The winter period of operation is the most difficult for both the owner and the car. The problems with starting on a frosty morning after an unexpected cold snap are especially depressing. To make winter starting easier, prepare your vehicle appropriately for winter use and familiarize yourself with some of the tricks of seasoned drivers.
Instructions
Step 1
Start preparation with the battery. Strip the terminals, carefully tighten the nuts of their fastening. If the battery is old and semi-dead, replace it. New battery, select famous brand and large capacity, avoiding cheap Chinese and counterfeit Russian. Wipe the area between the terminals regularly with a dry cloth. At the starter, check the contacts of the supply wires and the tightness of the lugs protecting these contacts. When trying to start the engine, avoid running this unit for a long time so as not to burn it. In addition, prolonged rotation of the engine by the starter negatively affects the power unit of the machine, especially if it is electronically controlled.
Step 2
Try to do a scheduled oil change before winter to keep it fresh during the hardest time of the year. Use synthetic species as best suited to frost. Don't skimp on buying quality oil for your iron horse. Consult the seller and the service center staff when choosing products. And never buy lubricants from the market and from the trays.
Examine the candles. If damage is found on them, replace them with quality ones. It is better if you replace the entire kit just before the onset of cold weather. To prolong their life, do not refuel with cheap gasoline. The grandfather's method of burning candles in frost on fire is useless for modern engines.
Step 3
Check the condition of the high-voltage wires, paying attention to the absence of cracks in the insulation. Do not try to remove them with water repellent sprays - it is better to replace the entire wire. Check and replace the distributor cover if necessary. Do not use Chinese or second-hand wires: such a replacement will be useless. Check the condition of the gearbox oil and replace if necessary. This is especially true for automatic transmissions. In winter, owners of automatic transmissions find themselves in worse conditions than owners of manual transmissions, because starting a car with an automatic transmission from a tug can result in a box repair.
Step 4
Monitor the fuel level to avoid filling less than half of the tank. This is necessary so that the water accumulating at the bottom does not get into the fuel line and does not freeze there in the cold. And always refuel only at good gas stations.
Before starting the engine in severe frost, turn off all electricity consumers: heater fan, headlights, audio system, air conditioning, heated rear window. If the battery is cold, warm it up by turning on the headlights for 30 seconds. Crank the engine with a starter without starting immediately. After that, start your basic starting attempts, remembering to depress the clutch. If the attempt is unsuccessful, wait a 30-second pause before trying again. Do not touch the gas pedal - the injection system must supply the correct amount of fuel by itself. Spend no more than 5-7 attempts with pauses of 30 seconds between them.
Step 5
If the engine still does not start, remove moisture from the high voltage wires with a spray (WD-40). Having connected the wires to the battery in advance, ask another driver to "light a cigarette". In this case, do not forget to pause between launch attempts. If this method does not help, try starting from the tug. In this case, agree in advance about the signals with the driver of the towing vehicle and include the second or third gear.
As soon as the engine starts, do not let it stall by gently pressing the gas pedal. Depress the clutch immediately and disengage. Let the engine warm up by increasing the engine speed to 1200-1500. In this case, the engine will warm up much faster, and the battery will be slightly charged. And don't forget to warm up the automatic transmission to avoid damaging it.
