Winter Truck Maintenance Tips

Winter Truck Maintenance Tips

Winter truck maintenance can be challenging if you’re not fully aware of the basics. Being aware of winter truck maintenance tips could see your truck through the worst the winter weather has to offer.

Winter seasons come with their own challenges e.g icy roads, freezing temperatures, heavy snow and poor visibility. It’s clear to see why there are lots of road accidents during winter compared to other seasons. So how do you ensure your truck is well maintained during winter?  Below are top 5 winter maintenance tips for trucks.

Top 5 winter maintenance tips for trucks

Make sure your tires are ready.

Don’t wait till the eleventh hour to check your truck’s tires. Before winter kicks in, you should ensure you use winter tires and have your tire tread plus tire pressure checked. Your truck’s tire tread wears out and it gets worse during winter. You should have them rotated regularly. Winter cold also flatens your tires and it’s vital you check your tire pressure regularly. You should also acquire winter tires as standard tires won’t be sufficient during winter. So you might not experience the truck tire repair need.

Check and maintain your engine heater.

Extreme winter cold can cause your engine to stop running when you’re about to start your truck. To avoid this, trucks use engine heaters to keep the engine warm. What normally happens is when you use an engine heater, the truck’s fluids are warmed up and this warm temperature is ideal for operating the truck. Not using an engine heater during winter causes your truck’s engine oil to be thick and sludgy. This could result in engine damage due to cold start and idling.

Avoid cold soaks.

Cold soaks refer to leaving your truck’s engine shut off over long periods of time hence causing your engine’s temperature to reach that of its surrounding (i.e winter temperature) To avoid this, your engine needs to be powered up several times in a day.

Make sure drivers pre-trip their trucks everyday.

What we mean by pre-trip is, truck drivers need to inspect their trucks before embarking on any journey during winter. Why? This is so as to ensure they catch any issues with the truck before the journey. Some components such as truck doors and power cords may be frozen due to cold and inspecting a truck can prevent so many problems that may arise during the journey.

Make sure you have enough fuel.

Why? Because you could face the following scenarios if you don’t have enough fuel: During winter, condensation might occur in your gas tank and droplets of water can slide inside your gas tank and mix with gasoline, thus causing corrosion. This could also stop gasoline from getting to the engine.

Get your truck winter ready! If you have a mechanical breakdown of your diesel truck or trailer repair, or need tire repair or replacement, our truck breakdown service team is experienced and committed to getting you back on the road, so call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest