Before a road trip: the checklist for Northern Nevada drivers

Print this checklist

1. Look at the oil sticker and the dashboard reminder

   If the next change falls inside the miles you plan to drive, change it before you go. A trip of a thousand miles on oil that was already near its limit is the most common way people end up overdue.

2. Confirm the oil grade for the conditions

   Hauling a full car, pulling a trailer or climbing long grades counts as severe service in most owner's manuals. The manual sets the grade and the interval; we put in what it lists.

3. Check the coolant level and condition

   Long climbs in summer heat ask the most of the cooling system. Look at the overflow tank cold, and have the protection level read if the fluid looks rusty or has not been serviced in years.

4. Set tire pressure cold, including the spare

   Use the figure on the driver's door jamb, not the number on the tire sidewall. A spare that has sat flat in the trunk for three years is no help on a desert shoulder.

5. Test the A/C before the heat test

   Reno averages about 65 days a year at 90 F or hotter (NOAA 1991-2020), and the deserts east and south run hotter still. Warm air at the vents is easier to sort out at home than in Lovelock.

6. Swap the cabin air filter if smoke season is on

   Wildfire smoke can sit over the Sierra for days in late summer. A fresh cabin filter keeps more of it out of the car on a long day behind the wheel.

7. Walk around the car with the lights on

   Headlights, high beams, brake lights, turn signals and the license plate light. Night miles on US-95 or I-80 are long and dark.

8. Replace streaking wipers and fill the washer

   Bugs on a summer evening and road grime in winter both need a working washer and a clean wipe.

9. Look at the belts and hoses

   Cracks on the serpentine belt or a soft, swollen hose are worth replacing before a trip, not after.

10. Pack the small kit

    Water for people and the radiator, a phone charger, a flashlight, a first-aid kit, and in winter a blanket and the chains the pass may require.

11. Read the towing section of the manual if you are pulling anything

    Trailer weight, tongue weight and the severe-service schedule are all listed there, and they change what the next oil change should look like.

Almost every trip out of the Truckee Meadows starts uphill. Head west and I-80 climbs toward Donner Summit; head south and US-395 runs past Washoe Lake into the Carson Valley before the grades toward Bridgeport; head for the lake and the Mount Rose Highway or Kingsbury Grade lifts you well above the valley floor. Then the other direction is open desert, where summer afternoons run hot for hours. This list is the order we would work through in the week before you leave, with the things you can do in your driveway marked plainly and the things the bay can handle for you.

Why grades and heat change the list

A car that only sees Reno errands lives an easy life compared with a car loaded for a week at the lake. Climbing out of Carson City on US-50 toward Spooner Summit or up the Mount Rose Highway, the engine works harder for longer, the transmission holds lower gears, and the coolant runs hotter. Coming back down, the brakes and the transmission take the load. Do that on a 95 F afternoon with the A/C running and every fluid in the car is near the top of its working range.

That is why the list leans on the cooling system and the oil rather than on gadgets. Most trip trouble we hear about afterward started as something small: a low coolant tank, a tire that was already soft, an oil change that was a few hundred miles from due when the car left the driveway.

What the bay can do in one stop

Pull into any of our four service centers before the trip and ask for the full-service oil change. Along with the oil and filter, the maintenance check covers the tire pressure, the lights, the wiper blades, the air filter, the fluids and an under-hood look. If something on this list needs attention, the technician shows you what was found and you decide whether to do it now.

Bulbs, wiper blades and filters go in in the bay. If the check turns up something we do not do, such as brakes or tires, we tell you so you can get it looked at before you leave town.

Timing the visit

The week before a holiday weekend is the busiest stretch for road-trip visits, so a weekday morning a week or two out is the easy window. No appointment is needed at Mae Anne Avenue, Longley Lane, College Parkway or US-395 in Gardnerville. If your trip starts with a Washoe County registration renewal due, the smog check at either Reno service center can happen in the same visit.