Do Weekly Checks on Your BOV(s)!

~~The importance of weekly checks on your vehicles including your BOV

Here recently we had to take a 2600 mile round trip to visit some relatives and to finish up some of my father’s final business.

Now because of the amount of items we would be bringing back we decided to take our BOV for the trip. We had a month to prepare for this trip. I perform weekly checks on all of our vehicles: fluids, tire pressure/condition, how they are running, taking them for a spin and observing how the vehicle is behaving.

I noticed that our BOV was shifting funny (it is an automatic transmission), I checked the transmission fluid (it was low) added some and went to look for leaks, I did not see any external leaks, then I checked the coolant overflow tank, and there is where I found the transmission fluid, the transmission cooler that is inside the radiator had cracked and begun leaking transmission fluid into the radiator (coolant).

Now we were getting ready for a long trip going across 4 states, this could have been a major issue and a cause for a costly breakdown (rebuild or replace the transmission). I caught the situation early enough and no coolant entered the transmission, I replaced the radiator with a new one, performed a proper flushing of the coolant system (to get any remaining transmission fluid out) replaced the coolant with the proper mixture and amount and the vehicle was ready for our trip.

This vehicle made a 2600 mile round trip with no issues (just used lots of fuel as expected), even my wife was impressed. So if you are performing weekly checks on your BOV(s), you can catch an issue and corrected it before that issue becomes even more costly and you can insure that your BOV is ready to go when needed.

Here is a list of some items to check on your vehicle:

• All fluids (condition and level, do you have fluids that are mixing?)
• Leaks
• Belts/Hoses
• Brake system (are your brakes working correctly? Pads, shoes, rotors, drums, etc.)
• Steering (pump, hoses, linkages, rods, etc,)
• Fuel system (filters, pumps, etc.)
• AC/ Heat (fans, system function)
• Suspension/ Tires (shocks/struts, springs, bushings etc.) (tire wear, condition, time for rotation?)
• Battery/Charging system/Starter (Battery, Cables, Alternator, Starter etc.)

It is the plan to find and correct any issues that may affect reliability, before it becomes and issue, your life and the lives of your loved ones could depend on your BOV(s). So make sure it is dependable!