Warmer weather means more road trips. To get your car ready for the spring and summer seasons, AAA's Robert Sinclair offers crucial maintenance tips for your car.
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00:00warmer weather means road trips they're ahead and here with what to add sorry here with expert
00:06advice to make sure your car is ready before hitting the road is triple a's robert sinclair
00:12thanks so much for being with us one of our favorites thank you very much for having me
00:15oh we always enjoy having mr robert here today oh goodness you're too kind thank you if you want
00:22a good sound bite you get it from him yeah all right first let's start with the tires now no
00:26pressure right no pun intended did you do that on purpose no i really didn't let's get back on track
00:32how do you check to make sure they are safe and road ready well tires are very important you have
00:39to check the pressure ideally once a week minimally once a month uh the government the national highway
00:45traffic safety administration says that eighty percent of us are driving around on improperly
00:50inflated tires with that improper inflation tending to be under inflation now underinflated tires create
00:56extra rolling resistance the engine works harder to propel the vehicle with that the case burning
01:03more gasoline and also it's a safety problem the tires are softer you're going to get bad handling the
01:09tire can overheat and fail catastrophically known as a blowout and those situations are particularly bad
01:15on long trips when the weather is very hot and when the vehicle is heavily loaded and 85 to 90 percent
01:22of americans who take a holiday or vacation trip drive to their destination so tires are very very
01:28important you also need to rotate them which is kind of a misnomer they rotate all the time but you
01:34need to swap them from front to rear that will equalize the wear on the tires the front tires do more work
01:39because they carry the weight of the vehicle the weight of the engine up front they steer the vehicle and
01:45also due to weight transfer when you're braking there's more force put on those tires so it's very important
01:50you take care of them all right let's talk about uh under the hood the fluids the belt and the hoses
01:57what should you check for for performance of safety oil is very important oil is the lifeblood of an
02:05engine and dirty oil can come up and clog an engine uh it's recommended that you follow the vehicle
02:12manufacturer's recommendation service intervals on changing oil which is usually three to five thousand
02:18miles bit longer if you're using a synthetic oil make sure you change the filter when you're at it
02:24also it's the uh coolant coolant is very very important we don't get boil overs during the summer
02:30like we used to 20 years ago because the systems are closed they call called closed loop systems
02:36they pressurize the fluid which raises the boiling point so they last pretty long you usually don't get
02:41a boil over but you have to change the fluid probably once every three to four years uh some do it
02:47your selfies can do that you have to uh make sure you get the proper procedure some multiple youtube
02:53videos can help out with that but you have to flush all the old fluid out of the system and you have to
02:57make sure you use the right fluid from the correct manufacturer and the right color it's very important
03:03that the proper fluid be used when you're changing coolant also transmission fluid is very important
03:09now in most new vehicles the transmissions are sealed for life but if your fluid is able to be changed
03:15and you have a dipstick you really need to get a qualified professional to check the uh transmission
03:19fluid and change it according to again the manufacturer's recommended intervals um belts and hoses are
03:26very important you can do a visual inspection of hoses you're looking for those really kind of aneurysms
03:32in the in the hoses if there are any soft spots in them belts you're looking for cracks and pits and
03:38those kind of things uh and have them changed by a professional if necessary maintenance is very very
03:44important so you don't wind up by the side of the road we know something about helping people when
03:48they're broken down and not only is it inconvenient it can be very very dangerous um unfortunately we
03:54lose uh road service personnel uh somewhere in the united states every two weeks when they're servicing
04:00someone by the side of the road when they are unfortunately struck by a passing vehicle so
04:05maintenance is very important to make sure that does not happen to you yeah absolutely that's a good
04:10uh view of uh view of that meanwhile gas prices what is triple a expecting in the coming weeks
04:17you know gas prices are really low uh we're around 3 11 3 12 per gallon nationwide and that's upwards of
04:2350 or 60 cents less than a year ago the there's lots of crude oil united states depending on what day
04:30it is the number one uh provider of crude oil upwards of 13 million barrels per day um some opec plus
04:37nations just came back online at the beginning of may pumping an extra two million four hundred
04:42thousand barrels per day uh global production daily production of crude oil is about 100 million
04:48barrels so there's lots of crude oil out there being turned into gasoline but the unfortunate thing is
04:55the econ economic uncertainty is playing into the price of gasoline it's thought that with all the things
05:01that are happening with the economy that there'll be slower economic activity and when that happens
05:06there's less demand for petroleum products particularly diesel and gasoline now right
05:12now diesel and gasoline is at a premium i'm sorry diesel and jet fuel is at a premium uh so they're
05:17pumping out lots of that but when you pump out lots of diesel and jet fuel you also pump out lots
05:22of gasoline so there's plenty in reserve plenty in inventory as it's called so it's anticipated that
05:27prices should stay low the way they are for a while given some unforeseen circumstance that happens
05:35to affect the market and i think drivers will enjoy that uh forty percent of drivers have told us that
05:40three dollars a gallon is the pain point for the price of gasoline was slightly above that nationwide
05:45so it's still a problem for a significant portion of drivers
05:49robert sinclair with triple a just so much knowledge we appreciate you joining us on accuweather early