BMWs are great cars. They are sleek, stylish and luxurious, all wrapped up in a package that is tons of fun and handles like a dream. Like any other car, though, you need to keep on top of BMW repair or you’ll be paying a visit to a BMW mechanic in Cinci sooner than you’d like. Caring for your car is a daily endeavor, not a to-do list item you put off until the end of the year. Here are a few suggestions from your Cincinnati BMW mechanic of things that you should add to your list of BMW scheduled maintenance items to get the best performance possible, for as long as possible.
Your Car Needs Fuel, Don’t Wait to Fill Up Her Tank
Many of us can remember saving every dime from our after school jobs just to make sure we had gas in our tank. Though we had no choice but to let the gas run low in those days, most of us didn’t have a BMW back then. And your BMW deserves better. Don’t wait for the low fuel light to come on before you refill your gas tank. That’s playing with fire. Not only will you avoid the wild inconvenience of having to wait on the side of the road for someone to bring you some fuel, but it’s hard on your fuel pump. The fuel pump is located in the gas tank, and contact of fuel cools the pump’s electric motor. Run the tank too often on empty will wear out the motor, and you’ll have to have it replaced by your local Cincinnati BMW repair shop.
You especially want to follow this rule of thumb in the winter. Not only is it even more unpleasant to wait for someone to bring you gas in a snowstorm while you don’t have even power for the heater, but in extreme cold situations, a nearly empty gas tank can cause even more issues related to freezing. The freezing temperature of gas is somewhere around -100F. Keep in mind the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth is -126.8F in Antartica, and the coldest recored temp in Cincinnati is a very chilly
-25F. So, the gas itself is not going to freeze, but any condensation that forms in your tank or fuel line is fair game for freezing at any temperature below 32F. Keeping the tank above the halfway point throughout the winter will help to keep the fuel lines from freezing, the strain off of your fuel pump, and you from having to make a phone call that begins, “Hey, fix my BMW.”
Treat Your BMW With Care: Never Overheat the Engine
BMWs have aluminum engine heads, which can more easily be damaged than some other metals when overheated. If your temperature gauge rises rapidly or the temperature warning light comes on, pull over as soon as is reasonably safe. If you absolutely have to go a little farther, immediately turn your heat on full blast. This certainly won’t fix whatever problem that caused your car to overheat, but it will draw some of the excess heat away from the engine, and may help to drop the engine’s temperature a degree or two. This also won’t guarantee that there isn’t irreparable damage happening while you continue to drive. Pull over ASAP. Have the vehicle towed to your favorite car mechanic and have them take a look. Driving a little further just to avoid the hassle can leave you with at least a $2,000 repair bill for a new engine, and your BMW technician with a busy few days.