Monday Maintenance Tip: How To Safely Jumpstart Your Car

Be kind to your battery

If you inadvertently leave your lights on and drain your battery, take the following precautions to prevent damage to the battery and the starter when jump-starting your car:

• Don’t risk causing the battery to explode. With both cars off, connect a positive cable end to the positive battery terminal of the dead battery.
• Connect the other positive cable end to the positive terminal of the source battery.
• Connect a negative cable end to the negative terminal of the source battery.
• Attach the remaining negative cable to unpainted metal on the car engine (as far from the dead battery as possible).
• Wait a few minutes and try to start the disabled car. If it doesn’t start, start the source car and then try starting the dead one again.
• When the car starts, be careful to disconnect the cables in the reverse order.
• If the car still doesn’t start, don’t keep trying to charge it or you are liable to damage the starter. Bring the battery to an automotive shop to see if it can be recharged.
• Even if you’re successful, ensure a full recharge by hooking up the battery to a charger overnight or by driving the car for 5 or 10 miles (8 to 16 km).

 

Courtesy of Reader's Digest.

Happy Friday! Go have a fantastic weekend!

This 1960 Dodge Phoenix Is The World's Most Beautiful Custom Car

This 1960 Dodge Phoenix is the world's most beautiful custom car—at least according to the judges at the Sacramento Autorama, who chose the Phoenix from 450 custom cars on display.

Built by Australian custom car king Justin Hills, the one-off Phoenix reportedly cost over $175,000 in parts and labor and took about two years to complete.

Courtesy of Complex Rides.

Dodge Partners With SyFy On “Defiance” Dodge Charger

Dodge has partnered with SyFy and Trion Worlds as the exclusive sponsor of the highly anticipated new series Defiance which features a futuristic Dodge Charger as its hero vehicle. The television series also has a unique online game component that will feature a Dodge Challenger.

Defiance debuts tonight on SyFy alongside the tie-in video game that rolled out April 2nd. The two allow Dodge the unique opportunity to introduce co-branded advertising across multiple platforms at the same time. It also means they can target customers they see as being more socially engaged.

The television series and the online game can each stand independently, but are designed best to work together. This blending of television and online gaming is something that’s never before been attempted. What happens on the show will have an impact on the game, and what happens in the game influences the show.

Although set in the year 2046, the Defiance Dodge Charger stays true to its roots and looks very much like the vehicle that’s on the road today. It has been given a few exterior modifications that help it manage the greatly transformed world of Defiance but it’s still completely recognizable.

There will actually be two different Dodge Chargers featured on the television show as the vehicles driven by main character Nolan who is the “law-keeper” in the city of Defiance. Considering the number of police officers that actually drive the Dodge Charger in the real world of today, it looks like this particular part of the future hasn’t changed much.

You won’t see either of the cars on screen tonight, but they will debut in mid-May during episode six and will become integral to the show’s storyline. Once the cars make their on-screen and in-game debuts, Dodge plans to release a special co-branded television spot along with a social gaming experience and a contest.

Courtesy of TFL Car.

Dodge Reveals Global Rallycross Darts For 2013 Season

April 9, 2013 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - Dodge and SRT Motorsports today announced they’re teaming up with action sports legend Travis Pastrana again for a second season of competition in the Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) Series.

Building on the strong relationship created last year, Pastrana Racing will now field two Dodge Dart race cars for 2013. Bryce Menzies will drive the second Dart. The duo will drive Red Bull / Discount Tire-sponsored Dodge Dart Rallycross cars in the season opener April 21 in Brazil.

"At Dodge, racing is an integral part of our heritage and embodies our competitive spirit, so we're very excited to have Travis Pastrana back in the Dodge Dart for the 2013 season," said Reid Bigland, President and CEO - Dodge Brand. "With a 0-60 time of less than 2-seconds, the Global Rallycross series is the perfect platform to showcase the Dart and the Dodge brand's passion for performance on and off the track."

Global Rallycross, a spin-off of the X Games rally races, was introduced in the United States in 2009 and combines the skill of rally racing with the excitement of X Games. The series features high-flying extreme competition between cars that are relevant to today’s youth.

One year ago, Pastrana piloted his Dodge Dart to victory in the fourth race of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, crossing the finish line 1.431 seconds ahead of Samuel Hubinette, a victory Pastrana called “bigger than you could ever imagine.” He finished 10th in the final series standings.

“Travis Pastrana exemplifies what action sports activities are all about and he fits perfectly with the Dodge brand and the SRT Motorsports team,” said Ralph Gilles, President and CEO – SRT Brand and Motorsports. “There is no doubt that Travis’ personality and driving skills will continue to bring energy and excitement to this season.”

The series incorporates bumper-to-bumper competition among 600 horsepower All Wheel Drive vehicles. There are 70-foot jumps over racing traffic, creating a “motocross with cars” action.

Pastrana, 29, is a four-time Rally America Champion and 17-time X Games Gold Medalist. He also competed fulltime in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and owns multiple Supercross and Motocross championships plus Nitro Circus, an empire which includes a television show, live tours and film projects.

Courtesy of Winding Road.

Maintenance Monday Tip: Spark Plugs

Spark plugs do need changing!
 
The advent of electronic ignition and on-board computers has eliminated the need for regular tune-ups, but you still need to change your spark plugs. Many manufacturers recommend changing plugs every 30,000 or 40,000 miles (48,000 or 64,000 km) to ensure good fuel mileage and engine performance. Some new cars come with long-life plugs (sometimes called double platinum plugs) that can last for 100,000 miles (160,000 km). If your car isn’t so equipped, make the switch after 30,000 miles. The extra cost is only a few dollars per spark plug. While you’re at it, change your spark plug wires as well. Their typical life is 50,000 miles (80,000 km). Deteriorated wires can cause those high-tech new spark plugs to foul.

Courtesy of Reader's Digest.

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Extreme Dodge Challenger in the works

The racetrack ready, 500 hp Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 stole the headlines at the New York Auto Show, but it may have some new competition on the way.

The head of Chrysler’s SRT performance division, Ralph Gilles, told FoxNews.com at the show that an extreme version of its Challenger coupe is in the works.

“We get a lot of requests for the Challenger, not so much the Charger, and we’ve been looking at doing an ACR [American Club Racing] edition of that, eventually,” he said. “So we’ll see something along those lines in a couple of years.”

The currently out of production Dodge (now SRT) Viper ACR was about as close as you can get to a street legal racing car, with modifications including nearly slick tires, an adjustable suspension and huge rear wing. A Challenger carrying that name would have to live up to its reputation.

Gilles didn’t say exactly what was being considered for the car, but the V10 from the Viper fits under the Challenger’s hood and the 470 hp 6.4-liter Hemi V8 found in the Challenger SRT8 392 can easily be tuned for even more power, so the sky’s the limit.

Of course both GM and Chrysler could be in for an even tougher challenge this time next year when Ford is expected to unveil the all-new next generation Mustang, which started this whole track-ready thing with the recently available Boss 302 Laguna Seca edition.

Courtesy of Fox News.