How to Prepare your Car for Cold Weather
Living in the Lowcountry, the transition from intense summer heat to cooler fall weather can be harsher on our vehicles than in some places. Most people know that winter weather can have an impact on your vehicle, but it’s also important to take the same amount of care in the fall.
Taking care of many of these things during the Summer-Fall transition will leave you with very little to worry about going into the freezing temperatures of Winter. At the end of the day, it’s the major swings in temperatures over short periods of time that can have the largest negative impact on your car and its parts.
Here in Charleston, we typically experience temperatures ranging from the 60s to the 80s during the fall, with small temperature shifts over 24-hour periods. Whereas during the winter, you can expect daytime temperatures in the 60s with overnight temperatures sometimes dropping as low as the 30s.
Here are some of the best things to prioritize from October through December.
Check your Fluid Levels
There are 6 essential fluids in your vehicle to check, as the cooling temperatures will cause them to thicken. When this happens, they have a harder time moving through the car, so making sure you’re topped off is more important than usual.
The most important fluids to check include engine oil, coolant, power steering fluid, brake fluid and transmission fluid.
Certain fluids among these already need to be checked on a certain schedule (around 50,000 miles for coolant, for example), but a shift in temperatures can push this schedule ahead and is a good reason to prioritize fluid checks. Power steering fluid doesn’t have a set time frame for replacement, so use your own discretion when deciding to check or replace this fluid during the changing seasons. If you expect icy weather in your area, it will be crucial to take care of your steering and brake fluids in advance.
Check your Battery
Prepping your vehicle’s battery during the Fall, before the true cold of Winter hits is just as important as checking your fluids. Batteries don’t tend to give warning signs before they fail outright, and that is the last thing you’d want to deal with during extreme weather in Winter.
You can do a manual check by inspecting your battery to ensure that the connections are tight and free of corrosion. Water and baking soda make an excellent at-home cleaner for any corrosion that has collected on your battery. Just be sure to clean and dry the area with a paper towel after applying the baking soda mixture.
You should also have your battery tested in the Fall since the upcoming colder weather will give your battery a harder time when trying to start up your vehicle. You can test your battery yourself using a voltmeter, which should read at 12.4 volts or higher to be in good condition.
Check your Heating System
Here in the Lowcountry, we spend more time dealing with hotter weather than we do cold weather. This means your heating system will likely have gone many months without seeing use and will need some attention.
It may sound counterintuitive, but the heat of the summer and overworking your AC system can actually cause your heating system to fail once you turn it on for the first time this Fall. Your car’s coolant liquid works in tandem with a heating core in order to create the hot air that blows out of your vents. If you spent the Summer running your AC to its limits, you may be out of coolant. So a timely fluid check will also be relevant here.
But the most common cause of heating system failure is a faulty thermostat. This issue can end up much more troublesome than just an uncomfortable interior in your vehicle. A faulty thermostat can cause internal parts to remain open and overheat your engine, causing failure.
Check your Tire Pressure
The most common thing to check on as temperatures change is your tire pressure. This is conveniently also the simplest issue to address yourself. If left unchecked and unattended, driving with low tire pressure can quickly shift your alignment and cause uneven wear on your tires. But why does this quick shift in tire pressure happen in the first place?
An interesting fact is that no matter what the gas is, any sort of container filled with gas will lose pressure when its temperature drops. This is due to the fact that gas expands when heated and contracts when cooled. Estimates show that for every 10° drop in air temperature, your tires will lose 1 psi of pressure.
As a rule of thumb, you should check and set your tire’s pressure while they are in their coolest state. Most importantly, this means checking them while your tires are completely cooled from your last drive. On top of this, if it’s possible to check them during the coolest time of any day, you should do so as well. Be on the lookout for your tire pressure monitor light on your dashboard. This is another indicator that its time to refill your tires with some air.
And when checking for your tire’s recommended psi, be sure to check the label somewhere inside your car, rather than on the tire itself. Your car has a certain gauge for tire pressure that might differ from what your tires themselves may indicate.
With all of these items on your radar, you should be well-prepared for cooler temperatures. One main throughline that applies to all of these topics is that you should address them during the Fall before the truly cold weather hits in the winter.
Kia Country of Charleston’s service center is always prepared to help you monitor or address issues with any and all of these topics. And with October being car care month, there’s never a better time to come get your vehicle serviced.
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