Winter Care For Your Car

With winter having set in across the country by the time you read this article, there are a few important aspects that you as a car owner must look into to make sure your set of wheels continue to work in their perfect state while also keeping you safe on the road!

1. Winters bring in fog - The months of December and January are notorious for morning fog which can easily reduce visibility to less than 20 meters. In such cases, it is advisable to use the fog lights and drive with the hazard lights on. Further, driving the car with the pilots lamps on (note - not the headlamps, just the smaller pilot lamps) also helps in making sure other motorists notice you on the road

2. Park safe - Out on open highways, do not attempt to stop in poor visibility conditions. Incase you have to, make sure you are on the left most side of the road with the hazard lights on.

3. Your engine needs warmth - When outside temperatures drop very low (usually under 10), the engine's management system ensure higher than normal idling to quicken up the warm-up process. For example, if the normal idling RPM for your car is 800rpm, its common for this to go upto 1000rpm until the engine has warmed up

4. Recirculate the air - While driving in winters, you will usually not feel like opening the windows due to the cold air coming in. However, it is advisable to leave the window open just a bit (a few cm) to make sure recirculation of air happens. This is done to prevent excessive stale air build up which inturn leads to setting in of foul smell inside the car over a prolonged period of time

5. Fight misting of windscreen - It is common for the front windscreen to fog up due to warmer temp inside the car. You can easily fight this by switching on the air-con and diverting the cool air to the windscreen. Note, the outside air-circulation knob/switch should also be on

6. Papers come in handy - Newspapers instead of cloth come in handy to wipe off water / moisture from the windows during early morning car usage. Keep them handy

7. Water from the exhaust - Overnight in winters the exhaust system's metal cools down to the ambient temperature. When you start your car, it rapidly becomes much hotter than the air surrounding it and results in condensation forming. This liquid is then pushed out with the exhaust and gives the appearance that your car is leaking water.

Gaadi.com, the most comprehensive automotive portal in India, is an easy-to-navigate data loaded platform for researching, selling and buying automobiles. Launched in May 2008, it was acquired by MIH (a subsidiary of South African media giant Naspers) in Feb 2011. With winters around the corner, Gaadi com helps out their customers with helpful winter tips to take care of their cars in the chilly season!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Isha_Prive

By Isha Prive