Winter Truck Upkeep: Six Ideas for Preparing Your Truck for Winter

Are you ready for the winter with your cargo truck? Monitoring your truck's maintenance is essential for your safety, the safety of other drivers on the road, and the safety of other road users. Winter is rapidly approaching.

Any vehicle, particularly a fleet of vehicles that are on the road for several hours each day, suffers from the harsh winter weather and freezing temperatures. Use this maintenance checklist to get your truck ready for the winter season before the temperature falls below freezing.

1. Skip the cold soaks

Cold soaks happen when the metal and liquid components of the engine block are lost as a result of being in chilly conditions. In other words, it indicates that the engine has remained idle for a long time (more than a day), and cold weather may have contributed to this. Ensure that your engine is operating at all times and isn't left idle for more than 24 hours.

2. Examine the tyres and tyre pressure

Never forget to monitor the tyre pressure on your truck both before and during the winter. Tire tread life, fuel efficiency, and safety may be affected by the gradual loss of tyre pressure caused by cold conditions.

Additionally, if your tyres are losing tread, this might make driving conditions slick. As running winter tyres in great condition will help minimise accidents and breakdowns, make sure your tyres are inflated.

3. Connect the Engine Block Heater

If you drive during the wintertime, you've likely heard that sometimes you have to plug in your car's engine block warmer for it to start. When it's 0° F or lower during the wintertime and you begin the engine, the oil in the engine block thickens and starts to become gloppy, therefore you'll need an engine block warmer. The engine would work harder, consume more gas, and emit more pollution as a result of the difficulty the oil will have moving through it.

You must plug in the block heater if it will be chilly at midnight or in the early morning hours. It's a good idea to turn it on when the temperature reaches 5°F.
Avoiding cold soaks may help maintain the engine's block warm, making it simpler for the engine to begin.

4. Verify your sidelights, backlight, and front light

Check to see if each of your lights is operational. It can be challenging to see where you're going in snowstorms, hazy conditions, or on ice roads without strong lights guiding the way.

5. Examine your battery

Since heat degrades batteries, cold engines require significantly more battery power to start. In cold temperatures, batteries lose power quickly and might be particularly difficult to recharge.

Check the battery's expiry date during your upkeep checklist to ensure it is still capable of maintaining a decent charge, and clean any prior connections frequently during the wintertime.

6. Switch to new wipers

You should change your windshield wipers a minimum of once a year, and the onset of winter is a good time to do so.

Your wiper blades are what keep your eyesight clean while driving in the rain or snow. With a worn-out or broken wiper blade, the extreme conditions of freezing rain, ice buildup, and snow could put you in danger.

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