Does it get cold where you live? Here in Chicago we are having a very, very cold winter. Especially in my climate here, it is very important to make sure you check your car for various things throughout the winter. The freezing temperatures, frigid winds and piles of ice and snow that winter brings can wreak havoc on any car. Periodic checks allow you to make the small adjustments needed to prevent major repairs (and accidents).
Batteries
The vehicle’s battery is essential to giving your car the life it needs to run on a day-to-day basis, starting your car, powering the lights, wipers and more. Every second your car is running your battery is charging, however all car batteries will eventually die and need replacing.
Side note: for those of you who have ever had to replace your alternator, this is what one looks like. I didn’t know!
Batteries really only last 4-5 years. I’ve lucked out I guess because my van battery lasted almost 8 years I think! However, if you ever need to jump your battery, the first thing you need to do is make sure that the battery terminals are clean.
Also, when hooking up jumper cables, you hook the positive up to the bad battery first!
You then hook up the positive on the good battery. You should also get your battery checked every 3-4 months so you don’t get stranded and need a jump!
We also talked about windshield wiper blades.
You should change your wiper blades every 3rd oil change. I had always wondered when I should change my blades! One of the most significant aspects of driving safety is your ability to see the road clearly. In blowing sleet and snow, that’s not always easy. 90% of our driving decisions are made based solely on visual information, yet one out of every five vehicles on the road have deficient windshield wipers. A quality set of windshield wipers and the right wiper fluid for the temperatures in your area are essential to being safe throughout the coldest weather. According to Weather.com, special windshield wipers with protective blade covers really do make a difference when the snow falls.
You can also find winter fluids specifically created with de-icers to help keep your vision and blades clear.
Cold temperatures paired with ice and snow can exacerbate the following problems, leading to breakdowns and accidents:
Low Tire Pressure
Cold temperatures cause tire pressure to drop, leaving you vulnerable on the road. Forget about the numbers embossed on your sidewalls and go with the pressure rating in your owner’s manual or inside your driver’s side door. These are the manufacturer’s specs specifically for your car.
To be honest, I had no idea these stickers were even there! The proper tire pressure improves handling during slick conditions, but you’ll also enjoy better gas mileage.
Checking the Fluids
All fluids should be updated to deal with cold temperatures. This is especially important in case you are like this car and be out of some of your fluids!!! Fresh antifreeze helps your components stay lubricated in subzero conditions and keeps contaminants from marring your radiator, preventing rust and leaks. A radiator fluid exchange before the season kicks in will also ensure your car has an easier time maintaining the correct temperatures.
Keeping gas in your car makes more sense during winter than any other time of year. Running low on gas allows moisture to pool in your gas lines. Once this occurs, all it takes is a big temperature drop for your gas lines to freeze. You can buy a commercial additive to pour directly into your tank to help prevent lines from freezing. However, the best way of preventing this common (and frustrating) problem is simply by filling up long before your car is on empty.
Misaligned and Damaged Shocks and Struts
Winter brings a constant cycle of freezing and thawing, as well as salt and other chemicals designed to melt the snow and ice. This combination can lead to cracks and gaping potholes in the road especially here in Chicago. Have your car’s steering and suspension system checked to make sure your shocks and struts haven’t been damaged by uneven road conditions. Your alignment can also be affected by potholes. Experts recommend an alignment check every year or 12,000 miles.
I learned so much at my visit to Sears! How do you winterize your car? Did you learn anything from my visit?
Car maintenance is important, especially during harsh weather (hot or cold). Please come share your blog posts over at the Home Matters Linky Party! We’d love to have you for a visit. The Door is OPEN. http://lifewithlorelai.com/2015/01/15/home-matters-linky-party-20/ 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Car maintaince is extremely important for me! I’m always checking to see if everything is okay. What an awesome giveaway!
Thankfully my husband takes care of all this stuff for me. He keeps up with it, though!
I grew up in Chicago and yes those winters can really harm you car. Especially all the salt on the road.
This is a great giveaway. Every winter I fee like I’m at a repair shop. My husband goes over our car with a fine toothed comb to make sure it’s winter ready.
I live in the Chicago area, so every year when the cold weather starts creeping in, my husband is in the driveway going over our cars with a fine toothed comb.
Ahhhh I am clueless on all things car…. But I do know maintenance is so very important! Hope I win this fabulous sears giveaway!!!my car needs it 😉
Thanks for this great information. Until I read this post, I’d never seen an alternator before. I’d heard of it, but that’s about it.
We get our car thoroughly checked out every year before winter hits. We live in Rhode Island, so we don’t mess around when it comes to making sure the cars are good to go.
Wow, I had no idea cars needed a winter maintenance! I’m glad my husband takes ours to get the regular maintenance it needs!
Car maintenance is definitely important where we live. We’re in Albany, NY and the weather has really started to get cold now that January is here.
Keeping up with your car is so important regardless of climate.
Although I must admit that with winter there is so much to look into I did not know
I agree that keep your car well maintained can prevent incurring any substantial repair costs. I bring the car in for servicing once a year to ensure that it is running fine.
I can’t even tell you the last time I took my car in for maintenance. I really need to get on that. Normally, we have pretty bad winters, but so far this year, it’s been mild. Fingers crossed that it stays that way.
Cold weather can be so tough on cars. After last year, when our car battery died because we weren’t prepared for the weather, we have been careful to winterize everything.
Hubby is in charge of car maintenance as i’m not allowed to drive due to health. these are really great tips will pass it on to hubby to make sure he is keeping an eye on all this.
Things like this make me thankful we don’t have true winters here. No snow, no super cold weather, just the occasional rain.
What a great idea to check your battery every few months as a preventive step.
I’m terrible at keeping up with car maintenance…luckily my hubby and dad keep up with all of it. Thanks for posting the pictures and explanations though – I need to learn this stuff too!
This is such important advice to follow! Thanks for the great giveaway too!
I’ve had a lot of these issues with cars throughout the years. Maintaining your car is key!
I never thought much about the winter weather wearing on my car, even though it lives outside. (no garage or car port) I just take it in as needed to keep it maintained.
I’m in Florida so I don’t deal with with super cold weather but I am still finding this post helpful due to my current crappy car situation.
These are things you never want to learn the hard way. It’s a pain but you have to make sure your car is in shape!
Very interesting information about our cars in the winter.
I am thankful that my dad taught me how to check the fluids in my car. I need to take my truck in for an oil change. I would love to win this giveaway so that I can take it in.
I hate dealing with car stuff, but it is so important to take care of it, especially for winter.
The winter can seriously ruin your car. Not only can the salt from outside ruin the outside of your car, but the inside could get ruined from various things as well! Great post and great giveaway!
These tasks are very important to know. Good of you to share.
It is very cold here, I have to be very careful with my car; awesome give away as well!
I am so glad we don’t have real winter to worry about in Southern California!
I am a total idiot when it comes to cars. I am scared to even put air in the tires! lol
This is fantastic information! I lived in a suburb of Chicago for a year and a half. Our second winter there we had an entire week when the high temperature didn’t get above zero! Thank goodness for garages!
Those are fantastic vehicle inspection tips! We just got a new battery for the van 2 years ago. And we check fluids and tire pressure before we go on any trips and usually every few months otherwise. It’s important to always have fluids in your vehicle. And the windshield wiper blades, we just changed those out 4 months ago. It was bad, they wouldn’t wipe off the rain as it fell, just streaked them. But we really need to get the car in for a suspension check.
Great article! Thankfully- my hubby takes care of all the cars!
This is so important! We just got into new vehicles but, before–we were hardcore adamant on keeping it up.
We have some harsh winters in the Midwest! These are important tips, especially when it comes to fluids!
Keeping your car in good shape during winter is so important! The roads can be dangerous around this time of year.
Great tips. Living in Colorado we use a lot of these tips and make usre our car is ready!!!
My change oil light just came on. I hate to take it to town when it’s cold, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I’ll be braving the drive sometime over the weekend. 🙂
It’s so so SO important to keep an eye on your vehicle and keep it up to date regardless of what season you’re in. You never know how much you actually RELY on your vehicle until it’s gone or out of commission! Great tips and information in your post, thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Anything related to cars, my husband deals with it. Thanks for the tips! 🙂
I’m SO glad we don’t live in Maine anymore – these were all things we’d have to worry about up there. Thankfully VA is much MUCH warmer.
Very good tips. In really cold weather – your car needs so much TLC. Living in Wisconsin I know from experience how cold weather can do a number on your tires air pressure!
I live in the Northeast so I definitely understand the importance of proper maintenance, especially during the winter.
Good information here, but a small quibble is that your antifreeze doesn’t lubricate anything. It does help protect against corrosion in the cooling system and keeping it fresh will keep the cooling fins in the radiator from plugging so you don’t overheat.
I live in Maine and we definitely can have long, hard winters. I try to have good vehicle maintenance, but I learn something new all the time…like there is radiator fluid! lol
So important to winterize your vehicle and stay safe when the weather turns. What a great giveaway!
All great tips. I have a newer vehicle and don’t know what I would do if it didn’t have that low tire notification. I’ve noticed every winter I get the warning etc. My husbands vehicle doesn’t so I never know if they’re too low and need to be filled.
Great tips! Especially around here where we have VERY harsh winters.
These are great tips. I will have to check my tire pressure and fill up mu fluids.
Awesome tips. My husband handles all of the car stuff! LOL I know literally nothing about cars!
Thanks for the great tips on keeping my car safe during the winter. It’s finally starting to look like winter in NY and I’m glad, I took care of this before it truly hit. Nice giveaway as well.
Thank you for such a helpful post! I definitely think my battery needs replacing soon, and now I know why my tires seem to need to filled with air more often in winter.
I really love the good/bad fluid diagram! It is so helpful to the average consumer who may not know much about auto mechanics.
I wonder if my battery will last longer because I rarely drive my car … Or if that doesn’t make a difference. I’m not interested in replacing it any time soon!
Car maintenance is very important. If you car gets too hot or too cold and you don’t have the right fluids it could ruin your car. Looks like the Sears worker was a good sport about photos. I have a new car and it has what I call “idiot lights’ and it also has OnStar so I am alerted when things get low and need to be taken care of.
Taking our vehicles in for regular maintenance checks is so important. It’s amazing many problems and extra costs we can avoid by doing this.
Perfect timing to read this post. I spent a good chunk of today at the car repair shop for some of the reasons you pointed out. Thankfully, I got off the highway and drove to my favorite mechanic before things got out of hand… Maintenance is key.
I learned a radiator fluid exchange before the season kicks in will also ensure your car has an easier time maintaining the correct temperatures.
I have started driving lessons and and will hopefully have a Car soon, thanks for the advice!
These are great tips for a newbie like me. They are also a great reminder for even a veteran driver. Safety should always come first.
Oh my goodness. I guess we’re pretty lucky in SoCal not to have to go through something like this. Wow!
LOVE this post! It is so important to keep vehicles maintenanced, and makes a HUGE difference in the life of a vehice. 🙂
Oh winter can play such havoc on the car battery. I once received a car battery for Christmas because the cold weather had ruined mine.
There are really a lot of things to consider during winter including the condition of the car. Here in Korea, people change the tire of the cars to combat the snowy road.
Great tips for car maintenance! My car is due for a check-up 🙂
These are great tips to keeping your vehicle in safe driving and working conditions indeed. It is so important to check all of these things to prevent break downs etc. Thanks for sharing and it is an awesome giveaway.
I think I am better this year with taking care of the maintenance on my car. I have learned to do a lot of it myself.
I really didn’t know anything about vehicle maintenance in the winter growing up in California. So the last 5 years I spent in Canada were quite the education! Winter was incredibly harsh on the batteries, the breaks, and even the paint job! There’s salt put all over the roads to melt ice, and it rusts vehicles like crazy. Lesson learned the hard way. After experiencing that I definitely take regular vehicle maintenance more seriously all year round.
I learned how important it is to get your car ready for the winter months…and how much I’ve been neglecting mine. I’ve got to step it up before my car neglects me, on the side of the road.
I got my gift card yesterday!! I’m so excited, I finally won something!! I can’t wait to go to Sears tomorrow! Thanks so much!!
Thank you so much for sharing these tips!