Few tips to maintain your diesel car
The hike in petrol, has left the car buyers to go for diesel engine cars as they churn better mileage than petrol engine cars. In comparison to petrol cars, the maintenance cost of diesel engine is considered slightly higher, but tuning up and regular check up of the diesel engine car lows the maintenance cost to a great extent. Our team has brought few general tips for the diesel car owners that would for sure curtail down their cost of maintenance.
1) Being the possessor of diesel vehicle, it becomes necessary that you regularly check the glow plugs as they are the lifeline of entire diesel engine system. The key role of the glow plugs is to heat the car cylinders prior the engine functioning, therefore, during the chilly winters, the check of glow plugs become necessary.
2) Gaskets of the diesel engine are also needed to be checked at regular intervals as they operate the engine under severe conditions. Ensure that there is no leakage in the gaskets and the bolts are not loose.
3) While getting car serviced always make sure that the right oil filter is been used as it will prevent the dust particles from entering in the system and would let the engine function smoothly.
4) Always check that the engine is mounted properly before unscrewing any of the nuts, plugs or bolts.
5) It is necessary that you examine the diesel engine functioning at regular intervals, so that if there is any sort of trouble in the valves, filters or pipes it can be cured on time.
6) Ensure that you timely pour in oils like engine oil, gear box oil, coolant etc. this would smoothen the functioning of the cars engine and would result in peak performance and lesser cost of maintenance.
Few tips to maintain your car suspension
A suspension in a car is a set of shock absorbers and spring coils which maintain the balance of car body even, if there are high bounces or pits. Suspensions of the car are also the necessary element which helps in stopping the car. Thus, the suspension play a vital role in a car and if a proper and regular suspension check is been done, you can get rid of many future arriving alignment problems that cost too high. Here are the three major procedures that you should follow in order to keep your car's suspension swift and healthy:-
Suspension Maintenance:-Always ensure that you get the shock absorbers and the wheel alignment checked from an auto expert or certified mechanic who knows well how to deal with your car model. A presence of a wise mechanic is also needed as suspensions systems are based on many calculations to keep the overall suspension system balanced. In case you alone want to check the suspension, ensure that you go through the measurements given in the owner's manual for the particular suspension parts. At the time of suspension maintenance check you should figure out if the car leans forward while braking or turning. Also test if there is any sort of asymmetric drive in tyres, as this can be due to improper tyre fitting or unbalanced alignment.
Inspection of Shock absorbers:-Shock absorbers are the major elements of proper or improper suspension functioning, hence, absorbers shouldn?t be neglected. Most often, the shock absorbers are checked in a time span of three to five years according to the manufacturer. While checking the absorbers, see if there are any leaks, cracks or jerks in the absorbers. If you find any leaks or cracks, it is time to mend the absorbers.
Checking the working of suspensions:-There are few simple testing tasks that you can perform in order to check the functioning of suspensions. Take your vehicle to an uneven road, switch off the music or radio system and open the windows, try to listen the sounds coming from the wheels. If there is a squeaking sound coming from the wheels, then the suspensions need to be lubricated or must be replaced. If you hear loud clunking sound, then the suspensions need to be greased. If there are some vibrations coming from the wheels, check if the tyres are properly inflated or not as an under inflated tyre might damage the alignment or suspensions. After the tyres are inflated, check if the vibration occurs again or not. If it happens again, then you need to reset the alignment from an expert mechanic.
Tips to maintain a CNG car
With the hike in prices of petrol and diesel, car owners have not started using the best and eco-friendly option of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). CNG not only saves your money by a huge margin but also it is one of the best suites for environment. There are many of the new car buyers or the existing car owners in India, who are planning to adopt CNG options for their cars. For the CNG car enthusiasts, we have brought few maintenance tips that will help them to keep their CNG running machines fit and fine.
1) Use a lower octane gasoline:It is advisable to all the CNG car owners to use the lower octane gasoline as the premium gasoline is too high in cost and results almost similar performance. You can cross check the owner's manual to find the gasoline type favorable for your car. Use the premium gasoline only if it is quite necessary or required as per users manual.
2) Avoid over filling of CNG tank: Avoid filling your CNG tank completely as if there would be any additional gas, it would simply slop around or disperse out. CNG cars and CNG filling stations are available only in the metropolitan cities in India and other cities have not yet adopted the trend of CNGs. Although, the CNG tank fillers are aware of tank filling criteria, but you yourself inspect the fuel tank filling in order to avoid over filling of CNG tank.
3) Always remember to tight the CNG gas lead:CNG gas might evaporate from the tank if there is some passage or leakage in the gas lead, therefore, it is advisable to tight the CNG gas lead all perfectly, whenever you fill the tank.
4) Remember to park your car in shade:Most of the time, CNG car owners park their cars in open area where direct sunlight falls on the cars. This is not a wise idea as the CNG gas might evaporate if you park your car in open. Whenever possible, park your car in shade or under tree. You can also buy a good anti-sunlight windshield so that it doesn't allow the sunlight to pass in the car, thereby, protecting the chances of CNG gas evaporation.
5) Avoid over usage of Air-conditioners/ Heaters:While traveling in a CNG car, always ensure that you use the ACs or the heaters to a minimum extent, as ACs/heaters consume ample of energy.
6) Always maintain the tire pressure:Always keep your cars tires properly inflated as under inflated tires consume more energy to run, thereby resulting in lesser fuel economy. It is advisable to inflate the tires of your car as directed in the users manual. Buy a digital gas measuring meter and ensure that you monitor the tire pressure once in a month. If you find that the tires are under inflated, inflate them immediately.
7) Always keep your car engine tuned up:This is the key mantra for better fuel efficiency. A smooth running engine always churns better performance and delivers excellent fuel economy. Hence, always ensure that you change the engine oil, transmission oil and coolant at regular intervals.
8) Change air-filters at regular intervals:Inspection of engines air-filter at regular interval is necessary to keep your CNG car tuned up. If the air-filters are blocked with dirt or dust, the engine consumes more fuel and churns lesser performance, therefore, ensure that you change the air-filters whenever you find them clogged with dust or dirt.
Few tips to maintain your car in winter
Winter is one the verge to make all of us chilly. Enjoying the pleasurable winter season is good but while winter is overhead, you must consider the coming factors of winter on your car. Before chilly winter season hits your car, it is quite necessary for us to know about the safety precautions and maintenance tips to be done. With the arrival of winter season you should cross check your maintenance manual to ensure, with what all measures you are prepared and what all measures are still to be accomplished.
Moreover, the winter season might have an adverse affect on your cars systems like the wipers, glasses etc. In the Indian Himalyan regions the temperature goes to the freezing point that hampers the performance of the car at a greater extent. Here are some tips that you can adapt before the winter gets on peak, thereby making your vehicle compatible for the chilly winter season:-
1) Inspect the radiator and antifreeze -The cars these days have the anti-freeze and coolant added in them that allows the engine to maintain a normal temperature during hot and chilly seasons. Always ensure that the antifreeze solution has 50: 50 mix of water and antifreeze solution. This solution enters into the radiator which stabilizes the engine temperature. Hence, always ensure that the radiator of the car works well and allows the oil/liquid to pass by quite easily.
2) Check the tyre condition-In winter season, the old and overused tyres get cracked that low downs the tyre grip and stability. Also ensure that you never over inflate the tyres as it might damage the tyres. The tyre pressure should be lower than the tyre pressure that you inflate in summers. Suppose in summer season, the tyre pressure of your car is 35 then your tyre pressure in winter should be 30.
3) Replace the wipers -Wipers play a vital role while driving in winters. When you drive in a chilly season the windshield of the car gets choked with fog which distracts the road visibility. To clean the windshield wipers are used and if the wipers are quite old, they might not clean the windshield thoroughly. Therefore, it is advisable to get the car wipers replaced before the arrival of winter.
4) Inspect the windshield washer fluid of your car-To clean the fog, not only wipers play an important role, but also the windshield washer fluid has it own importance. Generally, the windshield washing fluid is used in excess by the users to keep the windshield shining and sparkling. You must check the availability of washing fluid in the car as it might be used to remove snow or fog along with the wipers.
Few Impressive Car Care & Maintenance Tips with Home Products
1. Cooking Spray Are you worried about that black residue that gathers up on the car?s wheel and requires whole lot of effort to get cleared up? Don't get tensed as we have simple solution to clean it off as it is the brake dust and is framed every time you apply your brakes and the brake pads wear against the disks or cylinders. So next time while cleaning up the mess, all you require is a coat of cooking spray to give your wheels a shiny look and easily getting rid of the brake dust.
The cooking spray is also useful to avoid all the bugs sticking to your car grille while you are driving in order to easily wipe the insect debris later.
2. MayonnaiseIn order to easily wipe the road tar from your car with ease, all you need is to thickly spread some mayonnaise over the affected area of your car and leave it for few minutes. After a while, wipe it off with a clean soft cloth.
3. SocksOld socks are the best thing, which can be converted into a hand mitt for cleaning anything, especially for soaping or waxing up your car.
4. Spray BottlesHope that you always carry the roadside emergency kit with you in your car and so be sure that you take a recycled spray bottle filled with windshield cleaner in order to clean your car's headlights, mirrors and windows while heading towards a long journey. You can even mix in 1/2 teaspoon of antifreeze to the cleaner as the spray will help you melt the ice stuck on your windshield or mirrors during the snowy weather.
5. VinegarDo you want to remove all those old bumper stickers from your car and feeling irritated after numerous hits? Now it's time for Vinegar to show you its magic. What you need to do is to saturate the complete sticker with undiluted distilled vinegar, especially the corners and halt for about fifteen minutes so that vinegar is completely soaked in. Then just use a simple card or similar thing to scrap the sticker off from the area. Use some more vinegar to remove any leftover residue of sticker.
Vinegar is also useful to clean the dirty wiper blades of the car because during the heavy rains when you turn on the wipers, the windshield actually gets dirty and hazier. So in order to make the wipers new, just dampen a cloth with white vinegar and clean each blade once or twice.
Car Battery Maintenance Tips
The battery is among the most important parts of a car and should be maintained and checked-up regularly. A fine-tuned battery keeps the car running for a long time without any hassle. Here are some simple and easy to implement tips for maintaining the battery of a car are very simple and easy to implement.
Check Your Battery-You should always check or test your battery before leaving for a long journey as you will never want to fall pray to the nonfunctioning of the battery while being far away from home.
Insulate the Battery-The battery should be insulated from outer environment by keeping the car in an insulated garage. If it is not possible to keep the car in an insulated garage, than the battery can be covered by a blanket to create an insulated environment for it.
Clean the Battery-The batter should be cleaned regularly by removing the clamps, grease and dirt from the terminal panel. With this the outer body of the battery should be cleaned by baking soda and water so that the dirt can be cleaned. Even a thing layer of dirt can discharge the battery by conducting electricity.
Check-up the Fluid Levels-The Fluid levels of the battery should be maintained by checking-it-up regularly. It the level has gone below the required mark than you should add some more distilled water to it. If there is no fluid than is may be the time to change the battery
Safety of the Battery-The battery should be finely fitted in its mounting brackets so that it can't slide or damaged.
Car Air Conditioner Maintenance Tips
Since its invention, the air conditioners have always been a primary feature in the cars. The air conditioner is quite essential for providing the high level of comfort to the passengers, as it keeps the inner environment unaffected from the change in the environment outside. No matter how luxurious and attractive the car is, if ac is not working properly, the inner environment of the car becomes highly uncomfortable for the passengers. Thus, the proper functioning of an AC is very important. Here are some useful tips to keep the AC of a car fine-tuned and properly functioning.
Check Moisture/Air Contamination-The contamination of the air conditioner with the moisture or air generally remains one of the most common reasons behind the falling efficiency level of the AC. Where the air can reduce the cooling power of the system, the moisture can cause ice-blockages in some part of the AC system. In a longer run, these blockages can even cause some leaks in the system. Thus, the AC system should be freed from any kind of moisture regularly and properly.
Cleaning Condenser- The condenser is basically a heat exchanger that comes mounted in front of the radiator. The cooling level of the system can fall to considerably low level, if the dirt, bugs, road debris keep filling the condenser. By periodically cleaning of the condenser unit, the cooling level and efficiency of the AC can be fully maintained.
Mechanical Faults-There are a number of mechanical faults that can result in the malfunctioning of the air conditioner that comprises of bad pressure switches, compressor wear, valve failures, etc. These faults should be repaired at the earliest by a trained mechanic, as they can damage even the whole cooling system of AC.
Other Blockages- The metering valve or orifice tube of the AC is quite essential for the cooling level of the AC. For making sure the free-flow of the cooling refrigerant in the system, the orifice tube should be kept clean from dirt, debris, etc. If not taken care of regularly, the blocked tube can even damage the whole system.
Check Refrigerant Level- The level of the refrigerant flood should be maintained to the pre-defined level as it keeps the overall cooling level in the car up to the mark. Check level of the cooling fluid regularly and get it refilled if required.
Simplistic Way to Check the Date for an Oil Change
Though ignored a lot but changing the oil in the car at the right time is absolutely essential for its overall maintenance and better engine performance. Every auto expert recommends changing the engine oil every 3 Months or 5000 kms, whichever comes first. You may also consult the model of your car and the specified schedule in the owner's manual accordingly. Neglecting the same will lead to further troubles ruining your vehicle in long term. Basically degraded oil cause damage to the engine because the oil is filled with dirt and dust particles, and later you car may require a new engine which is surely a costly affair. So be sure and timely change the oil in your car for enhancing the span of your car's life.
Firstly- keep a note of time as when to change the oil. This is for sure that driving distances vary each time but as soon as 5,000 kms are over, immediately change the oil in your car.
Secondly-Check out the sticker on the upper-left corner of your car's windshield, there a date is mentioned that alarms you about when you need to change the oil. You can surely consider this point but make sure the kms and time frame matter a lot and you must consider them as well.
Thirdly-it's a good practice if you take your car for timely servicing irrespective of the distance you've covered while travelling. This habit actually prevents sudden break-outs and let you identify the required maintenance needs.
Fourthly-never rely completely on the dates as other external factor do decide the oil's lubrication life cycle such as pollution, dirt levels, temperature of the engine and viscosity of the oil.
Fifthly- better go through the manual guide and follow the same, it will assist you in deciding the parameters you need to follow for your make and model.
Lastly-Set a reminder for yourself according to time period in order to change the oil on time. Many a times we are preoccupied with so many important stuffs of life that we forget the minor tasks; hence it's beneficial to set an alarm for all such activities.
Waterless Car Wash ? A Useful Guide to Washing Your Car
A waterless car wash is, obviously getting your car cleaned without using valuable water. This exclusive method uses lubricants, wetting agents, and protectants to wax and polish a car. Unlike the traditional carwash, this 'waterless' system is labor-intensive. But the outcome leaves you with a bright and shiny car.
The waterless car wash process may involve the use of sprays having cleaning chemicals for removing dust, dirt, road grime, and scratches from the car. And this is as simple as spraying the car wash solution on its surface and wiping off gently. Washing your vehicle with this technique does not take more than 20-30 minutes for the complete process.
If you are happy with your paid car wash, your pipe or your water-and-soap solution, why should you switch?
Below are few reasons that will hopefully make you believe.
1.Waterless car wash is Brilliant! It will save you time, water, money, environment, no cold hands in winter, and use on dry or wet surfaces.
2.You can use it virtually anytime, anywhere only if the paint surface is not excessively muddy, soiled or coated with sand.
Not Enough Reasons?
Certainly, the benefits mentioned are big enough.
However, apart from saving the money you would spend on the wash itself; let?s think about your car. A waterless carwash method will prevent your vehicle from being scratched by the dust and dirt already on your car.
Luckily some waterless carwash eco-friendly products are also available in India (Delhi) like:
-CARBON - No - Water Car Wash & Polish bottle with spray pump
-Microfiber cloth
-Glass Cleaner bottle with spray pump
CARBON - No Water Car Wash is an Instant Waterless Car Wash + Polish
Car Fuel Saving Tips: Save Fuel Save Money
Petrol is becoming expensive these days. Price of the petrol is being increased very often in India which makes travel costlier. It is the right time to think about the fuel economy of cars. Here are some tips helpful in saving you car fuel.
1.Ensure that tire pressures are maintained as per manufacturer specifications. Under or over inflated tires have more rolling resistance, which leads to higher consumption of petrol.
2.Try to fill fuel in the morning, as specific gravity of fuel is high at this time.
3.Avoid complete filling up of your fuel tank. Keep it half so that a proper pressure is maintained. Also this will ensure that the fuel pipes are always dirt free and are not blocked by the residues of slow flowing fuel. The Fuel tank also will not hold rust.
4.Get your car serviced at intervals specified by the owner?s manual from authorized service centers to ensure that your car is in proper tune all the time.
5.Change the air filter regularly. A dirty air filter restricts the air flow into the engine, which affects performance and economy. Similarly, change the oil in your car occasionally.
6.Be a smooth driver and avoid sudden braking or acceleration, this may not only saves you fuel but also extend tire life.
7.Turn off your car if you need to stop for more than 3 minutes.
8.Avoid clutch riding as it hampers car?s engine life which in turn raises your fuel consumption.
9.Try not to overload your vehicle with unnecessary things. Many people carry unnecessary things in the boot of their cars - extra weight means the engine works harder and drinks more fuel to get up to speed.
10.Use air-conditioner selectively as it puts extra load on the engine forcing more fuel to be used. Use your car's flow through ventilation, open a window or turn off air conditioner once the car has cooled.