The Garage 284

focus Winter Servicing 28
Coming soon . . .
Winter servicing
Winter is the
most taxing
season
to a car, the
combination
of low temperatures, filthy
roads and darker mornings
and evenings meaning any
car has its work cut out just
to be reliable and comfortable.
For garages there are always
opportunities to increase
revenue streams
and, as was seen earlier this
year, Winter can always hang
around longer than expected,
as the ‘Beast from the
East’ showed.
In so many ways a garage
can be – indeed, should be
– putting more money in
the till. From basics such
as screen wash and replacing
wiper blades to offering
winter tyres, motorists need
to be confident their car is
prepared.
Even the most uninformed
motorist knows winter is a
taxing time for a car’s batteries
and, says Hella, one
in four vehicles are at risk
of battery failure and battery
performance can be reduced
by up to 35 percent once
temperatures hit freezing
point.
The Hella battery line-up
includes the Classic range,
for older vehicles with fewer
power demands, the Premium
range for cars of all sizes
and with medium to high energey
demands, and rounds
off with the Supreme, which
targets vehicles with multiple
electrical devices. An
AGM range is also available.
While it’s all to easy for
today’s engineering ignorant
motorists to fire up and drive
away as quickly as possible,
even with today’s engine oils
there’s the risk of damage to
cylinder bores and pistons –
damage that once inflicted,
is hard (if not impossible) to
remove.
Help is at hand with Liqui
Moly’s Cera Tec, which when
added to the engine oil adds
an extra surface protection,
and is especially useful during
the first minute after an
engine is started.
“During this long minute
metal grinds metal and wear
is excessively high,” says
Harry Hartkorn, application
engineer at Liqui Moly.
“Added to the engine oil, this
substance serves the engine
in two ways. On the one
hand it reduces friction so
starting up is facilitated. On
the other hand it applies a
very thin coating to all parts
of the engine which protects
them after starting up until
the oil gets there.”
Recent exposure of diesel
engine may have made the
once-popular oil-burning
continued on page 30>
Winter is the most taxing season to a car,
the combination of low temperatures, filthy
roads and darker mornings and evenings
meaning any car has its work cut out just to
be reliable and comfortable.
Richard Barnett looks at what’s in store for us
this winter.
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