Tips For Driving Safely In Cold Weather

Tire pressure. The compressed air in your used tires is essentially a gas. As it gets colder, your tires will lose air pressure as the air molecules slow down; therefore make sure your tires are full enough during the winter months. If you are driving a truck or car that has four-wheel drive, this is even more important. Any imbalance between all four tires could increase in icy or rainy conditions.

Hills. As you approach a hill, keep a steady even pace as you begin climbing the hill. Do not try to charge the hill as this will cause the wheels to spin. Don’t stop mid-way up the hill as trying to find the traction to begin the cars acceleration is going to be near impossible.

Coin boxes are in the direct fire of moisture intrusion. This leads to corrosion and eventual shorts inside the box. Inspect each box for suspect wiring and corroded fittings. Replace the corroded fittings and apply a light coat of di-electric grease to protect for the up coming winter season.

marion junkyard “Too busy to clean the car.” Most cars get really filthy at this time of year but make sure that at least your lights are clean. It helps you to see where you’re going, of course, but it also helps others to see you a little earlier.

prepare for winter Be aware of your surroundings. Watch out for any dangers or obstacles in the road, and keep a special look out for cars driving too close, as this is even more dangerous in bad weather. Look for patches of ice and try to avoid these if possible.

What is more appealing than a long, steamy, hot bath after a cold miserable winters day. This will make you feel warmer, but over-exposure to hot water can dry skin out your skin even more. Add a few drops of bath oil to the water and try not to stay soaking in the bath for hours.

cars in winter Inspect your wipers, wiper fluid, transmission fluid and antifreeze mixture. You want all of the fluids in your vehicle to be topped off and your wiper blades to actually remove dirt and grime from your windshield so you can see the roadway.

As I’ve said before, we live in a drafty, old house whose saving grace is that it’s in the middle of sixty private acres of woods and fields. Also on the property is a small building with two studio apartments in it, where my late mother lived until October of 2005. Now, we use it for storage and for a guesthouse, mostly in the summer. Although we installed a pellet stove three years ago, and although we keep the heat down to 68 in the daytime and 55 at night, and even lower at the apartment house, our oil bill is enormous and getting bigger with each winter.

When you start your car, the engine builds heat caused from friction of the pistons moving up and down and the combustion of fuel. Your engine block has passage ways that contain the coolant. The coolant absorbs the heat and then is pumped away from the cylinders to the radiator through the “water pump”. I guess now it should be called the coolant pump. The coolant will flow through the top of the radiator work its way to the bottom, and the fan on your engine, or an electric fan will pull air through the radiator and cool the coolant. The water pump then pushes the coolant back into the engine and the whole process starts over again.

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