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I've never been in a cold climate before but it was about 20F yesterday and my car almost didn't start. Beyond that there are little icicles covering the outside and I'm not sure how it's affecting the exterior (or even interior)
It doesn't go much below 20 here however (maybe another 10 degrees at the lowest nighttime low).
- Are there any special concerns that needs to be considered for maintaining the engine, transmission etc in cold weather?
- Are there any tricks to starting a cold engine if the ignition isn't doing the job (besides a jump-start)
If it almost didn't start perhaps it's time for a new battery. Have the oil changed for a winter viscosity. 10-30 if it's an older car or 5-30 if it's a newer car using synthetic oil. Also when was the last time you had an engine tune up? It might be time.
If your car is mechanically sound, there is nothing you need to do. Most cars have proper anti-freeze in cooling system and proper windshield washer fluid for cold weather. 20F may sound cold, but it's not that bad for a mechanically-sound car. -20F, now that's a different story.
In general, beyond the obvious battery and antifreeze concerns, a synthetic engine oil of the correct viscosity for your temperatures will help with starting.
If you can garage the car, do, it helps with starting as the garage will seldom be as cold as outdoors, if you want to put a magnetic oil pan heater on, assuming you have mains power available, that helps too.
If the car needs tuning, tune it or find a good indy shop to do this for you. At least have reasonably fresh spark plugs and fuel filter.
If you are in snow country, all-season tires are OK so long as they are not more than about half worn, past that they won't grip too well. 4 spare wheels with dedicated snow tires is your best long-term solution, assuming you have a place to store them.
Bassically it always best for a car to be garaged if poosible because in time it shows on the exteorior finish . that goes for both hot and cold climates as well as from things like treee sap and pollution in the air.As afrv as mechanical there is guidance in your owners manual o that as far as maintainence and some even by temperture. most cars now days use very light muti-grade oil for startup wear just as a example.
I'm from California and now reside in California (Long Beach to Victorville)
OK, you are looking at a temporary cold snap, not a change of life in the motoring sense.
If your car passes SMOG, it's probably in satisfactory tune, so I would look mostly at oil viscosity and maybe check on your battery. Some shops will offer to test your battery, some of these actually know what they are doing - but remember this is like asking a barber if you need a haircut.
Putting a "Battery Tender" on your battery, one possible way is to use the cigarette lighter plug to "backfeed", these will keep your battery in a truly fully charged state, this can be quite helpful if you don't drive far/fast or drive mostly after dark.
A good synthetic oil will help cranking.
I'm assuming that you have already checked both ends of both battery cables, pay particular attention to where-ever the ground cable attaches to the engine or transmission, this is a bi-metallic connection and as such tends to corrode over time.
Given that you are still in Cali, I wouldn't bother with a full-on coolant heater ("block heater") although the oil pan magnetic (just be sure to take it off before you drive away!) might be worth the bother.
+ 20 ha ha ha. Ck the coolant so the rad won't freeze. The rad is subject to wind chill.
Get a load test done on the battery. No car at +20 needs a engine warmer. LOL the icicles are harmless, unless you scrape them off, which could harm paint.
As Mitch says a battery tender is a good thing to have and better to use. I would reccomend the Shumaker at walley world as it is just 20 bucks and beats the pants off the name brand 'Battery tender' hands down with it's anti sulfaction pulse. It is rated at 1.5 amps, and has 2 sets of mountings possible. One is a hard wired on pig tail and the other is universal clips.
Mitch is right on the oil viscosity too. 10/40 in dino oil is fine, probably, since we have no idea what car this is.
In real cold a old timers trick is to pull off all the spark plug wires, and place them back on real loose, so a gap of apx 1/8th inch is there the spark must jump to get to thespark plugs.
Now don't start the car that way and expect to drive right off, you allow the engine to warm up some, just sitting there, running it parked for around 8 minutes. Then if you are daring you push the plug wires on with the engine running, and if not too daring shut the engine off and then push the wires on.
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