1. Check your tire pressure.
Tire pressure is especially important during winter, because traction is often at a minimum due to wet or snowy conditions. It’s critical to properly inflate tires, which guarantees the best possible contact between the tire and the road. Read your owner’s manual to find out the correct tire pressure for your vehicle. In the winter’s lower temperatures, the air pressure in a cold tire will drop. Since air is a gas, it contracts when it cools. Keep this in mind if you are checking tire pressure. Generally, for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit change in ambient temperature, your tire’s inflation pressure will change by about 1 psi. Has anyone’s low tire warning come on recently with the cold temperatures? This may be why.
2. Check to see if your engine requires lower-viscosity oil in the winter.
This isn’t nearly as hard as it sounds. Viscosity simply refers to how thick or thin a fluid is. Engine oils are sold with different viscosity levels. When winter arrives, the outside temperature drops. The colder the oil is, the thicker it will be. A thicker oil doesn’t circulate as well in an engine during start-up as a thinner oil would. If the oil is too thick, the engine doesn’t get the proper lubrication. To solve this problem, some engines require a change to a thinner oil. This may be more necessary to older vehicles, since many new cars already come with oil that’s thin enough to withstand the winter. Keep in mind an oil can also be too thin. Read your owner’s manual. It will list the manufacture’s oil recommendations for different climates.
3. Inspect the belts & hoses.
Belts and hoses in modern cars lead long lives. But that doesn’t mean they don’t die. Cold temperatures can accelerate the demise of a belt or hose so have them inspected before winter starts.
4. Inspect the wipers and wiper fluid.
Visibility is practically key in winter, as it is often compromised by precipitation, salt build-up on the windshield and reduced daylight. The life expectancy of a wiper blade is one year. If your car’s blades are older, replace them. Also check and fill your wiper fluid reservoir. Your might consider adding wiper fluid that has been mixed with a de-icer.
5. Check heater and windshield defroster.
Winter will put your vehicle's windshield defrosters to the test. It's a good idea to check that they are in working order. While you're at it, check the air-conditioner, too. An easy way to speed up the defrost process is to turn on the A/C. (You can leave the temperature dial on warm so you don't have to suffer.) And now is also a good time to make sure your heating system works.
6. Check the battery.
Batteries give little notice before they die, and they absolutely love to expire at the worst possible moment. Very cold temperatures can reduce a vehicle’s battery power by up to 50 percent. If your vehicle battery is older than three years, have it tested at a certified automotive repair facility. Also, make sure the posts and connections are free of corrosion. If the posts are corroded, you can clean them with baking soda, water and a small brush.
7. Check antifreeze mixture.
The ideal mixture of antifreeze (coolant) and water inside your vehicle’s radiator is 50:50. I the mixture deviates from this norm, then hot and cold weather performance can suffer.
If you were to put pure water in your vehicle’s radiator, it would freeze at 32 degrees F. But if you combine after with the equal amount of antifreeze, the new mixture won’t freeze until -34 degrees F. Most antifreeze you’ll find in stores already come pre-mixed, which makes this process much easier. You can check the composition of a radiator’s mixture by using an antifreeze tester, which is available at auto part stores and is inexpensive and easy to use. If the mixture is off, adjust it by adding more antifreeze.
Find more info at: http://www.edmunds.com/how-to/winterize-your-vehicle.html
