Winter Maintenance Tips

Winter weather often brings many challenges to the trucking industry, ranging from hazardous road conditions, unexpected delays, fuel gelling and hard starts. With the right preparation, many of these issues can be avoided. Here are a few quick tips to help you be more successful in the winter months:

Get your winterization checklist completed with your next service. MHC has a 23-item inspection specifically designed to prepare your equipment for the harsh winter weather. These services can be done in conjunction with preventative maintenance or as scheduled.

Purchase winter blend fuel to avoid gelling. Non-winter blended fuel starts gelling at 16 degrees Fahrenheit.

Always make sure to perform pre-trip and post-trip inspections to help prevent over-the-road breakdowns.

Un-drained air tanks are a major contributor to many component failures, and their influence increases with colder weather. The water in your tanks causes rust or begins to freeze, resulting in issues such as:

• Frozen brake valves that won’t let brakes release
• Purge valves start to stick open, not allowing air pressure to build
• Compressors working too hard to replace air in a smaller tank as the water takes up volume