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This video has been a long standing request and I’m glad I was able to fill it here. So if you’re about to go into the winter season perhaps this video will help you with ideas on what you should do to your vehicle before the snow flies. I took a slightly different approach with this one in that I reached out to my viewers and asked them about what THEY do when they winterize their vehicles and incorporated many of their suggestions into this video. Even so, I’m sure there will be other good suggestions and I would urge you to either post them in the comments below or even better post them to the forum link above. Either way your comments and suggestions are welcome. Enjoy the video.
Stay dirty
ETCG
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Boogey man E
studded tires on ice are helpful but i had them and they are terrible in dry or wet pavement its like having ice skates on car when road is wet and you put on brakes it skids on the studs
If you live east of one of the Great Lakes you get 10 to 20 feet of snow a year…. in these areas nothing beats driving with a FULL SET of winter tires, studded if you drive on rural roads.
For us that go below zero F; synthetic oil, higher than factory spec battery, washer fluid thats rated low enough, good state of tune (plugs, wires, COP boots)…. if you have 100k miles and never changed the plugs just do it.
This is based on driving junk cars and my time in auto parts
Now this is a good video on "winterizing your vehicle". Thank you Eric!
eric the burglar lmao
I have always wandered…in the winter time i always use windshield washer fluid rated for -45C (i live in Canada), and yet every time in the morning when there is just a little bit of ice on my windshield i just use my wipers with a few sprays of an windshield washer fluid to clean it up. And my windshield washer fluid start to freeze up on the windshield. Even though is, let's say…-3C . Isn't it supposed to start freezing at -45C?
had to laugh, 32nd and McInture in Golden Co, folks would always haul ass past us all leaving work at CBC or GPI , hook a left on 32nd, and as we slowly followed, there they'd be, in the ditch
PLEASE wear the BALACLAVA in ALL videos. As it makes the footage more pleasant. =) (*due to the viewers having to "endure" your face less)
P.S. – Eric, you're creating a "poison" work environment. Just do what I said and put the Mask back on, go now!
I keep all my cars well maintained all year around but right before winter I keep an extra eye on my daily cars. My daily is a 2010 Camry LE i4 173K miles. Wiper I changed every 6 months. I clean them often tho. I detail the car inside and outside along with the engine before winter. Of course I clean the car often in the winter to take off the salt. I like to make sure the oil is changed. Washer fluid make sure it’s full, changed out both belts, cleaned K&N filter, changed cabin filter, haven’t swapped on the Altimax Winters as it’s been warm. Changed out all 4 original springs, struts and end links. What a difference! I can stop now! I also swapped out the cheap brake pads the shop put in to OEM Toyota ceramic pads. Coolant is topped off looks clean and oem Toyota coolant. I sprayed white lithium in all the door locks even tho it’s keyless entry. I also used chemical guys VRT on all the door sealed, don’t forget the trunk seal as well! Do this during the fall. This way keep the rubber seals pliable no cracking and keeps the doors from not freezing. Battery is new I put in a red top optima 720CCA plenty for a i4 Toyota. Lubricated the battery terminals even tho it’s AGM. It’s a great beater. Going in this week for an alignment as I changed my suspension. My winter “kit” is in the car as well. Everyone laughs at me until they get stranded. Also made sure psi is up to par on spare donut. I run Liquid Moly 0w20 which the weight the car needs. I also run Ceratec by LM I recommend it esp for the winter. You put it in the crank case. I also use a snow foam pusher not a brush. The brush doesn’t work well and it scratches paint. Every so often I’ll run mystery marvel oil in my gas tank as well. This cleans out the gas lines and keeps them from not freezing. G luck
This weekends project is to hard wire the radar detector, install both front and rear sway bar bushing and also get an alignment with a full tank of gas.
Thanks! Great tips! Headed to MN for the winter!!
tech working in Alaska here. we put either a 75 watt/50 watt/ 100 watt heating pad on oil pan, trans pan, either a bigger sized 60 watt pad under the battery, or low amp trickle charger on the battery. of course we put block heaters in, and get the antifreeze's freezing point to -50/-60. everything ties into a 4 way box, or i solder the 2 hating pads together and use an arctic grade 3 way cord coming out the grill. we plug in at around -5 and below. i have a timer at home, that comes on 3 to 4 hours before i start it. keep that electricity bill down.
Very good tips in preparing for winter-lived in Canada need them badly… thanks a lot
Great video Eric.
I always encourage people to spend a few minutes in a safe open parking-lot during the first snow of the season "getting used to" the way their car handles in understeer/oversteer through hard acceleration and braking to get the feel for the way their car behaves when traction is lost and how to gather it all up and put things back in their control.
just keep it reasonable and don't go full teenager doing donuts, but get a sense of how things feel.
Now with many years of snow driving under my belt, I generally do a few quick hard brakes and sprints (well within the safe range) to feel the conditions before getting up to highway speeds.
Be safe out there.
I check tires, service brakes/abs, service battery, check coolant protection, check winter preparedness bag, don't go before 1/4 tank, check spare, top all fluids, fill washer with deicer. That's about it.
What's better to start the engine in freezing temperatures, a block heater or an oil pan heater pad? My block heater isn't working and taking it out is a bare.
Good one Eric. Thank you Sir.
Is this a stick up?
Great video Eric!
Do you believe that putting a blanket over your engine at night is effective for keeping it warm?
I'm from Alaska and North Dakota. If it's winter time you need to get some studded tires, change your brake fluid, get a little plugin heater for your car in the morning. Those window covers that everyone gripes about are actually great to keep snow off your windows. When you have studded tires you have to get used to swapping them off and on. Don't drive with studded tires if it ain't slush, ice or snow, we all understand driving home after a melt to change them but don't leave them on all season. You are ruining it for the rest of us: taxes, laws, roads.
just needs a sawn off shotgun loll
Great info Ericthecarguy, thanks!
The time you almost moved to Cleveland
Listening to this without watching, I noticed how similar your speaking voice is to James Hetfield, Random something but I noticed
Best windshield washer fluid i think is the rain x fluid that stuff is great .
No one care who I was until I put on the mask
okay guys u guys must of miss all the bull shit from putting new tires on the rear look hes not even driving fast okay dumby and cant even control the vehicle okay those tests u see when the car spins those are on high speed turns period when the new tires are on the front when why would u slammed on the brakes or even on fast turns ….. dumb asses u neeed ur licenses revoked u must not know the rules to the road it says plain n simple when the weather conditions are bad u drive for those conditions and i hope u know its a scam u need to rotate ur tires to the front any ways why would u have those new tires in the rears any ways i rather have control than to have a spin out on low speeds not high speeds cause im not retarted and next time tell the tire company to hit there brakes when yhere driving fast doing the spin out test watch the guy when yhe new tires on the rear just keep on going straihht to the wall …..
Yo! Eric …hella mask! looks like you're going down for a bank heist, or trick or treating, is it Halloween? 🎃 lol! 😂 😁😀
rain X also has a additive for your summer windshield washer fluid that makes it to -20
Looks more like "How to Burglarize a Vehicle "
Haha that mask reminds me of the first gremlins movie where that one in the bar wears the same mask
Requested lol haha
When there isn't going to be snow for a few days take it to the self-spray car wash
Keep a sharp eye out for idiot drivers who are either extremely over or under confident in the roads in those conditions
Wait this isn't how to steal a vehicle? Unsubbed.
Winter? What is it? Greeting from california.
Check out my ghettoized winter house doir
And keep a screwdriver and maybe a couple of wrenches in your emergency kit
Snow Chains, Booster Pack with usb battery charger for cellphones, lubricate lock hinges, Top off with Raindex (Made the mistake of using water before winter) clog nozzles during winter storm, wd30 since snow sometimes clog stuff like the engine hood. Gps when travelling long distances without cellphone signal.
Just wanted to seek your winter expertise, as you seem to be an expert on Honda engines. In the part of this video where you talked about the oil, you only mentioned to consult the owners manual for the proper viscosity. For my 2007 Honda Accord 4 cylinder, my owners manual says to use 5W-20 conventional for all temperature ranges (-20F to 100F+). My question is: If this were your car, and you needed to do cold engine starts frequently at -5 degrees Fahrenheit, would you be using conventional or synthetic 5W-20? At -5 Fahrenheit, the engine idles at a very loud, course, and terrible sounding at 1800 RPM's for the first 60 seconds, then it drops very slowly over the next 5 minutes to under 1,000 RPM as the engine warms up. I am concerned about engine wear during this first 60 second 1800 high RPM idling when the engine is ice cold. Was thinking Synthetic would flow quicker. Would you recommend using 5W-20 Synthetic in this situation? Or would you be using conventional 5W-20?
Yes as Eric said all-wheel or four-wheel drive will not Aid you in stopping if you need to it may help with engine braking but you have to be going slow the time but all-wheel drive and 4 wheel drive does not shorten your stopping distance.
Now that the cold weather is upon the area I live. I have been noticing that my both my front tires keep losing air pressure it takes a couple of days before the tires on my 04 CRV get to the point to where you can visually tell that the tires are much too low I don't drive the vehicle very much and I believe the tires are 5 years old. The tread is fine on the tires there is some minor cracking in the rubber. I you leave these tires are eventually sooner rather than later going to fail. Tomorrow hopefully my mechanic will be available and be able to check the tires for leaks but I truly think that the tires have just gone past there expiration date for lack of a better word. My father swears up and down that someone told him that the alloy rims could have an effect on the tires losing air but I find this hard to believe. Any thoughts?
Welcome back Eric!! Good to see a quality individual back on Youtube!
I use rain x washer fluid. The stuff is great!
I put in some antifreeze to top off and some winter windshield wiper fluid and I'm done.
Thank for the video Erik. I learned from it. Just want to add that a good blanket, drinking water, knife, a light and something to start a fire can help while stranded. Its a basic kit that i fit in all my vehicles. Thanks again: for your sharing and a great channel.
I have a 2013 Dodge Challenger that I rarely drive. But I'm getting a lot of water in the exhaust system when I do start it how can I prevent this condensation for winter storage?
I'm told that within 10 ^^32 seconds of the Big Bang temperatures were in excess of 15 billion degrees Kelvin, although in such conditions I probably wouldn't drive.
How To Terrorize Your Vehicle -EricTheCarGuy