DIY CAR MAINTENANCE TIPS DURING LOCKDOWN

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It is also important to keep your car battery maintained and you can do this by simply running your vehicle whilst parked for about 15-20 minutes once a week. This will this give the battery time to increase its charge so that when you do need to use your car it will have enough power to start the engine. Whilst the vehicle is running, turn the air conditioning on for a few minutes as this will help maintain the seals in the air conditioning system and reduce the chance of mould developing in your vehicle’s air circulation system through lack of use.
**Most importantly here – never ever leave your vehicle unattended when it’s switched on and running!**

Vehicles with MOT’s due from 30 March 2020 have been given a six-month extension by the DVSA. However, drivers are still expected to keep their vehicles in a safe and roadworthy condition. If you need to drive for essential reasons check the following:

1) Check all fluid levels including oil, engine coolant, brake fluid and screenwash to ensure they are at least at the minimum recommended levels.
2) Check all your lights and maybe get another member of your family to check the brake lights are working when you press the brake pedal.
3) Make sure your wiper blades are not split and are clearing your windscreen.
4) Check that your tyres have sufficient tread depth and no visible defects like cuts or bulges. The minimum legal tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm. You can easily check by inserting a 20p piece into a tyre groove. If the outer band of the coin is not obscured by the tread, they’re likely to be too low and illegal to use.
5) Ensure tyres are properly inflated. Under-inflated tyres cause increased fuel consumption and can affect the braking & steering performance of your vehicle. You should be able to find the recommended tyre pressures for your model in the owner’s handbook or in some cases on the inside of the door pillar near the lock of either of the front doors or inside the fuel filler cap.
6) Gently try your brakes when first setting off to ensure they’re working properly. They may build up corrosion as mentioned earlier which creates a crunching or grinding noise for the first mile or so but this should soon disappear once you have used the brakes 2-3 times as it will only be surface rust which occurs naturally with lack of use.

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