Winterize Your Car -- Christineisms

Jan 18

Winterize Your Car

It’s incredibly cold here in Virginia right now - in fact; I’ve heard that this is the coldest it’s been in about four years! Snow is coming and I’ve been looking for ways to "winterize" my car (since I drive out to school early-early in the morning). Each day I have to scrape ice off my windshield - so I purchased some window wash that had a de-icer built in. Maybe that will take care of the ice a little more.

I found some tips off eHow to share with you:

Don’t put off a 30,000-mile full service, if your car is due - some of the things they will check during this service will be the transmission, brakes and power steering rack along with a cooling system flush, tire check, oil check/change, and fluid level check. This is all incredibly important - you do NOT want to be without something like power steering while you are trying to drive in the snow and ice! (If you work on your own car check out the link I posted - they have a full warranty on their products and free shipping! They have the highest quality power steering boxes and racks - products that only dealers previously had.)
Replace the windshield wiper blades. Put windshield washer fluid in the windshield washer reservoir (plain water will freeze).
Have the battery serviced (clean the battery terminal ends and add water) and load-tested to check its ability to hold a charge. If the battery is more than 4 1/2 years old, replace it.
Use a tire gauge to check the tire pressure. Air contracts with cold, and the tires may become low as the temperature drops.
Make sure there is air in the spare tire and that all the proper tire-changing equipment is in the trunk.
Make sure the tires are in good condition. If you are not sure what this means, ask a mechanic (in a shop that doesn’t sell tires) for an opinion.
Check the lights, heater and defroster.
Keep the gas tank as full as possible to prevent moisture from freezing in the gas lines.
Get a brake check if you haven’t had one in the last six months.
Put together an emergency winter kit for the trunk of your car: blanket, extra boots and gloves, ice scraper, small snow shovel, flashlight and kitty litter (for traction when stuck in the snow).