What to check on your car AFTER a trip.

[Tom]

We spend a lot of time talking about how to prepare for and participate in a trip. We also need to consider what to check on our cars after a trip to ensure they stay in good condition. I will start the discussion and am interested in hearing what you check on your car after a trip.

1. Always check your tyre pressure the morning after a trip while they are still cold. I run my tyres at 32psi. This is what I fill them to at the end of a trip for the drive home. They can be as low as 25psi in the morning due to the temperature difference. You need to check and refill them to the proper pressure.

2. Many of us have our cars washed after a trip. While it is up on the lift have a look underneath. Does everyting look as it should? What's that you say, you have never looked under your car so you don't know what's normal. Well start looking and when something changes notice it. Is anything leaking? Is anything broken or hanging down? Does anything look bent?

3. Look in your engine compartment when the engine is cold. Are the fluids (coolant, oil, clutch, brake, power steering) all at proper levels? How do the belts look? Are they cracked or frayed? How clean is your air filter? Is oil seeping out anywhere (by now you might have figured out that seeping oil is a preoccupation of most Defender owners). Is the battery clamped down tight?

4. Look around the outside of your vehicle. Are any plastic bits broken, cracked, loose? Check inside the wheel arches. Have any plastic rivets come out? It is easier and cheaper to replace rivets than to let the plastic come loose and get broken.

5. It is especially important to check any modifications or accessories you have recently had done. They tend to rub against things they shouldn't, come loose, or just break. Fresh wiring always wants to find a way to short out. Just because you have had a professional install it don't assume it must be fine. Take a look.

If you find anything you think is wrong, ask your mechanic. If you are mechanically inclined have a go at fixing it yourself.

With what we do to our vehicles in the desert, even the newest, best made ones need proper care and attention.

Tom

[amabrouk]

well done tom and thanks for the help its really good to do all of that and really most of the people dont do

[kghaleb]

:bravo:

[kghaleb]

:bravo:

[Nasser]

I might add:

Is your bumper still there?
It might still be there but bent

Your front and rear licence plates SHOULD also be bent, otherwise u did not try hard enough.

Check the caps protecting the air valves on your tires....at least one should be missing for God's sake....u left it at deflation or inflation point 8O

At least a kilo of silver or gold sand (depending on where u went) or a mix of both, must and should be in your car Some of it finds its way to the rear and under the dashboard plus a good amount of dust.....to treat the clocks and electronics.

Anything else

[TINTIN]

Some other things to check for are

1. Check all greasable componets such as tie-rods ends, track bar swivel joints, any thing that has a grease nipple and rubber dust gaurd to see if there are any splits in the rubbers, not expensive to replace and takes arond half hour if you know your way around your car.

2. Tyre condition, check for scratches, warped side walls, chunks missing from tread and split or bad condition valves, could all lead to a blow out at highway speeds.

3. Place a shoe over the end of your exhaust and check for leaks further down from the back box to the headers area, you can get repair kits for exhausts from ACE in Port Zayed but welding a plate over the hole would be better advised.

4. Wheel allignment. In a safe area accelerat up to around 60 kmh and hit the brakes while just softly holding the steering wheel. If the car pulls to one side go get the allignment checked out, could also be uneaven brake fluid distribution or rotor wear, also get the wheels ballanced and rotated while your there. Always include your spare tire in the rotation.

5. If on the way home your ride feels a little squishy, after checking your tire pressure check your shock absorbers. Very simple check, stand at the front of your vehicle andpush down on the bonnet but wait for the car to cool down first as your bonnet gets very hot. If the car bounces back to the standard heigt once then it is good but if it bounces a few times then get your shocks looked at by a good mechanic as worn shocks can lead to veering and even literaly bouncing off the road on the highway.
To check the back shocks open the trunk and push down on the cargo area not the bumper. Same rule applies as teh front.

Its first thing in the morning so I'm still a bit fuzzy, may have some more later.

Tony.

(Nice thread by the way Tom) 8)

[faragallah]

At least a kilo of silver or gold sand (depending on where u went) or a mix of both, must and should be in your car Some of it finds its way to the rear and under the dashboard plus a good amount of dust.....to treat the clocks and electronics.

Yeah, i spent more than an hour yesterday cleaning the sand which filled every mm of my car...

[Andy]

Already mentioned in Toms excellent post but........

Double check your airfilter, take out the filter give it a knock against the wall and see how much sand comes out also check the filter housing as you may need to vacumn it out.

The 'Plastic Pig' needs its filter cleaned after every trip...

[Channes]

Hi Tom,
Thank you for the good advice.
Christian

[Scorpio84]

I noticed that the coating on the rear difrential is coming off and rust is building up. I usually wash the car the next day, is that too late? and are there any solutions?

Ghassan

[MooD]

I noticed that the coating on the rear difrential is coming off and rust is building up. I usually wash the car the next day, is that too late? and are there any solutions?

Ghassan

It's common thing for the most of the cars after wishing it by high pressure water ...... Or after Liwa trip if you crossed a wet Sabkha .......

I've cleaned the diff of my car by sand paper and then I've painted with mat-black rust stopper spry high temp rated from Ace ........ By the way me, Hani, Amin and SSS did it in the same time

[Scorpio84]

I noticed that the coating on the rear difrential is coming off and rust is building up. I usually wash the car the next day, is that too late? and are there any solutions?

Ghassan

It's common thing for the most of the cars after wishing it by high pressure water ...... Or after Liwa trip if you crossed a wet Sabkha .......

I've cleaned the diff of my car by sand paper and then I've painted with mat-black rust stopper spry high temp rated from Ace ........ By the way me, Hani, Amin and SSS did it in the same time

Hala Za3eem, welcome back.

Ok cool, I was gonna say get the dealership to do the undercoating for me. is that just as good?

[Mpenzi]

Every Three Months or depend on hard driving I took my car to Mussafah where they check and tight every single bolt under the body from Bumper to bumper.
Just to keep an eye on those loose bolts.

[PEPSI]

Sand love our cars vis-a-vis. I normally have it full body & under bonet & chasis wash. Occassionally using steam wash (as this is a bit costlier than normal water).

[Wasabi]

What I am Checking???????


If my doggy is still next to me........