How to start a car in cold weather? Guide

Even at temperatures close to zero degrees Celsius, there may be problems starting the car engine. To prevent such situations, you need to properly prepare your car for the winter.

On a frosty morning, whether we can start the engine and leave the parking lot depends primarily on the condition of the battery.

The battery is the foundation

Currently, most batteries installed in cars do not require maintenance. Check their condition - battery performance and charging current can only be service point. However, there are green and red lights on the body. If the latter lights up, then the garage needs to be recharged.

“Before winter, it is always better to check the condition of the battery in the garage, thanks to which many unpleasant surprises can be avoided,” emphasizes Paweł Kukielka, president of Rycar Bosch Service in Białystok.

Maintenance-free batteries should not be removed and taken home overnight. Such an operation can lead to malfunctions in the electronic systems of the car. The situation is different with the service battery. We can charge it at home by connecting it to a charger. However, be careful not to overcharge.

It is recommended to check the electrolyte level every few weeks. If necessary, we can supplement it by adding distilled water so that the liquid covers the lead plates of the battery. Be careful not to get the electrolyte solution on your hands or in your eyes as it is corrosive. On the other hand, without the help of a mechanic, we will not evaluate the state of the electrolyte.

Beware of lights, heating and radio

Remember that you can not bring to the so-called deep discharge of the battery. If this happens and the voltage in it drops below 10 V, then this will cause irreversible chemical changes and the battery capacity will irreversibly decrease. Therefore, you should not leave lights, radio or heating in the car. Deep discharge can survive only the highest quality batteries and designed, for example, for boats. In most cases, this situation should end in replacing the battery with a new one, and there is no special way to do this.

Without visiting the service, each driver can take care of the clamps and connections between the battery and the electrical system. Firstly, they need to be cleaned, and secondly, they must be coated with a product available at any automotive store, such as technical petroleum jelly or silicone spray.

The starter and spark plugs must be in working order.

In addition to a fully charged battery, a good starter is also important. In diesel engines, before winter, it is also necessary to check the condition of the glow plugs. If they are damaged, the chances of starting the car are slim. In units with a gasoline engine, it is worth paying a little attention to the spark plugs and the wires that feed them with electricity.

Ignition

Some mechanics recommend waking up the battery in the morning by turning on the headlights for 2-3 minutes. However, according to Pavel Kukelka, this could be useful in older types of batteries. - In modern designs, we are dealing with constant readiness for work without the need for artificial stimulation.

After turning the key on a cold morning, it is worth waiting a few seconds for the fuel pump to pump the fuel system enough or heat the glow plugs to the appropriate temperature in the diesel. The latter is signaled by an orange lamp in the form of a spiral. Do not start turning the starter until it turns off. One attempt should not exceed 10 seconds. After a few minutes, it can be repeated every few minutes, but no more than five times.

After starting the car, do not immediately add gas, but wait about a minute for the engine oil to distribute throughout the engine. After that, you can either move on, or start cleaning the car from snow, if we have not taken care of this before. Contrary to what seems to be the case, warming up the drive for too long is not dangerous. The main thing is that the first kilometers after leaving the parking lot you need to drive calmly.

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Useful connecting cables

If the car does not start, you can try to start the engine by connecting the battery to another car's battery with ignition wires. If we cannot count on a helpful neighbor, we can call a taxi.

– If this does not help, the battery should be checked at a service station, it may need to be replaced, adds Paweł Lezerecki, Euromaster Opmar service manager in Khoroszcz near Białystok.

When using connecting cables, first connect the positive ends of both batteries, starting with the one that does not work. The second wire connects the negative pole of a working battery to the body of a wrecked car or an unpainted part of the engine. The procedure for disconnecting the cables is reversed. The driver of the car in which we use electricity must add gas and keep it at about 2000 rpm. Then we can try to start our car. We must also remember that we should not take electricity from the truck battery, because instead of 12 V it is usually 24 V.

When buying connection cables, remember that they should not be too thin, as they may burn during use. Therefore, it is better to clarify in advance what the current strength of the battery in our car is and ask the seller about the appropriate cables.

Never be proud

Under no circumstances should you start the pride car. This can damage the catalytic converter, and in diesels it is also easy to break the timing belt and cause serious engine damage.

As the expert adds, in no case should you start a car with pride, especially a diesel one, because it is very easy to break or skip the timing belt and, as a result, a serious engine failure.

On vehicles with a diesel engine, fuel can freeze in the lines. Then the only solution is to put the car in a heated garage. After a few hours, the engine should start without problems.

If this succeeds, it is worth adding the so-called. depressant, which will increase the resistance of the fuel to the precipitation of paraffin crystals in it. This will help prevent similar situations in the future. The use of winter fuel is also an important issue. This is important for diesel and autogas.

A serious threat to the operation of any fuel system at low temperatures is the water accumulating in it. If it freezes, it will restrict the supply of an appropriate amount of fuel, which can cause the engine to malfunction or even stall. To prevent this from happening, it is better to replace the fuel filter with a new one before winter.

Battery charge

If there is a transformer rectifier, observe the charging current indicator (in amperes - A) until it drops to 0-2A. Then you know the battery is charged. This procedure takes up to 24 hours. If, on the other hand, we have an electronic charger, a red flashing light usually signals the end of charging. Here, the operation time is usually several hours.

Petr Valchak

photo: Wojciech Wojtkiewicz