Things to do immediately your car is cleared from Mombasa Port

It is an exiting time to get your long awaited ride cleared from the port. But don’t be too excited to rev it up yet!

Automotive expert Nawaz Khan advices, “check the car properly – it is a big investment. And go down and drive it up yourself or car carrier it to Nairobi my expensive cars I collected from Mombasa and drove up to Juba myself”

Every car owner should follow the guidance and have a checklist that you must tick accordingly:
Pay special attention to Diesel engines;

1. Oil change (engine oil and oil filter) immediately after port clearance before driving around Mombasa with the errands to test the vehicle.
Reason being the vehicle stays at the auction and port yards for quite a long time. Be sure to confirm and check the changed service parts and right amount of oil has been filled.

2. Check all fluids and lubricants levels including the condition of the engine bay setup being very observant. Check levels when the engine block/top cover is cold to touch. These include ; engine oil level, coolant level in the radiator (don’t assume the radiator is intact without leaks/cracks as well as the cap to have proper tension when pressing the pressure cap level) and reservoir, brake fluid level on the master cylinder, wiper/windshield fluid, ATF (at a specialised centre or knowledgeable mechanic as some will claim that some cars don’t have dipstick or means of checking the level)

3. Warm the vehicle for 10-15mins before the Safari or overnight stay.

4. Drive the vehicle at moderate speeds of low, medium and high (40-60, 80-100, 100-120) being very keen on the dashboard lights and illumination of notification icons. Avoid over revving the engine with the power excitement and picking as this can quickly make the oil pump chain to react after a long stay of not being in operation, head gasket impact, weakening of the coolant bypass if it’s plastic and other parts like the radiator pressure cap and the radiator itself.

5. Take multiple stop overs if driving out of Mombasa town to your final destination of approx. 100kms for quick checks within the major towns, remember this can be done at the filling stations at no cost. A factor to consider is to ensure the attendants don’t touch or wiggle anything which as a result can damage fragile pipes, connectors and other joints around. They do a quick check mainly for cooling system to confirm no spillage or over flow is visible. Don’t get into the trap of low oil if the service that was done was confirmed in person and both the drain plug and oil filter were secured properly.

6. Once you reach your final destination/covered some distance of approx. 1000kms drain the oil and change with another fresh oil to have good/reasonable oil change interval durations as contaminated oil reduces the oil change interval.

7. Once you reach your final destination, don’t assume all is well.
Make time and visit a recommended and reputable garage/mechanic to do thorough inspection of the vehicle including the suspension and have a discussion about the driving experience of the trip so far.

8. Start the journey early enough to have sufficient time to reach your destination in good time without pressure and racing on the roads with other rogue drivers that are delivering vehicles to the owners whatsoever as this can result in a catastrophic situation of the vehicles general performance and state of the same said.

9. If you are a new driver or in experienced with long distance travels, don’t get carried away by how you can speed on the bypass, get assistance from a knowledgeable and experienced person because long journey is a different league all together.

10. Carry on the same routine of checking and inspecting the fluids and lubricant levels after every 2/3 days for a month to confirm that all is well. This will ensure and assist you to confirm if at all there is any issue which will be detected at an early stage and sorted the soonest.

Such situations would entail one or a combination of ; failed thermostat, leaking or broken coolant bypass, leaking hose pipe(s), seized water pump, leaking radiator and/or damaged radiator pressure cap (keeping in mind of the power that the engine has with the boost from the turbo, these earlier mentioned issues are/is what leads to most engines over heating and eventually end up opening/replacing the engine). If above aren’t detected in good time, the situation will escalate to a situation of cracked head which is beyond repair, warped/bent engine block or a combination of multiple issue related to the engine.