Two tips for new owners of four-wheel drives

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If you have just purchased a vehicle with four-wheel drive, here are a few tips that you might want to keep in mind.

Get the vehicle serviced by a mechanic that has plenty of experience with vehicles that have four-wheel drive

When the time comes to get your vehicle serviced, you should arrange to have this work carried out by a mechanic who specialises in servicing and repairing vehicles with four-wheel drive, as there are several significant differences between two-wheel and four-wheel drives.

If you take a four-wheel-drive vehicle to a mechanic that is accustomed to servicing and fixing vehicles with two-wheel drive, there is a much greater risk that they will either fail to carry out one of the maintenance tasks that are specific to four-wheel-drive vehicles or that they will carry out these tasks incorrectly.

For example, during the routine servicing of a four-wheel-drive vehicle, its transfer case fluid will need to be replaced. This liquid lubricates and protects the transfer case (a critical component that is usually only found in four- and all-wheel-drive vehicles, which helps to deliver the engine torque to all of the axles in this type of vehicle).

If a mechanic is not very familiar with four-wheel-drive vehicles, they may overlook this vital element of the servicing process. This could result in the transfer case remaining unlubricated, which could then result in it being destroyed by friction. If this happens to your vehicle, its axles will stop functioning and you will not be able to drive it again until the transfer case has been fixed or replaced.

As such, it is crucial to ensure that the mechanic who services your vehicle has plenty of experience with four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Have your vehicle examined by a mechanic after all extended off-road journeys

One common mistake that new owners of four-wheel-drive vehicles make is failing to get their vehicles examined at an auto service garage after long off-road journeys. The reason people tend to make this error is that they believe that a four-wheel-drive vehicle is almost indestructible, even when driven in challenging conditions.

However, this is not really true. Whilst this type of vehicle is designed to be driven in off-road conditions and is far better equipped to withstand the challenges of this environment than its two-wheel-drive counterpart, it can still end up being damaged if it is driven aggressively on particularly rough terrain.

Given this, if you want your new vehicle to stand the test of time, you should ensure that it is checked for damage (and repaired, if any damage is found) after taking it for any lengthy off-road trips.

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30 April 2019