Auto maintenance is a matter of timing for McHenry drivers

How do avoid these excessive and costly automotive repair bills or breaking down unexpectedly on the side of the road somewhere while traveling miles from McHenry? The answer to both questions is simple – automotive maintenance.

If you take care of your car it will take care of you. If you treat it badly and let it lapse into disrepair, don’t be surprised if the additional costs and unreliability your car will generate and exhibit.

When it comes to taking care of your car, automotive maintenance is really not that hard to keep with. In fact, if procedures are done in their time, you can rest assured that you won’t have many unexpected costs or breakdowns. Oil changes; checking the antifreeze/coolant, the thermostat and hoses; testing the battery, alternator and starter; checking the belts, brakes, exhaust, steering and suspension – these are all critical matters in their time.

So, when is the right time for automotive maintenance? Here is a basic guide though you’ll want to check your owner’s manual for a more specific maintenance schedule:

• Oil Change: Oil changes require regular attention. You’ll probably change the oil three or four times each year. Fail to do so and you’ll put unnecessary wear and tear on your engine, shortening its life and increasing the likelihood of damaging expensive internal engine parts.
• Check Antifreeze/Coolant: You should check the antifreeze and coolant seasonally – spring and fall. In the spring, you want to make sure the coolant can keep its cool through the summer heat. In the fall, you want to make sure the antifreeze (same fluid by a different name) won’t freeze on the cold, frigid winter nights. When checking the coolant/antifreeze, it’s a good time to check the hoses and thermostat. Might as well check the belts at that time, too.
• Check Steering and Suspension: The steering and suspension are best checked in the spring after their components have taken a winter’s beating, fighting their way through potholes and across blocks of snow and ice. It’s also a good time to rotate the tires and have an alignment done.
• Check Battery, Alternator and Starter: You’ll want to have the battery, alternator and starter checked in the fall since winter has its own way of testing them. When the weather is bitterly cold, they have to work harder to keep up. Additionally, who wants to discover their battery is dead in the middle of a winter night?
• Check Brakes and Exhaust: The brakes and exhaust, well, you can have those checked most any time. A good idea is to have them checked once a year while the car is in for an oil change.

For convenience sake, you may roll a number of these maintenance steps into one trip to your trusted McHenry area auto repair shop. For instance, in the spring, you can bring the car in for an oil change, have the coolant checked, along with the hoses, belts and thermostat. Then, have the steering and suspension checked.

In the fall, have an oil change and check the antifreeze, hoses, belts, thermostat, brakes, exhaust, battery, alternator and starter.

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing? If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

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October 20 Hootenanny will benefit veterans with PTSD

Been to a Hootenanny lately? When you read that question did you ask, “What?” Well, if you have gone to a Hootenanny in a while, or if you don’t know what a hootenanny is, we have an event for Oct. 20 that will clear up either question. From 6 p.m. to Midnight, Saturday, Oct. 20, MC3, the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce business networking group, is helping to host an inaugural Veterans R&R Wild Horse Hootenanny at Beyond Stable Farm (11129 Rte. 176, Woodstock). The event will benefit Veterans R&R Operation Wild Horse. Operation Wild Horse serves veterans with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Working with the horses has proven to have an incredibly calming effect on the veterans. And, it’s good for the horses, too, rescued wild mustangs. This means that the hootenanny is for a very good cause. But, it’s also a lot of fun. So, what is a hootenanny? According to a Google search, a hootenanny is “an informal gathering with folk music and sometimes dancing.” The V...

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