying over the odds.
Spare water, and no not just fro drinking, will come in handy if your car does overheat this summer, once it’s cooled down you can top up the radiator with it.
Our final tip won’y be popular on a hot day but can reduce engine temp, turn on the heater to hot, this opens the heater matrix and thus the hot water has to travel further around the system, giving your radiator a little longer to cool the water within it.
Happy motoring this summer!