regular servicing is key to preserving the life of your land rover

Know Your Land Rover: 7 tips help maintain your Land Rover.

Glenrands_RossKnow Your Land Rover

By Ross Brunyee, Glenrands Director and Land Rover fan.

In this edition of our Know Your Land Rover series, we take a look at 7 things you should know about maintaining your Land Rover. This will help to extend the life of your vehicle while reducing costs of repairs in the long run. Easy

A healthy Land Rover is a lot like a healthy person. To keep your body fit and healthy, eat the right foods, get some exercise, and visit your doctor and dentist for regular check-ups. A little “preventive maintenance” never hurt anyone! Doing the same with your vehicle will help you keep it in good shape for longer, but where do you begin?

1 – It’s All There in the Manual

There are general rules of thumb for basic preventive maintenance, but the best place to start is by actually reading the owner’s manual for your vehicle’s make and model. A restored 1967 Series Land Rover has different needs to a 2015 Range Rover Sport, and they both differ from a 15-year-old Defender.

If you don’t have a manual, download one. You can find just about every manual you need online. The owner’s manual will advise you on all the basics.

If you can’t find what you are looking for online, give us a call, we would be happy to point you in the right direction.

2 – At Your Service

Every car needs regular service – it’s the easiest and best way to keep your Land Rover in good health. Again, the recommended service intervals, such as oil changes and drive belt checks, will be in the user manual.

This will cost a bit of money upfront but it’s just not worth it to skip preventive maintenance. Our technicians can often catch a small problem before it becomes a big one. We will make sure filters that need replacing are replaced, oil changes are done when needed, spark plugs and fuel injectors are properly maintained… and the list goes on.

Regular servicing of your vehicle by reputable specialist service centres have proven to keep maintenance costs lower over the long run, while significantly extending the life of your vehicle.

3 – A Weekly Check-up

On average, you’ll fill up your tank every week or so, and most of these things can be dealt with easily enough at a gas station. If you drive a lot and fill up more often, do these checks every time you do. If you only fill up once a month, do these checks every other week.

Check your tire tread depth. Tires have tread indicators that show when the tread is wearing thin, but you can also check this with a regular penny. Insert the penny with Lincoln’s head upside down. If you can see his whole head, it’s time to change the tires.

Check your tire pressure. This varies from car to car, so check the owner’s manual or Tire and Loading label on the driver’s door jamb for the recommended pressure. Most filling stations will have a place to check and refill tires, or you can buy yourself a pressure gauge and pump quite cheaply.

Check your fluids. You can buy many of these at the gas station. Your car runs on fluids – gas, oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, antifreeze, coolant and power steering fluid. Everybody knows how to check the gas levels, but do you know how to check the rest? Here, once more, your owner’s manual will come in handy. Some tanks will be clear enough to see right through, while others will have dipsticks or other gauges to use as an indicator.

4 – Know Your Fluids

You don’t necessarily need to top these up yourself, but knowing how to check the levels is going to save you a lot of heartache (and headaches). If any of your fluids are running out faster than they should, check for leaks. If you can’t find one, have us check. If there is a leak, deal with it immediately. Without preventive maintenance, small leaks become big problems faster than you can imagine.

Familiarize yourself with what they should look like, as well. Oil at the full mark is no good if the oil has become thick and sludgy, so it may be time for an oil change. If it looks like it’s getting muddy faster than it should, this might be telling you there’s an engine problem.

5 – Tighten Your Belt

Timing and other belts need regular replacement to ensure they don’t break – preventive maintenance won’t leave you stranded. Don’t trust conventional wisdom on how often that’s needed, though, because all cars differ. Your owner’s manual will give you the recommended replacement mileage for your car’s belts and we will be able to give them a once-over to give you an idea of how worn they are.

6 – Use Your Senses

Keep your eyes and ears open. It’s great to drive along with the radio playing, especially if you drive a lot or have a long commute, but every so often – maybe once a week for heavy drivers and once a month for infrequent drivers – turn off the radio and listen to your car. Get to know how it should sound, and you’ll quickly pick up on it if something changes.

Watch fuel economy and fluid consumption. If nothing about your regular routine has changed, but your car suddenly starts using more fuel, oil, or other fluids, there might be something wrong.

Watch your temperature. If the car’s temperature is higher than normal – you were paying attention before, right? – or if it starts overheating, there’s a problem that needs dealing with. It could be something as simple as replacing the seal on the coolant tank, or it could be something serious.

Watch your emissions. If your car starts billowing smoke, there’s a problem! You might also not see anything, but if the smell of the car changes – if you can smell fuel or smoke – there might be a problem.

7 – A Note on Additives

While it’s tempting to try just about anything to improve your fuel consumption, you should know that most fuel additives don’t really do much for your car. In modern cars with engine management systems, it may actually do more harm than good.

The engine management system is already designed to be as efficient as possible, and additives may actually interfere with it. At most, consider using fuel injection cleaning additives – if your car is fuel injected – but only if the injectors actually need it.

Preventive Maintenance Will Help Your Car Last Longer

By taking an active role with preventive maintenance, you’re going to help extend the life of your car significantly. You could potentially cut back on fuel consumption, and you’ll definitely cut back on repair costs, not to mention the convenience of being able to plan your routine vehicle services, rather than the inconvenience and cost of unexpected breakdowns.

Check out your service history online. Use the Land Rover Online Service History tool for a quick check on your current servicing status: Online Service History Tool

Glenrands is a premium independent Land Rover specialist located in Liphook, Hampshire. Land Rover trained technicians and Genuine Land Rover parts are fundamental to our service guarantee. If you are in need of some help with your Land Rover, be sure to get in touch with us.

For more on the services we offer at Glenrands, visit our services page.