Car Maintenance Before Driving Down?

Princess SarahK

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
What type of car maintenance does everyone do before heading to WDW? We had our 50k mile service done a month or two ago, so I doubt we'll need anything major, but still wanted to see if anyone had advice! :D
 
We used to get rental cars to drive to WDW, so no maintenance was needed.

However, we bought a mini van last month, so we now will be taking our own vehicle when we go in 2018. What I try to do is to vacuum out and clean the interior of the car before we leave on a trip. Even though it will get messed up, its nice to have a clean car to start out with. For any other maintenance, I will try to get it all done about 30 days in advance. Change any fluids (oil, transmission) check the other fluids, rotate and balance the tires, take care of any small items that need to be fixed. The 30 days in advance gives you time to discover any problems with the maintenance that was done and have them fixed before going on a vacation. Plus, the day before and the day when you leave are stressful enough and you don't need to be worrying about your car then.

This comes from a lesson I learned years ago. Before we departed on a long weekend trip in 2002, I had the tires in our Explorer rotated and balanced the day before we left. The day we left on our trip, when it came time to get up to 70 on the Interstate, I discovered we had a VERY bad vibration coming from the tires. This vibration didn't show up before then, since I couldn't go over 45 in town between the tire store and my house, or from my house and the interstate. I tried to muscle through it, but it was way too much to handle on a four hour trip. I pulled off the Interstate at a small town and we drove until we found a tire store. I explained to them what was going on and they checked out the Explorer for us. It turned out that the first tire store had failed to put wheel weights on two of the tires when they had (supposedly) rotated and balanced the tires the day before!! The tire store rebalanced all four tires for us and fixed our problem.

If that work had been done a month out, it would have been caught well in advance before becoming a problem on the trip.
 


Seven hour drive here.

We generally keep up on maintenance for the car, so other than a general clean out and washing the windshield, we don't do anything.

The oil might get changed if it is close to that time anyway.
 


I always drive down and don't do anything extra other than getting it cleaned. I keep up on my regular maintenance so unless it's time for that, it's just clean it and go.
 
We have a 1,000 mile drive. We have the oil changed a week or two before we leave and check all fluids a day or two before departure. Or car is usually due for inspection the month we go to Disney so we make sure to tell the mechanic that we're making that trip and he checks all the belts, hoses, and whatever before we leave. If something needs to be repaired or replaced before we leave, he takes care of it.
 
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Check tire pressure. Inspect tires for uneven wear. Obvious damage. Clean wiper blades. Replace wiper blades if necessary. Top off windshield wash fluid
Check all other fluids.
 
I drove a Honda Odyssey with 200,000 miles on it the 1,300 miles from Kansas City last May. I had new tires put on (they needed it) and let the guy that lives next door, who works at a Honda dealership, take a look at it. He said everything checked out OK. I do basic maintenance and had the automatic transmission replaced a year ago and the transmission fluid changed about a month before the trip. It ran fine down but while in Orlando, the dashboard lights were showing that all 5 doors were open. I called my Honda mechanic and he said it was probably the alternator, which was confirmed by the honda independent garage where I took it. I had no other problems. If you are driving an older, high mileage car, it might be worth it to have a mechanic check out a couple of the car parts that are still original to the car, starting with the alternator. I'm making the same trip in the same car this Christmas and plan on having it checked out again by my neighbor.
 
Make sure your spare tire is good and you have a jack. Do you have roadside assistance through AAA, your auto insurance, credit card etc? Make sure you have whatever ID and phone number needed to call.

Are you using Google maps? Download your driving area for offline use. Save in data charges and helps if you're in a dead zone.
 
Oil Change, Check & rotate tires, Check brakes and repair as needed, Change Fuel filter, Air filter & Cabin air filter, Check lights
 
Our drive is 1,234 miles door to door and DH changes the oil, tops off all the fluids, gives our van a good cleaning and vacuuming, has the tires rotated and checks the brakes. We also bring a kit that includes jumper cables, replacement bulbs for our lights and extra fuses, as well as the number for roadside assistance through GEICO.
 

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