[T3] My annual Salt Rant

["Park, Keith J (CRD)" <parkkj@crd.ge.com>]

Many of us have probably not read the Rust FAQ on type3.org so my quick suggestions as we all watch
our roads turn to salt here in the North.

If you want to preserve your T3, dont take it out in the salt AT ALL!  dont think that when you get
it home youll wash it off as once its in the seams and scaley rust it will be there for a long while,
and greatly increase the rate at which the car deteriorates... and dont think that a dry salty road
is safe, the salt gets ground into a fine powder that envelops everything and gets sucked in by the
engine intake and blown through the engine and heater channels... bad news!

	If you must drive in salt and cant oil it KEEP THE CAR CLEAN!   if there are no build ups of
dirt anywhere those areas can dry out faster and the rusting will be slower.  FIX YOUR LEAKS!  salty
water that enters the car or rockers or any interior body panel through a bad seal or rust hole will
reduce that area to dust in quick form!

And lastly, if you drive in the cold make sure your thermostat is functioning properly.  Here in NY,
from what Ive observed over the years having no thermostat reduces engine life by about a third to a
half.  It really beats the tar out of your engine to have cold air blown on it when it is trying to
warm up... and Youll have more interior heat too if your engine comes up to temperature quickly.

Thats all... you can return to your regular programming  :)

Keith


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