What do you guys all do to winterize your cars... Or how do you care for your car differently in the wintertime?

A lot of people beleive in letting thier cars idle and warm up before they attempt to move it. I dont. I beleive in starting the car, run it for 30 seconds to a minute, just to build oil pressure, and I go...

I like to get all the road grime and salt and crap from the roads off the car once a week, or if its really cold, I will wash the car once every 2 weeks. I always make sure to park the car inside till its dry, because I hate heating my door locks and weatherstripping to get into the car afterwards!!! I love my garage... Its not heated, but it's insulated, so the heat from the car always keeps it above freezing.

I also like to use 5-30 oil in the winter.

I park my car in a nice, warm comfy barn and it sits there all winter.

As for the Intrigue, I bought it for my daily driver and run it that way. If I get to washing it in the winter I do but it sits outside all of the time and if I do wash it, the doors will usually freeze shut. I don't worry about letting it warm up or the oil pressure as most cars have oil pressure within 5 seconds. Or at least my Cutlass does.

usually warm up the car if i have time for around 5 mins or so. washing doesn't really happen in the winter, unless i am lucky enough to get a few days above freezing. non heated, non insulated garage isn't going to help. just put in fresh coolant and a new thermostat the other day. Optima yellow top battery is going in tomorrow, my old Interstate isn't cutting it in the cold weather. Optima yellow top's are like $170 in Jegs and Summit, but since Interstate distributes Optima batteries, i'm gettin it for $130.

Well because I park outside, and it's been hovering around 1 this week, I just use my remote start and hope it starts. If I hear it turn over then I let it run for 15 minutes. This way the heater is actually putting out hot air. This will un-freeze my doors. The worst design on any car is on mine, the doors freeze shut in five seconds.

I usually don't let my car idle very long beofre driving it... just a couple minutes or so. I heard it isn't very good for the engine to let it idle for a long time when it's not fully warmed up, (what's machismo say?) I'm not 100% sure if that's true or not... it probably doens't make a BIG difference either way. I just take it easy on the gas untill it warms up.

I read a article on this a long time ago....it's a little fuzzy now...but I remember them saying not to rev your engine when it's cold out (like it is now). It also said that those oil heaters work well....never tried them but it's supposed to keep the engine internals warm and ready to run.....

TOC Admin
Brando

I usually just let my car idle for 5-10 minute. My cold choke slowly raises the rpm to about 2000rpm and that gets things toasty after about 5 or so minutes

someone want to wash my car?



the new optima

Hey....cool man!
I want one of those too!
SO....how much was it and which model number is that..cause I want the one with the top posts and the side posts...just like yours.

What's the major difference between the red top and yellow top? Isn't the red top cheaper?

TOC Admin
Brando

My olds isnt gonna see snow anymore, well i try not to anyways. its been in the garage for 2weeks, i only drive it when the roads are clear of snow. I let it idle till the temp gauge moves a bit above 40C

Brando,

yes a red top is cheaper but that is because it is not a deep cycle battery. deep cycle is made to take the abuse of discharging and charging repeatedly. the red top is pretty much just a heavy duty starting battery. a red top would be good for like a delivery truck, something that is started alot. in Jegs a yellow top is $172. but if you don't want to go the mail order route, i suggest going somewhere that sells Interstate batteries, since my shop is an Interstate dealer i got it through the Interstate distributor. i'd check the price at a local place before i ordered it. i have seen them for sale at pep boys too for like $160. part number, i can't remember at the moment, but you want a dual terminal, they come in either top post only or dual terminal. i want to eventually run my power wires for my amp off the top post.
i had to modify my hold down and battery tray to get the Optima in there. i had to notch the lip on the tray that holds down the battery so it wouldn't cut into the case where the middle hump is(think of a six pack of cans, the lip would have hit the middle can). and i had to notch the hold down block too, but i just ground away the middle of it a little bit on the bench grinder.

I'd love to be able to spend like that on my car... No funds. And the near future isnt lookin too good either. I think I only spent just over 100 bux canadian doing my install (including my auxialary batter). Soon enough, I'll have to get that thing carpeted too...