Preparing Your Car For Winter

The leaves have fallen, the temperature is dropping and winter is on its way. Cold weather really puts your car to the test. Although you can’t eliminate the chance of a breakdown entirely, there are some things you can do to greatly reduce your risk. If you have kept up with your vehicle’s maintenance, and have an experienced automotive technician going over your car really well when he changes your oil, then you should be in good shape.

Most people have busy schedules and sometimes maintenance gets put aside. Here are some things you should have checked by a professional before winter.

Tune-up: These days tune-ups aren’t needed as often, but can still cause a vehicle that is starting in the summer to not start or run poorly when it gets really cold out. Worn spark plugs and excessively high resistance plug wires make the ignition system work harder. Cold weather causes even more resistance to electrical flow. Add the two together and your ignition system may not have enough reserve power to fire the air fuel mixture in cold weather.

The engine also needs more fuel when it is cold. A restricted fuel filter may not cause a problem in the summer, but may restrict fuel enough in the winter to cause problems. There are a few vehicles that do not have serviceable fuel filters, so you will have to check with your automotive technician to see what your vehicle’s needs are.

Battery: You can pay to have your battery tested, but another good idea is to see how old your battery is. Most batteries are sold as five, six or seven year batteries. It is usually a good idea to replace your battery if it is past the age that it is marketed to last. The brand of battery you have will also factor in to this. Cheaper batteries don’t always make it to their marketed age. Also have the battery connections checked for corrosion. It is best to correct this before it damages the cables to the point they need replaced. If you have corrosion issues it is best to replace the battery instead of constantly cleaning the connections. A good battery will not cause cable end corrosion.

Cooling system: For winter it is very important to check the freeze protection of your coolant. If the coolant freezes you may be putting a new engine in your car. Again, if your car has been properly maintained this should be okay, but it is worth having this checked to make sure. You should also have the pH checked. If the pH is too high it will cause corrosion problems with any aluminum components in the cooling system. If the pH is too low it will cause corrosion problems with any iron components in the cooling system. When corrosion starts small particles begin to flake off and get circulated through the cooling system. These particles will act like little bits of sandpaper and you will then have the added problem of erosion to your cooling system components. Premature failure of cooling system components are likely to follow. Flushing the cooling system and installing new coolant of the proper type and mixture will solve the problem. We recommend replacing the thermostat while flushing the cooling system on most vehicles. Removing the thermostat is a better way to flush the system and it usually doesn’t cost that much more. You also reduce the chances of overheating due to a stuck thermostat and provide the proper engine temperature to give you the best heat in the winter.

Tires: You need all the traction you can get when the roads get slick. Make sure your tires have plenty of tread and are properly inflated. Make sure that the person inflating your tires is using the recommendation on the tire placard and not what is on the sidewall of the tire. The pressure rating on the tire is a maximum pressure for the tire. The tire placard will give you the recommended pressure for the best ride, stability and life of the tire. Also be sure to check the inflation in the spare tire. A flat or under inflated spare tire doesn’t help much regardless of whether you are changing it or somebody else changes it for you. Also make sure to rotate your tires as recommended by the manufacturer. You will get much more life out of a set of tires if you do. If you have not been rotating your tires regularly then you will need to have the tread depth checked to see what the best location for you tires would be for your given tire wear.

Be prepared. Keep some blankets in your car for warmth just in case. When the roads get slick, plan ahead. Leave early and drive carefully. Even with four-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes you need to slow down. Anti-lock braking systems can only stop you as quickly as the available traction will allow, which isn’t much on snow and even less on ice.

So before it gets too cold, check your maintenance records. Using your manufacturers and automotive technician’s maintenance recommendations can help you reduce your chances of being stranded this winter.

Happy motoring!

Do you have a question on how to take better care of your car? Send your questions to goodoledaysauto@aol.com.