Battery: test it before the first freeze

Cold weather kills marginal batteries. A battery that turns the engine over fine in October at 60 degrees may not crank in January at 10 degrees. The chemistry slows down. The engine oil thickens. The starter draws more amps. A battery that is 70 percent of its rated capacity in summer becomes a no-start in winter.

The fix is a load test, not a voltage check. Voltage on a resting battery tells you very little. A load test puts a known draw on it for fifteen seconds and measures whether voltage stays above 9.6 volts. Most retail places will do a free quick test. We carry a proper tester on the van for mobile visits.

If your battery is more than four years old in Southwest Missouri, plan to replace it. Three winters is roughly the life of a standard flooded battery in this climate. AGM batteries last longer.

Coolant: check the strength, not just the level

Coolant has two jobs. It cools the engine in summer and it stops the block from freezing in winter. A diluted 50/50 mix protects to about negative 34 degrees. If someone topped your reservoir off with straight water last summer because it was low, you may be down to 70/30 water-to-coolant, which protects only to about 15 degrees. Below that, the block can crack.

The check takes thirty seconds with a refractometer or a coolant tester. Both are cheap and we carry both on the van. Test in October. Top up or flush in November.

Wipers and washer fluid

Sounds dumb. It is not. A scrim of ice on the windshield with no washer fluid and dead wipers turns a normal drive into a serious safety problem. Replace wipers in fall, top off the washer reservoir with winter-rated fluid (rated to at least negative 20 degrees for SW Missouri). Five-dollar fix, big return.

Tires and pressure

Tire pressure drops about one PSI for every 10 degree drop in temperature. A truck that was set to 35 PSI at 75 degrees in July will be at about 30 PSI at 15 degrees in January. Underinflated tires steer poorly, wear unevenly, and hurt fuel economy. Check pressure when the tires are cold (parked overnight) and set to the sticker in the driver door jamb.

For tread, the penny test still works. Put a penny in the deepest groove with Lincoln upside down. If you see the top of his head, the tread is too low for wet roads and definitely too low for snow. Below 4/32 inch the tire is no longer safe in winter conditions in our area.

Serpentine belt and pulleys

Cold and dry shortens belt life. A serpentine belt that lost an inch of rubber to summer heat is more likely to fail in January when it is asked to drive a stiff alternator and a cold AC compressor. We inspect belts on every winter prep visit and replace when they are glazed, cracked, or chunked.

Failing tensioners and idler pulleys often warn you with squeaks on cold start. If your truck whines for the first thirty seconds in the morning and then quiets down, that is a pulley.

Other small things worth checking

  • Cabin air filter so the defroster works.
  • Block heater cord if you have one and have not used it.
  • Emergency kit in the bed: jumper cables, ice scraper, blanket, water, a flashlight.
  • Tire chains if you drive into the hills above Eureka Springs or up to Branson via Highway 65 in a hard winter.

Winter prep visit at Dusty’s

A mobile winter prep visit runs the \$147 call out. The diagnostic covers all of the above plus a code scan and a fluid check. Any items that need replacing get itemized on the written estimate so you can choose what to do now and what to defer.