The Fall Vehicle Checklist for the South Plains

Summer just spent three months cooking your battery, tires and cooling system. What to check before the first cold front so it does not fail in November.

Fall on the South Plains is short and it does not announce itself. One week it is still in the nineties and the next a norther drops the overnight low forty degrees in a night. Every part of a vehicle that spent the summer near its limit gets tested by that swing, and most of the failures we see in November were set up in August. Here is what to check now, while the weather is still easy.

Battery

Heat is what damages a battery. Cold is just what exposes it. A battery that started the summer marginal has spent three months losing capacity in the heat, and the first cold morning is when it will fail to turn a cold engine over. A load test takes a few minutes and tells you whether it will make the winter. Clean the terminals while you are at it. Why batteries die in winter from summer damage goes into the why.

Tires

• Pressure. Every ten-degree drop takes about a pound out of each tire. The first cold front puts the TPMS light on across half of Lubbock at once. Set pressure cold, in the morning, to the placard.
• Tread. Fall brings the first real rain in months, and a tire that was fine on dry pavement all summer hydroplanes on the first wet morning. Measure it rather than eyeballing.
• Sidewalls. A summer of UV and hot pavement is when dry rot shows up. Look for fine cracking, including the inside sidewall.
• The spare. Same checks. It has been under the truck in the heat all summer.

Brakes

Summer heat is hard on brake fluid, and a fluid that has absorbed moisture over a couple of years has a lower boiling point than it should. Harvest traffic, trailer season and the first long descents of hunting season all load the brakes. Have the pads measured and the fluid tested. Both go on the invoice as numbers so you can plan rather than guess.

Cooling system

The radiator and condenser fins are packed with three months of dust, bugs and cotton lint. Coolant that was topped up with water during the summer is now a weaker mix than it should be for the freeze that is coming. A pressure test finds the hose that is about to let go, and a coolant check confirms the mix protects to well below anything the South Plains will produce. Cooling systems in a West Texas summer covers what the heat did.

Belts and hoses

Summer heat hardens rubber. A belt that got through July may crack in the first cold snap when the rubber contracts and stiffens. Check the belt for glazing and cracks, squeeze the hoses for hard or spongy spots, and look at the ends for weeping.

Wipers and washer fluid

Wiper blades that sat in the sun all summer are hard and cracked and will smear the first rain across the windshield rather than clearing it. They are cheap. Replace them. Fill the washer reservoir, because blowing dust on a damp windshield is a paste that dry wipers cannot move.

Lights and visibility

Days are getting shorter and the commute to Wolfforth or in from Slaton is about to happen in the dark. Check every bulb, and look at the headlight lenses; a summer of UV yellows them and cuts the light reaching the road.

The order to do it in

1. 1Battery load test and terminal clean.
2. 2Tire pressure, tread, sidewalls and spare.
3. 3Brake pad measurement and fluid test.
4. 4Coolant mix and pressure test, radiator fins cleaned.
5. 5Belts, hoses, filters, wipers, lights.

All of it fits in a single shop visit alongside an oil change. Doing it in October means the failures that would have happened in the first freeze get found on a lift instead.

Frequently asked questions

When should I do this?

Before the first cold front, which on the South Plains means late September through October. Waiting for the first freeze means doing it after the battery has already failed.

Do I need winter tires in Lubbock?

Almost never. A good all-season with real tread depth handles what the South Plains gets. The ice on bridges and overpasses is a driving problem more than a tire one.

How is this different from a spring check?

Spring prepares the vehicle for heat: cooling system, A/C, tires for hot pavement. Fall checks what the heat broke and prepares for cold starts and wet roads.

Bring it to 13209 Frankford Ave, Suite 29 in Lubbock, or call (806) 458-2709. The whole list is covered in our full mechanic shop in one visit.