Fall Maintenance (vehicles, windshield, motorcycles, tires)

[Larry Caldwell]

Does anyone else maintain by season? I just replaced the windshield wiper blades in all my vehicles, since the sun has gone south and the heat/UV won't ruin them again until spring. The new rubber is great in bad weather.

I also service the air cleaner this time of year. Summer dust has been rained down and it will stay clean until next summer.

Weather stripping gets inspected and either repaired or just treated with Son of a Gun lubricant/protectant. The exterior gets a hand wash and a coat of Nu-Finish clear coat protectant. The interior gets detailed and floor mats get a coat of ScotchGard. All lights and reflectors are checked, the headlight lenses get detailed if they need it.

The emergency kit gets switched from summer to winter contents. Tires get swapped for winter snows on Nov. 1.

Does anybody do anything different? Of course, this list does not include regular maintenance like oil changes, belts, etc. My annual cooling system maintenance happens in June, before summer heat hits and I really need a cooling system.

[StealthRabbit]

My fleet gets its annual oil change (synthetic) in October, cuz the use is less in winter.

Fuel filters are always top of my list (all vehicles are diesel, except 4 riding lawnmowers and 7 motorcycles)

If it is warm enough, the rigs get a power wash of engine, then run til warm before oil change.

Air filters cleaned or replaced, and yes... new wiper blades for the next 280 days of rain.

4 wheel Studded snows get swapped on 1 Nov, on a couple rigs. (Freezing rain). Chains get examined and mounted to verify they will be ready.

Batteries / cables checked and terminals cleaned.

Nothing like when living /driving in WY winters. Life is EZ in my temperate climates.

[Universe93B]

Those are good things to do. Since I live in NC, where we have mild winters, I just follow the maintenance schedule by mileage, not season. One thing though, when the weather gets colder I make sure the battery is up for it. Who wants to get stranded in the cold?

All the cars now have a lithium ion jump starter in the trunk -so compact and they work great!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[car54]

I reset my cars' clocks for Daylight Savings Time. November 6th this year.

Spring forward, Fall back!

[BostonMike7]

Only thing I do is add the snow brush to the trunk before the snow starts to fly.


Other than that, my maintanence is per the manual. Nothing special done for seasons.

[mclasser]

I don't do anything crazy. Just make sure fluids are clean & topped off, keep an eye on tire pressures since they fluctuate this time of year, have a few bottles of washer fluid in the garage and throw a snow brush and pair of gloves in the trunk.

I buy good quality beam wiper blades that last years. Beats the el cheapos that are junk in 6 months.

[notnamed]

Only thing I do seasonally is wax the cars. Everything else on a normal schedule, except maybe for an early tire pressure check on that first day of a big temperature change.