46 Santa Claus is coming!

Back in week 12, I spoke of the Easter break and the need to have the vehicle serviced in readiness for the holidays. Same applies now, do all the same things but this time we need a real emphasis on the vehicle’s cooling system and air conditioning. The A/C’s easy to justify. What would you rather have, a family cool, quiet and content or repeatedly asking “are we there yet”, hot and flustered? With the 4WD it’s the same deal, a radiator and coolant that are doing their thing efficiently means a vehicle that’s not stressed. With ambient temperatures that’ll be approaching 50°C the under-bonnet temperatures are ferocious and a vehicle that’s just quit because it’s cooked is pretty demoralizing out in the middle of nowhere. On older 4WDs see a radiator and cooling specialist, maybe a flush and pressure test of the system including hoses, heater core, radiator cap and replacement of the coolant with a long life fluid will be the go and do it at least a month before the journey so you can put the thermostat to the test in early summer heat in stop-start city traffic or perhaps up some steep hills to see how the buggy performs?