A little pre-trip care and attention will ensure your Great Drive is a smooth one
A holiday drive can quickly become a journey to forget if you run into mechanical problems with your vehicle. NRMA will be there to help but a little preparation can prevent most problems.
Highway driving places more strain on many of your car's components, particularly tyres and the cooling and engine lubrication systems. Higher speeds, a heavy load of passengers and gear and high summer temperatures can spell disaster if your car is not in first-class condition.
Unless your last service was only a few thousand kilometres ago, give your car a complete service before you leave. This is the best way to spot potential disasters, fix them before they cause you trouble, and enjoy your drive.
Treat your engine to a lube
Engines like fresh oil, so an oil change should top your pre-trip agenda.
If you use your car mainly for short trips in the city, thick sludge may build up in the sump and condensation may give a false oil level reading. If your last oil change was some time ago, the lubricating properties of your car's oil will have diminished, causing greater wear on the engine's moving parts.
Sustained highway speeds, especially in hilly country with a full load on board, can cause expensive engine damage if your oil level is low, or sludge prevents the oil pump distributing the oil efficiently through the engine.
Fresh oil, topped up to the high level mark on the dipstick (but no further) and checked each day, should eliminate any worries in this area.
Don't forget the other lubricants, all of which should be renewed before a long drive if it has been 12 months since your car's last service. Automatic transmission fluid, gearbox and differential oils and the grease on various linkages and suspension parts don't last forever. A full lube before the trip is good insurance.
NRMA MotorServe - your new choice for good, honest car servicing.
Keep cool
The same rationale applies to your car's cooling system: have it checked and filled with new coolant. Old coolant, a malfunctioning thermostat or a blocked radiator will soon succumb to highway speeds in hot weather.
At best you will need to find a service station en route to have the system repaired; at worst your engine will overheat to the point where warped or cracked cylinder heads - which cost big money to fix - stop you in your tracks.
Your mechanic can drain your car's coolant, pressure-test the system, check the radiator hoses for deterioration and fill the system with the right mixture of coolant and water before you go. It is especially important to get this done if you are heading into cold areas, where frosts or snow are possibilities.
The right engine coolant for your car will resist freezing and cracking of the hoses, so when you start up on a frosty morning the water pump won't be trying to propel ice around the engine.
Maintain pressure
Most of us are lazy about checking tyre pressures. You should check once a week using your own tyre pressure gauge - the ones at service stations are often unreliable.
Your tyres, including the spare, should be in good condition with no less than 4 mm of tread remaining and no cracks or abnormal wear patterns on the tread. You will find a placard, usually inside the glovebox or in one of door housings, listing the correct tyre pressures for your car.
Your owner's handbook will also have them. On the highway, it is a good idea to inflate your tyres to around 4 psi (30 kpa) above the recommended maximum, especially if you are fully loaded. Heat build-up, caused by under-inflation, is the main cause of tyre failure. Adding a little extra pressure will allow your tyres to run cooler, wear will be reduced and your car will steer and handle better.
While you're on the road, check your pressures every couple of days. Check that all the necessary wheel-changing equipment - brace, jack, etc - is in your car and easy to get at. If you have not changed a wheel before, have a look at the owner's handbook before you go.
It is also a good idea to get the wheel alignment checked and, if necessary, adjusted before your holiday.
Driving around town may not reveal problems in this area, but once you reach the open road, incorrectly aligned front wheels can cause an annoying shimmy in the steering, and tyre wear will be rapid.
Also on the check-list
Your car's tyres, lubrication and cooling systems are the most important things to check before a long drive, but other areas should at least be inspected if you want a trouble-free trip.
A loose or corroded exhaust system will be severely tested on the highway, so get your mechanic to check it. Your brakes will need enough pad life to do the trip, the discs will need to be true and within wear limits and the brake fluid should be changed if it has been in the system for 12 months.
Finally, your car's battery needs to be fully charged and topped up to the correct levels with distilled water. Terminals need to be secure. Check also any fan or accessory drive belts on the engine; they should be correctly tensioned, and if any excess wear, cracking or splitting is evident, you should have them replaced.
Safe packing - sedans
In a 50km/h frontal impact, every loose item in your car weighs 20-30 times its static mass. A five-kilogram gas bottle, for example, becomes a 150kg missile, and even lighter objects such as soft bags and books can cause serious injury.
In a sedan, pack as much as you can in the boot and carry only essentials in the cabin.
Try to put the things you will need to get at regularly on top of the main load, so you don't have to unpack the car to reach them. Any gear carried in the car should be stored on the floor; never put anything but jumpers and jackets on the rear parcel shelf and make sure they don't block your rear vision.
Safe packing - wagons and 4WDs
The soft plastic blind provided in many wagons is of minimal value in stopping objects flying forwards. At the very least you should use a cargo net to secure your load.
Make sure it covers all of your gear. A cargo barrier, which separates the load area from the passenger compartment and prevents items being thrown forward past the rear seat, is the best form of protection against injury.
