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Posted By: chris_gilly Winter Warning! - 8th Nov 2010 8:10pm
Hi all!

with this winter coming about, now it the time to make sure your cars have sufficent antifreeze, not just water as water freezes, if it does its prob likel you wont know and you'll come to start your car and it'll cost you! water pumps are usually cam belt driven, if yours if the waterpump will be held solid so cam belts can snap, or break waterpumps.

worth looking now,

Also its good idea to get cars serviced before winter, as the check overs carried out in a service, can spot items with wear or broken items, before the winter salt sets in. smile

Posted By: DavidB Re: Winter Warning! - 8th Nov 2010 9:26pm
I had a leaking pipe. Missus kept topping up water, eventually diluting the antifreeze. Winter came and cracked the engine!
Posted By: chris_gilly Re: Winter Warning! - 8th Nov 2010 9:53pm
the amount of frozen engines/ water pumps i did at the start of this year was a decent amount frown for the cost of topping up with coolant & stopping leaks is alot less than a new engine!
Posted By: Sanchez Re: Winter Warning! - 9th Nov 2010 8:19am
people dont know what they are doing half the time. Offer your services for unaware people chris, I think £15 a car is a fair price for a coolant flush and a top up with antifreeze.
Posted By: polo_phil Re: Winter Warning! - 9th Nov 2010 8:47am
joyride thumbsup
Posted By: chris_gilly Re: Winter Warning! - 9th Nov 2010 11:51am
i sent a mass text out to most my customers last night, warning of the dangers,

coolant must be at least 3 parts water to 1 coolant best at 2:1 for the winter, ive just done aload at the garage

my dad is a gritter so he gets all the weather warnings staright away, there might be frost tonight, as hes been called in.
Posted By: Neil_c Re: Winter Warning! - 9th Nov 2010 9:29pm
i used to taste my coolant to see if it was sweet until I realised how toxic it was.

I was gutted when some van crashed into the front of my car. £45 worth of BMW anti-freeze was all over the road. M52 engines need 10 litres of coolant.
Posted By: chris_gilly Re: Winter Warning! - 9th Nov 2010 11:17pm
neil you can buy strength testers cheaply, iirc ebay £3ish like pipets

Posted By: Neil_c Re: Winter Warning! - 10th Nov 2010 7:57am
I was reading the haynes manual for my girlfs ka. It recommends the coolant is flushed every ten years! I think its worth doing it every two or three as its likely to get watered down during top up. In my experiences fords have never been brill at maintaining oil and water levels. She would just run it into the ground if i didnt check it.
Posted By: Nigel Re: Winter Warning! - 10th Nov 2010 7:03pm
Originally Posted by Neil_c
She would just run it into the ground if i didnt check it.


Neil she will have you for writing that. Shes not blonde by any chance is she (Joke)?
Posted By: Neil_c Re: Winter Warning! - 10th Nov 2010 7:30pm
Without being sexist. Ford Ka's are designed for female owners. Easy to park and excellent for people who don't think about maintenance until it's too late.

You also need tiny little hands to get to the headlight bulbs otherwise it's like putting your arm in a cheese grater.

I towed it home once when she got in a little faus pax, could easily forget that the thing was hanging off the back of my car as they are so light.
Posted By: chris_gilly Re: Winter Warning! - 18th Dec 2010 3:57pm
just a sort of bump as an extra warning for everyone!

ive just got 1 victim in today frown
Posted By: johncon Re: Winter Warning! - 18th Dec 2010 4:36pm
we have had 4 cars towed in to us this week with frozen engines in many cases it can be enough to wright off the car get that antifreeze checked !!!!
Posted By: SpecialK Re: Winter Warning! - 18th Dec 2010 5:21pm
A little tip I got recently -

Due to the cold weather alot of people think their battery needs changing when they get not response when turning the key. In most cases all you need to do is pour a boiled kettle over the battery. Something to do with the fluid freezing.

Can any 'petrolheads' out there please confirm this as good advice before I get the blame for a hefty bill?
Posted By: chris_gilly Re: Winter Warning! - 18th Dec 2010 5:47pm
its due to the water mixed with the acid freezing in the battery,

id say its ok to do smile just not exactly boiling water the shock might crack it
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Winter Warning! - 18th Dec 2010 7:23pm
If a battery freezes then it was probably already discharged, heating it up won't help much at all.

A fully charged battery is almost impossible to freeze in a car!

Fully charged, freezes at -70 degrees centigrade.
40% charged, freezes at -27 degrees centigrade.
fully discharged freezes at 0 degrees centigrade.

If you have a dodgy battery, replace it, it is very unlikely to last the full winter and will let you down at the most inconvenient time.

If a battery has been flattened for any length of time, this causes quite a bit of damage and it is worth monitoring to see if it starts the car at its normal turnover speed for the next few weeks.

Second hand batteries if tested with a battery tester will normally last quite well and provide good value. The notable exceptions being if the electrolyte is low or contaminated (especially with battery tablets).
Posted By: DavidB Re: Winter Warning! - 18th Dec 2010 9:31pm
If a battery freezes, it's probably knackered, the same thing happened to a four month old Halfords one. The whole car froze and the battery wouldn't even hold a single charge!
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