Dave Redinger's The Neighbourhood Mechanic

Ramblings of an old mechanic stuck in traffic.

Did you know there actually is a correct method for cleaning the snow off your car? Make sure you clean off the entire roof first.

The snow on the roof quickly turns soft as the vehicle warms. It will slide over the windshield on hard braking or worse freeze when the car is parked.

The first time you’re on the highway that ice will fly off possibly damaging the vehicle behind you. If you have large amounts of snow and ice building up on the vehicle, just run it through a carwash.

Try and wash your car in the morning so that it can dry during the warmer daytime temps. If your doors tend to freeze shut, lubricate the door seals with a silicone spray. This will repel the moisture and eliminate damage to the door seals when their stuck.

One more….make sure all your locks are fully lubricated. Locks are fragile and are easy damaged when forced and breaking your key be costly.

Don’t you just love winter?

Two questions on a recent topic, same answer.
Your radio show and column are great. However; contrary to your advice I rely on the oil life function on my 92 Park Ave, and 1996, 2001 ,2003 Auroras which works out to approx 9 months and 9500 kms. Driving is mostly city 25 kms daily plus cottage in summer. The dealer says this is not unusual. Your comments please

I read your column last week re: 5000 km intervals. What is your level of trust in the "maintenance minders" installed on many new cars nowadays? I have driven my '06 Acura CSX only 4800 kms in 8 months of ownership (retired, living in Victoria).

The readout states that oil life is still 40%. Would you follow its change-at-20% recommendation, or go the 5000 km-interval route?

Thanks for your question John; Maintenance reminders are preprogrammed to incorporate both Time and Mileage in their oil life recommendations. Couple of issues I have here. We live in an area where "Severe Service" is the recommended “service schedule”. That means our cars operate in more severe conditions (dramatic temperature changes) than say a vehicle operating in Florida. Severe service requires more frequent oil changes. Secondly; vehicle's that operate in a short time cycle (stop and go driving) tend to develop water in the engine. This occurs because the engine never fully warms. The water is absorbed in the oil where over time it turns acidic. That's why we recommend the 4 month cycle. So here we are back to the original 5000kms or 4 months recommendation. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to better explain this.