Alright, fine. I'm a mechanic. Not certified, not trained, but I've been doing it myself for long enough to have moved past the "man, this guy has no clue" stage.
That said, I'm sure some of you have forgotten (procrastinated, but we won't tell anyone) to get your car prepped for the winter. You may not think it's really that necessary - your car runs fine - but I'll tell you this much: it sucks to be proven wrong by being stranded out in the snow.
A lot of shops charge money for winterizing a car, but there isn't really very much involved. I'll go over the heavy hitters here.
Step 1: Battery. Take your car to Autozone/O'reillys/Advance or the parts store of your choice. Have them test your battery. Most parts shops can do this without having to take it out of the car at all, so there's no pain - and no cost.
You may be thinking, "But my battery runs just fine, all my lights work."
That's great. Your battery gives 12 volts, as it should. But that's also one of the very -last- things to fail on a battery, particularly for a car.
What you should be concerned about, now that temperatures are dropping, is something called Cold Cranking Amps (CCA, on your battery.) Oddly enough, that is a measure of how many cranking amps (energy used to rotate the flywheel so your car will start) the battery can produce at freezing temperatures. That is one of the -first- things to go out on a battery, as I'm sure some of you have already discovered.
Step 2: Oil change. I know, I know, you meant to do it a few months ago and it's probably been more than 3000 miles. I'm not talking about the oil change that is standard maintenance for a vehicle (or at least should be, ahem.)
I'm talking about switching to a lower viscosity oil for the duration of the winter. Most car manufacturers provide a recommended SAE grade both in general and for the winter, but even if they don't it's almost always safe to drop one "tier."
Viscosity is a resistance to flow...meaning higher viscosity liquids behave more like solids. In cold weather, viscosity increases...think of water freezing. Your oil will not freeze, I promise, but it -will- become more resistant to flow. That can be a problem in your engine, until it gets warmed up.
You want the oil to distribute freely even as you are trying to start the car, which is what dropping a grade accomplishes. For instance, if you have 10W-40 in your car now, consider going to 10W-30 for a few months. The absolute worst case scenario? You might leak a little oil, if you've got some gaskets/seals going out already. If that worries you, grab some stabilizer - Lucas comes to mind.
Step 3: Wiper blades. I'm not going to bother to explain this. You've been a driver long enough to realize that the things reduce visibility when they start to wear.
I will say this - it is worth the extra money to get a good, brand name blade at least for the driver's side of the car. You'll replace it less often, and it will make your life much easier.
Step 4: Coolant flush/check.
This is often neglected, and very dangerous when left to itself. Your car cools its engine with a mixture of antifreeze and water. The important word there is mixture. Either fluid by itself will damage your engine - water because it boils too easily and freezes in cold weather, antifreeze because it can corrode the hell out of your engine in a pure state (and also doesn't behave ideally at the operating temperature of your engine). There are a lot of different opinions out there on what mixture you should run. 50/50, 60/40, etc (water to antifreeze, for this post.)
I'll say only this - you probably don't need a coolant flush. They're usually more expensive than they're worth, especially around winter time.
What you do need, absolutely, is to check the ratio that is in your car. There are devices for this available at your local parts stores, and most shops won't be too cruel about it. If your locale stays fairly mild for the winter, 50/50 is perfectly safe. If you're up North? You already know what to do.
Step 5: Tires. Roads get slick, your tires stop gripping, suddenly you are having a -very- bad day. Have someone check the treads on your tires, take the chance to get them rotated and balanced. It will not (should not) cost very much, and could easily save your life, or someone else's.
That covers what I'd consider vital. It won't guarantee you don't run into problems, but it will drastically reduce your odds of it.
Other things you can consider? Lock de-icer, checking the operation of your heater/defroster, making sure your headlights and brake lights are clearly visible. For the locks? Frankly, get yourself some graphite lubricant and get your hands a little messy putting it on your locks yourself. It'll usually keep them from freezing, and is much cheaper than the de-icers you see around.
If you've got an older vehicle, it's also a good time to double-check your transmission fluid levels. They like to act up when it gets cold...trust me.
Be safe, folks.
-C
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