It’s Wrenching Wednesday! How Are You Prepping Your Car For Summer?

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I’m glad it’s getting warmer. I’m sick of my feet being constantly cold, and I’m sick of everyone whose warm, dank armpits I try to clandestinely shove my two-degree-Kelvin feet into screaming like I’m trying to both murder them and convert them to Scientology. I like seeing the trees grow leaves again, the flowers push through the soil like zombie arms from graves, and while I’m not exactly thrilled about all the pollen around, I’ll happily do a few fat yellow rails of the stuff just because. Plus, summer is a great time to be driving, which I intend to do plenty of. So what are you doing to prepare your car for summer?

Compared to winter, summer seems like a pretty low-lift sort of prep, but is it? What sorts of things are you doing to your respective fleets to prepare them for the glorious heat?

I know for many of our readers there will be the somber ceremony of swapping out knobbly winter tires for glistening all-seasons or summer tires. I know I need to recharge the A/C in, I think, all my cars that actually have working A/C, and I’ll be hoping that’s all they need. I might also take advantage of it no longer being so damn cold out to change the oil in the Pao, too. What else does summer demand? Wiper blades? Cooling system checks seem a good idea, since those will finally have to be working. And working harder.

I’m sure there are many things I’m not considering – spraying anti-stick coatings like Pam non-stick spray on vinyl seats, or trimming another inch or so off your Daisy Dukes, or fixing your window regulators. The point is, I’m nosy as hell, and I want – no, need – to know what you are doing.

How are you prepping your cars for the joys of summer? Tell me! Tell me, dammit! Let’s discuss!

 

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Mercedes Streeter

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72 thoughts on “It’s Wrenching Wednesday! How Are You Prepping Your Car For Summer?”

  2. Nothing in particular for the daily drivers. I am doing a coolant flush and new trans fluid/filter for my beater Corolla, but that’s just because I’ve decided I want to keep it around a while longer. Not specifically for summer.

    What I’m really doing is trying to get my ’74 Buick Apollo back on the road. I just got a shipment of all new suspension bushings, shocks, tie rods, ball joints, and a new idler arm to try to make it handle less like a bag of wet hair. Then I need to install the front and rear glass, and get the 1991 date coded tires off of it!

  3. Swapped the Zenith carbs for bigger SUs over the winter. Might be starting it up for the first time this weekend. First turn of the key is always exciting.

  4. Besides swapping tires, there’s removing block heater cords, shovels and snowbrushes and swapping floor mats. Plus a general cleaning/inspection that goes with all of that. Used to do an oil change to put the thicker oil in for the summer, but it’s been a while since I drove a vehicle over the winter that needed thinner oil for colder temperatures.

  5. (1) Convince my state to issue a title and registration for a Triumph Acclaim (a model that isn’t in their database) on the strength of a few pieces of UK paperwork and some US Customs documents.

    (2) Convince my insurance company to cover the car, as it also isn’t in their database.

    (3) Replace its aging tires (155R13) and battery, swap its RHD headlights for LHD units (which are on their way from, of all places, the UK), and assess the rest of it as I go. Among other things its engine has a timing belt. I’ve heard mixed reviews of those.

    1. Not sure it matters if the vehicle exists in the database. Washington might be different, but in Idaho the DMV folks can out in whatever they want.

      I know somebody who went to register their 2001 Subaru Legacy Outback, which does not say Legacy anywhere on the car. The DMV could not find any such thing as a 2001 Subaru Outback(because outback was only used as the model name later) and titled it as a 2001 Subaru Car.

      1. I’ve been through this before with vehicles not in the state’s database and the likely additional difficulties are first, getting them to agree on its value for the one-time use tax (essentially a sales tax) if they can’t look it up in their price guide and second, getting them to accept the nonstandard VIN. Putting it into a US-based VIN decoder returns the result that it’s a 2011 Sterling with a checksum error because although BL Cars had switched to using a somewhat standardized 17-character VIN by 1982, it wasn’t yet fully compliant with later usage. This means the Department of Licensing may end up requiring me to have the VIN inspected by the Washington State Patrol which can result in a delay of weeks in getting an appointment.

        1. Wow, seems like registering cars in Washington sucks. Here in Idaho the DMV folks can inspect the VIN, and they don’t have to look up a value for a sales tax, they just use whatever sales price was on the bill of sale.

          1. One aspect of this is that Washington outsources front-line vehicle title and registration work to private parties. Instead of going to a state office, everyone has to go to a private business with a staff that has very little discretion to act in the face of unusual circumstances. Sometimes things can be handled with a phone call to the state office in Olympia and sometimes the problem just gets punted to the State Patrol.

            This also means that getting a driver license, which is handled directly by the state, involves going to a different location than getting a title or license plate. This was a bit surprising when I moved here from Oregon a few decades ago and was told I couldn’t do everything at the same time in the same place.

            Washington used to use the price on the bill of sale for tax purposes but eventually decided this provided too much wiggle room for, ah, entirely inadvertent misstatements of value.

            1. So what does their value book take into account when deciding value? Just make model year and mileage? Most vehicles I buy are in significantly below average condition and are significantly below average value for the year make and model. Seems like a good way to have grossly inaccurate numbers.

              1. They’ll accept a range of values based on (I think) some of the standard reference guides but beyond that I don’t know how they decide whether a given figure within that range is appropriate for a specific vehicle. Clearly there’s still a bit of wiggle room but it’s no longer possible to get away with claiming that, say, the purchase price of a freshly acquired 1956 300SL was $300.00 because that’s what’s scrawled in pencil on the inside of the torn matchbook cover that was used as the bill of sale.

      1. I’m trying to figure out the best way to drag out the conversation that no, it’s obviously not a Honda Civic; what it actually isn’t is instead not a Honda Ballade.

  7. Depending which of the eight cars I want to take out once it finally warms up and stays warm, anything from a wash/detail on a few, or at the other extreme I have one car to put a drivetrain back into, and my L67 91 Riviera needs to come back apart to replace the cheese block transaxle, and fix the suspension and brakes again…

  8. Everything?

    911 never needs very much but it’s my first choice for a rally in early June, so it’s getting an oil change, suspension lube, wheelwell splash guards finally installed, hopefully the new radio finally, and more top/window adjustments to try to make it less noisy with the top on.

    BMW (E12) is second choice, and is currently on stands in the home garage. It’s getting a new heater control valve (I miraculously found a new one), clean all the spilled coolanr out of the carpet and floor mat, new front suspension bushings, new PS fluid and filter, tighen front wheel bearings, new brake fluid, install vintage Blaupunkt.

    Fiat needs every single thing on the mechanical list and I won’t even be able to start on it til summer. My only goal is to drive it locally this season.

    Saab needs to get sold and doesn’t need that much to get it the last 10% of the way to where I want it.

    SE-R needs new injectors and O-rings (just arrived), diagnose sticking LR brake caliper, new t-stat and coolant, ignition rotor, and blown LR shock when I can find a replacement for the NLA unit.

  10. No mention of Citroen Mehari yet, just have to chime in to point it out! 😀

    Yesterday evening swapped the winter tyres on rims (205/55R16) with summer tyres (205/50R17) on original Mazda3 GTA wheels. Did it in some far corner of company parking garage. Took me 30 minutes with getting the wheels with summer tyres from under the stairs, lifting the car on one side (both wheels in the air) then the other and torqueing the wheels to 130Nm as per instructions.

  11. Deep clean, fresh fuel, and fixing the door scratched when the portable garage collapsed. Run it for a bit then start the show circuit.

  12. The Miata gets driven less in summer here (95 degree heat+high humidity+anemic early 90s AC= roadster stays in garage a lot) so I make sure I add Sta-Bil when I fill-up in May. Since my mechanic isn’t nearly as busy out-of-season it’ll be a good time to take it in and see if he can figure out what the latest weird noise is under the hood. Usually I’ll only take it out in evenings during the summer when the sun isn’t trying to melt your face off and it isn’t pissing down with rain. Convertible season in SW Florida is kind of the opposite of everywhere else.

  13. Lots of cleaning. But it is still doing rain showers around here, so I don’t want to do deep cleans yet. The list is growing though. Do the summer fluids checks and then I need to work on my e-bike, adding on some paniers and other attachments.

  14. Hmmm. . . I can’t read the prompt since I’m a cheapskate nonmember, but I can comment as though I can. Let’s have at it then.
    I’m preparing my daily driver 1985 Mercedes 300D for the summer NOT by fixing the A/C but by incorrectly fixing a front wheel bearing that wasn’t broken before I tried to fix it. A defect in the replacement part messed everything up big time. This has resulted in me not having my only car. So, progress? If you are counting steps backwards as progress.

    1. Ouch. I once grievously scratched the inner surface of my 300SD’s hub removing a bad race. Wary of using power tools, spent a very tiresome evening sanding that smooth by hand.

      Hope your repair goes well

      1. I also did that, but only when removing races scored by the defective part. Whoopsie. I decided the only way to fix it was to get a junkyard hub so that’s where I’m off to now. This repair has been an agonizing two weeks and many hours in the making and isn’t done yet.

        1. Oof. That bites.
          There’s something about 123s & 126s that, once I really got into them, made me insist on doing things right. They’re so freakin’ Cherman, you know? So many fiddly bits—and a multi-step procedure for each one. You get in a rhythm and just lose track of time. Many (mostly) happy hours in the garage 🙂

          1. Maybe not the desire to do everything perfectly but I love how every quirk seems to have an engineering justification though. But the fuel gauge labeled 1/1 for full still annoys me.
            This car has turned me into a hardcore DIYer, ha. I don’t know if it’s the overwhelming amount of stuff that doesn’t work properly or how easy and accessible it is (usually) to take stuff apart but I love working on this car
            https://opposite-lock.com/topic/96656/dieselification-is-this-what-old-car-ownership-is-like
            If you want to read what I’ve been up against, you can do that here. I pulled two used wheel hubs from the junkyard so I can install a used one as is and install new bearings and races in the other when my parts come in.

            1. Bookmarked
              After 20 years with 617s, I sent my last—a 300TD—down South to be loved by my buddy, so I can still vicariously wrench on MBs through your link. Thanks 🙂

              1. Glad you are interested. It’s my first car and I didn’t know anything about wrenching before I bought it so it’s been a real learning experience.

                1. I read it was your first. They are an interesting overture to wrenching, for sure!
                  We aquire tools over time as money permits, but one specialty one I’ve had for a very long time is an adjustable race-installer. Originally rented from Advance for work on air-cooled VWs, I went ahead & bought it the second time around. I was broke, but saved up because it beat finding a socket or pice of pipe, then balancing the pipe & a piece of wood on the hub so I could beat it in.

                  Nice 300D there! Keep at it: perseverance furthers, as they say. And, remember to walk away before you throw a wrench through the windshield 😉

  15. Truck – I’ve gotta get the pressure washer out, pull the skid plates and give everything underneath a good washing. Then it’s fluid change time for the front and rear diffs, transfer case, and transmission.

    KTM – I actually put it on a trickle charger so no worries there. Probably due for an oil change, and possible some tires that are a bit more street friendly.

  16. I have 2 oil changes to do when it gets warmer. This will be the first one for both of these cars since they had some free ones at the dealership to start out, so I’ll get to see if I have to put a screwdriver through the oil filter to loosen it and if I’ll need a breaker bar to get the oil drain plug off. The 330e doesn’t have a dipstick, so that that will be a slow process to check the oil level after, since the engine has to be warmed up and on level ground before it can show the oil level on the screen inside. Talk about overcomplicating things.

    I might throw some new plugs in the MG, but that’s a 5 minute job. It’s already been out this year on a few warm days in February and March. It started right up.

    I pulled the Airstream out of the backyard yesterday and will be dewinterizing it tonight and sanitizing the water tank so we can head camping for the eclipse from Saturday to Thursday.

    Everything needs a good wash and wax!

  17. Wash it! It’s been in and out of the shop so much in the past year, I haven’t bothered to shine it up, but I think we’ve cleared the “rehab new acquisition” phase are onto “regular maintenance.”

    Of course, now I’ve dared the universe…

    1. Me too. I always wait until at least May to really clean mine, as the pollen where I live is something fierce, even a 15 minute stop at the grocery store turns it yellowish.

  18. Kia: The winter car/kid hauler as needed. Have to swap over to summer tires and it could use a good clean, both inside and out. I pulled out the carpet last summer and cleaned it so it should be easy this summer.

    Mustang: The summer car. Unplug the battery tender and hope she fires right up. Really needs a wash and could use a moderate interior clean. Have to swap on the summer tires too. I rarely drive it in the winter but I put them on just in case. Also avoids sitting on the “good” tires.

    Wifes car: Swap over to the summer tires. Needs a good wash inside and out. Find the extra key that I somehow misplaced between getting home from a hike on Friday and Saturday morning.

  19. Did an oil change in my Autobianchi last weekend — partly to switch to 20w-50 to prepare for pending warming weather (per the A112’s user manual, no less), but also because I’ve only recently gotten the car and hadn’t performed an oil change as yet and had no idea what was in it. Two birds and all that…or something.

    Also before summer hits, I might remove its aftermarket a/c unit.

    It makes sense. Sorta…

  20. Decided to replace the nerf bars/steps on the Bronco. The ones I originally had installed are already flaking paint and rusting. Also looking at a nose protector/deflector to keep a few bugs off the windshield, plus a light bar over the windshield and maybe some ditch lights. I’d love to have the hardtop in place before a road trip, but there’s currently a 4-month lead time on that…

  21. well I replaced the passenger presence sensor. Now I just have to reprogram the ABS system and calibrate it. Then I need to re-flash the TPMS module (or replace it).

    Hopefully that is it. Then I can start on the other car.

  22. My Miata – Selling it (hopefully soon)
    CX-30 – got some used BBS wheels that need some shining up and new tires, simply because I strongly dislike the OEM Black wheels and the stock tires are straight up garbage, so time for some shiny wheels and Vredestein Hitracs

      1. Haha, I’m in Southern VA, going to ask somewhere in the 6ish range, Mechanically solid, cosmetically… not… with bad paint and holes in the soft top, but I’ve basically run the gamut on mechanicals short of an engine reseal. Koni Shocks, H&R springs, roll bar, brakes, timing belt/VC Gasket/Acc Belts/Radiator, New Intake, BT head unit, momo wheel, AutoX tires on nice Kosei wheels, short shifter, front sway bar. I went a bit overboard with it to say the least. Love the thing, but I’ve got a deal on an ND2 Club in the pipeline

  23. Shopping for a set of 200TW autocross tires, which has led me head-first down the performance tires research rabbit hole. Right now, I’m between the Falken RT660, Dunlop Z3 and Hancook RS4. Probably leaning towards the Dunlops.

    Besides that, just hunting down a mysterious vacuum leak to kill a CEL, hopefully replacing an EVAP solenoid does the job, I’ll find out soon. Ideally, I can get a few cosmetic fixes done as well in preparation for Cars and Coffee season, but driving quickly is the main priority.

  24. The weather’s been great this winter in Phoenix, AZ. For summer prep I usually make sure my window tint is good, check on my cooling system, make sure I have a good windshield sun shade, and top off the R134a in my AC system. That’s what I need to make the car ready for the 115F weather.

      1. 1974 Jeep J10, doesn’t run for unknown reasons but is real close, ran recently and puked oil. Needs a full restoration, mechanical and cosmetic, starting with pulling the motor out for a full reseal and new clutch. That’s the big one. Later down the line is a full rewiring, a huge amount of body work, and a paint job.

        1991 Accord Wagon, I rebuilt the engine this winter and it runs and drives great, but it has a bunch of little issues before I can drive it much, mainly the complete lack of turn signals.

        Those are the two non-functional vehicles, although my 95 f150 needs some exhaust work badly, and my 1992 Accord wagon needs an entire suspension overhaul at some point. Turns out 280k miles is enough to wear out bushings.

        1. Dude, you have 2 of the best cars, period. I LOOOVE that gen Accord wagon so much. If I could choose the universe to magically remake and sell new 1 car, that would be it. I owned one, a 91, and it was stolen from in front of my house. I still miss it. Have fun with yours. That must have been an awesome winter project. I’m itchin to rebuild a motor myself.

          1. I live them, they’re great. I’ve had the 92 for a couple years, and I love every part of it except the automatic transmission and maybe the lack of VTEC. So when a 91 wagon came up for sale last fall with a 5spd and a VTEC swap for $800, I jumped on it. Of course, I ended up having to completely rebuild that swapped engine, but still.

            1. Niiiice! I’d love to get one again if it had no rust. That’s gonna be awesome. What HP bump does the VTEC motor give you? Isn’t stock about 125hp? Are you on Discord??

              1. So I’m not exactly sure why the previous owner chose this particular swap, but it’s an f23a from a 1998-2002 Accord 4cyl. It’s a single cam VTEC 2.3 as opposed to the single cam non VTEC 2.2 that came stock, and it only adds like 20hp or something. The more common swap is an H series from a Prelude, which is basically just the twin cam performance version of the F series used in Accords. They probably did it because unlike the H series, this swap is an entirely interchangeable long block. You can put the stock manifolds and everything on the different motor(with the exception of some VTEC solenoid clearance issues).

                I haven’t been on the Autopian Discord, keep meaning to though.

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