I am Embracing Fall and Preparing for Cold Weather Driving. Every year the first cold day with ice or snow catches everyone off guard causing crashes and traffic jams. So come on people, it is no secret that there will eventually be that first crappy driving day.

I do all of our cold weather auto-readiness myself to save money and hassle. I spent a considerable amount of time yesterday on two of our cars and other than needing a couple of new tires for my Honda Civic things went without a hitch.

Most people just take their cars to what they hope is their trusted mechanic, tire, or muffler shop. As long as they are truly a trustworthy shop it comes down to hassle for me. Making appointments and dropping off a car requiring I get ride out of there by someone or having to sit in a waiting room for hours isn’t enjoyable to me.

Many tire shops will do what I just did (rotate, tire pressure) for free for any tires you bought from them. The thing here is they do that to find something else to get you to spend money on. Another hassle is my having to review, evaluate, and scrutinize what they claim and judge as a necessity. That and the hassle of dealing with them if I say no thanks. They can be very insistent. The biggest thing is I have a garage, the necessary tools and I kind of enjoy a lot of this.

Preparing for Cold Weather Driving – My List

This is a list of what I did yesterday and you should consider doing or have it done.

Change the Oil.

If it has been a while since you last oil change its time to see when that was. Today’s cars will tell you on your display the calculated oil life remaining. If you don’t have that then you have to stick to traditional methods like the number of miles driven since the change. All city stop and go driving the experts recommend change every 3000 miles or 3 months. Mostly highway and it is more like 5000 miles but they still stick to the 3 months.

That is because oil decays in your engine and loses its lubricating quality. Today’s oil is of a lot better quality than the past and I have my theory of oil changes that I use. If your car is under warranty then check your car’s handbook to stay within the factory recommendations.

My unscientific experience is once the car’s display gets anywhere near 25% oil life left it’s time to change the oil. Waiting for the warning to come is too late if you want to have a car that lasts a long time. My non-car calculated rule is 5000 miles or 5 months.

That is just me but I have a truck with 320K miles on it now that I have driven 22 years. Also a Civic with 310K miles on it that I have driven for 16 years. Maybe I am just lucky. The real point here is make sure you get the correct weight and type (Standard organic or Synthetic) for winter driving based on your manufacture recommendation. If the car is old like some of mine then I run 5w30. Cold weather driving is hard on the engine so you want to make sure you have the correct oil weight and highest lubrication standards met.

Check your Tires.

Inspect the tires for any side wall blemishes.

Hitting a few curbs can cause weakness and a slight bulge. This is a recipe for blowout. Same with any bent rim lips where your tire touches the rim.

Inspect your tread depth by using the Quarter coin test.

Place the edge of the coin head first into your tire tread and If you can see the top of Washington’s head, your tires are worn and should be replaced. In the old days this test was done with a penny and looking at the top of Lincoln’s head was used. It has been proven that using the penny actually was a little too worn for stopping and traction purposes. In any case you get the idea to check the tread depth. Tires can look perfectly fine but have worn past their safe use.

Check your tire pressure.

As the air gets colder the pressure drops. Fill under inflated tires to the recommended tire pressure. This can sometimes be found on the car’s driver side door pillar decal. Open the door and look below the latch. Correct tire pressure will save gas and avoid blowout on cold days. If you have no decal info check the tire sidewall for pressure recommendation. When all else fails I stick to 32 to 35 lbs. pressure. I have seen under pressure tires blow out the tire seal on cars and it’s no fun having a flat tire on a snowy day. Check your tire pressure monthly if you can.

Rotate your tires.

This is usually recommended every 3000 to 5000 miles for prolonged tire life and even-wear but people seldom do that. Tire shops that you bought the tires from will sometimes do this for free. If you haven’t been doing this at least at this time make sure you have your best traction (deepest tread) tires on your drive wheels. For most cars today that is the front wheels. If you are driving a truck or muscle car it’s the rear wheels. I rotate my own tires and use the opportunity to check the breaks when the tire is off. If they need replacing now or soon, better do it before it’s a snowy hell and cold time of year.

Preparing for Cold Weather Driving – Open the hood and inspect:

Hoses and Belts.

Look at the various hoses for bulges, cracks or leaking. Look at the hose connection for signs of leaking. Cold weather is tough on hoses. Look at the belts while the car is not running of course. Look for any signs of wear like cracks or missing chunks. Any defects that you find need to be replaced because when they go you are stuck.

Windshield Washer Fluid Tank.

Make sure your washer fluid tank is full and only use the winter-rated cleaner to avoid freezing in the tank and lines.

Radiator Overflow Tank.

While the car is cold look to see the correct amount of Radiator Fluid is there. You can see a line that says full when cold and another for when it is hot. If your car is more than a few years old and you don’t know when the last time the fluid was changed, you need to consider having it tested for its strength. This can usually be done anywhere that does oil changes.

Look at your Brake and Clutch reservoirs.

Cars with auto transmissions won’t have a Clutch reservoir. These are usually plastic and round with a black lid on them mounted on the firewall which is under the hood and below your windshield. You can see the fluid level through them and lines indicating correct fill height. Low level brake reservoir can indicate worn out brakes and you should have it checked out. If the Clutch reservoir is down it may also be worn or have a leak. Hitting the fill mark means there is probably something more needed than just filling them up with the correct hydraulic fluid.

Auto Transmission fluid.

If your car has an automatic transmission as most do check the fluid levels and color. The fluid should be deep red. If it is brown or very dark and has a strong smell you may have burnt fluid. It is recommended the fluid is changed every 60,000 miles or so. Look at your manufacturers guidelines. In any case if it has a lot of miles since the last change consider getting this done at a shop. I don’t do this maintenance myself anymore because they have machines that can pump out and change all the fluid. Winter driving is very hard on transmissions with all the slipping the wheels do.

Battery – Check for Corrosion

Inspect your battery terminals. This is where your cables attach. There will be a Power (Red) and Ground (Black) cable attaching either to posts on the top of the battery or threaded into the side of the battery. They should be tight and not move on the battery if you gently tug on the cable.

Look for and corrosion around these connections. It is highly corrosive so don’t get it on your clothing or touch it and get it in your eyes. It will appear as a white and somewhat powdery. The best thing to do if you see evidence of corrosion is to grab a wrench and disconnect the cable so can clean it all away using a wire brush and a mixture of baking soda and water. Left unattended this could cause your battery power to be interrupted and your car won’t start.

If you haven’t the tools or time to completely clean the terminals then you can flush some of the corrosion away with your baking soda/water mixture or by gently and strategically pouring a Diet Coke on the corroded posts. The potassium in the Coke will react chemically with the corrosion to flush it away. I use Diet Coke because it doesn’t leave the sticky mess that a sugar laden drink will. Also check to see how old your battery is. There could be a punch label. indicating month and year of purchase or a 2 digit year sticker on one of the sides. If it is 5 years old or older you might want to consider replacing your battery if you live in a cold area of the world.

Battery -Make Sure it is Not Moving- Fill Cells If Needed

The battery should also be tightened down with a bracket so it isn’t rocking around on the battery tray where it sits. Some batteries are sealed but others will have what looks like two rectangular plastic caps. This is where you can use a small screw driver to carefully lift the cap up and inspect the cells for water. If you can see water in all the cells then replace the cap. If you look in the cell and the water level is below the lead plates then you need to add some distilled water to the low cell.

Replace your windshield wipers.

I replace these every fall. Even if they are still functional now the ozone has hardened the rubber and they will most likely fail you when you need them most. This is cheap insurance of good wipers through the cold weather months.

You can see how busy I was yesterday as I went through these things and finished them up for two cars. My embracing fall and preparing for cold weather driving will save a lot of money by avoiding problems later.

Do you live in a cold weather area and routinely prepare for the upcoming driving conditions?

Is there anything I missed in this post?