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Routine Car Maintenance Tips for Tropical Climates

Checking your fluid levels is one of the most important maintenance routines for your car.
Checking your fluid levels is one of the most important maintenance routines for your car.

Islanders know how important routine car maintenance is for their vehicles. From the intense sunlight to the heat, humidity and salty breezes, there are countless ways in which Mother Nature can eat away at your car.

Here are some general vehicle maintenance tips, so you can keep your car clean, reliable, and protected from the elements.

Make sure your fluids are at proper levels
From engine oil to transmission fluid and coolant, it’s essential to keep your car’s fluids properly filled in a tropical climate. A lack of engine oil can combine quickly with intense heat, speeding up the likelihood of your engine overheating and burning out. The same applies for transmission fluid. If your transmission fluid runs too low and decays, you can expect serious, if not fatal, damage to your vehicle.

Use synthetic motor oils
Synthetic motor oils are designed to withstand intense heat for longer periods of time than conventional motor oils. With synthetic oils, your engine is less likely to burn oil and develop sludge.

Wash and wax your car regularly
Surrounded by the sea, salt is virtually everywhere – in the wind, in the rain, and on the roads. Saltwater particles are corrosive and can eat away at your vehicle’s paint as well as brake calipers, nuts and bolts, and virtually any metal surface on your car. Regularly washing and waxing your vehicle gets rid of those salty particles and prevents them from sticking to your car’s paint.

Cover your car
Parking your car in a garage or covering it with a fitted cover are two of the best ways you can protect your car from salt and harmful UV rays.

Maintain proper tire pressure
When you’re driving in hot conditions, the heat that’s generated from traveling at high speeds can prove to be too much for your tires if they’re not properly inflated. Ensuring proper tire pressure prevents scary and potentially dangerous blowouts while you travel.

Watch your windshield wipers
Exposure to intense sunlight, heat, and UV radiation can quickly dry out and crack your windshield wipers. If you notice that your wipers are leaving streaks, be sure to change them out. To preserve your wipers as long as you can, try to park in the shade and cover your vehicle when possible.

Keep an eye on your battery
This general vehicle maintenance tip is an important one, especially if you don’t want to be stranded on the side of the road in hot weather conditions. Because exposure to hot temperatures can do more damage to your battery than exposure to cold temperatures can, keeping a close eye on your battery’s terminals is key. The heat can cause a buildup to form around the terminals, which can weaken the connection and damage your battery further.

While salt particles, heat, and sunlight are impossible to avoid, there are plenty of steps you can take to protect and preserve your vehicle from their damaging effects. We hope our routine car maintenance tips, from regularly washing and waxing to keeping close tabs on your fluid levels, make a helpful checklist to keep your car running (and looking) its best.

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10 COMMENTS

  1. I found this article very helpful since I’m from a tropical country! It’s true that you need to wash your car daily because the sea salt can come in contact with your vehicle and eat away at the paint. It’s important that car owners should know basic stuff like this so they can properly maintain their car. You can always find out more about car maintenance by reading related articles online like this. Thanks for this!

  2. Many operatives don’t know what they should really take to protect their speed machine from the hottest weather conditions. Extreme heat and moisture can be damaging to the automobile if not appropriately defended against. You need to check engine oil and fluid, rotate the tires, ensure that AC is working, examine the battery life in order to make your convertible able to perform great even on most humid days. Also, make sure you have taken the right measures for protecting the vehicle against salt damage.

  3. Everybody who owns a car should maintain his car properly. Because proper maintenance is needed to run car for long time. The fluids of the car should be maintained at proper level. In tropical climates, we should use synthetic oils in our car’s engine because these motor oils are designed to withstand the heat for longer periods of time. So, engine oil doesn’t need to burn oil. We should maintain proper tire pressure. Exposure to heat, intense sunlight can crack our windshield wipers. So, if we notice the wipers are leaving streaks, then we should replace them.

  4. The first and foremost duty of a car owner is to take care of his car properly. It makes the vehicle long lasting. In tropical climate, extreme heat is felt. So to save our car from this excess heat we should check the level of coolant and if it is found to be low, then we have to top it off. In those areas there is salty particles present virtually everywhere as the place is surrounded by the sea. We must wash and wax our car regularly to remove those salty particles and getting it stick to the vehicle’s paint. We should maintain proper tire pressure in car tires as it helps to prevent blowouts due to excess heat.

  5. I completely agree that the quality of the battery should be inspected by conducting a volt test prior to the arrival of the summer. The weaker or damaged battery couldn’t withstand the extremely cold temperature of the summer. So, it is really necessary to replace the older or weaker battery to ensure continuous power supply to the vehicle. Any sign which indicates that the battery has some sort of mechanical issues shouldn’t be ignored and the reason behind the appearance of the abnormal sign should be identified and if necessary the abnormal battery should be replaced.

  6. Thanks for highlighting the importance of routine car maintenance in the tropical region. Environmental factors have a significant influence on the performance of the vehicle. So, suitable initiatives should be taken into consideration to keep the vehicle in working order. Extreme hot temperature of the summer could jeopardize the engine. So, suitable initiatives should be implemented to keep the engine in working order. The cooling system of the vehicle plays a critical role in the performance of the vehicle by absorbing the excess amount of heat generated by the engine. So, suitable initiatives should be implemented to keep the cooling system in working order.

  7. Car care steps are very important for an operative to know. In fact, knowing the maintenance measures is a key part of having a car. Purchasing a luxury speed machine does not guarantee pristine condition of the intermediary all along its life-expectancy, until and unless proper aftercare is carried out. And for the proper execution of the maintenance procedures, the motorist has to go through his owner’s manual minutely. The engine oil and mobile oil → should be inspected regularly and replaced timely, in order to keep your old faithful reliable in tropical climates.

  8. Tropical climatic condition is always associated with the temperature fluctuation at an extreme level which has significant negative impacts on the performance of a vehicle. Such extreme temperature has negative impacts on the performance of the battery. So, the condition of the battery should be inspected regularly and proper insulation should be provided to the battery to keep it in working order. Besides, any sign which indicates that cooling system of the car is not working efficiently shouldn’t be ignored and the reason behind the appearance of such sign needs to be identified and repaired in time to keep the cooling system in working order.

  9. Thanks for helping me understand that the lack of engine oil can contribute to how fast the engine will heat up which can cause overheating and burning out. I guess that is the reason why my car overheated yesterday since I never put that much engine oil, and I never check it ever since I had the car since last year. It might have been damaged now, so I need to take it to the mechanic as soon as possible to make it work again.

  10. Hey, Raechel deMink, How are you.
    I want to say one thing this is the best post I ever have seen on this topic. You have great knowledge about this topic. Thanks for sharing this post with us. It is really helpful.
    Well, I also want to introduce one person like you who is talented and professional in the car’s buying and selling field. If anyone looking for any type of help related to this field then you can contact withLance Cook