subject: The "Other" Fluids – Fuel Levels, Washer Fluid, Gear Oil, Engine Oil and Anti-freeze [print this page] The brake fluid is probably the most important lubricant in your car. However, the other fluids are just as important too, since they must be in good condition to make sure that your car is totally winterized. In this article, we will be discussing the other fluids that make your car work, including what you can do to make sure that will continue to work well even when subjected to the extreme cold of winter.
Wiper Washer Fluid
In summer, the wiper washer fluid is usually composed of nothing but water. It is automatically sprayed in front of the windshield to remove stuff that impedes the driver's vision. During winter, where temperatures can go as low as a -25 degrees, pure water will freeze.
Thus, it is important to put anti-freeze into the wiper washer fluid container.. If some level of fluid resistance can still be observed, try adding more anti-freeze gradually. This is to make sure that the whole mixture will have a lower freezing point.
Replacing the wipers with brand new ones is also recommended. Unlike rain, snow may come with various particulate matter like sand, that may give your wipers a hard time. Thus, it is advisable to replace the wipers as soon as the first snowflake falls.
Engine Oil and Gear/Transmission Oil
First off, one question: What should be used, synthetic or Traditional oil?
Most car experts will tell you to switch to synthetics for greater efficiency.
Traditional oils are derived from crude oil, which are made up of literally hundreds, if not thousands of substances. Even if unwanted components are almost wiped out through various chemical processes, there are bound to be some impurities that can damage your car, such as asphalt, sulfur, and nitrogen compounds. Synthetic compounds, on the other hand, are entirely created from scratch, which means that their chemical composition is much more pure traditional oils. In short, synthetics have much less of those that a car doesn't like to have.
The most common synthetic oils for winter are 0W-30, 5W-30, and 10W-30, where W denotes that the particular oil is made for cold climates. The part to look out for in these names is the number before W. In general, lower numbers mean a lower viscosity (i.e. it is more freely flowing) when subjected to drastically lower temperatures.
Hence, of all three common types, 0W will be the best for extreme cold. Take note that a car warms up as soon as the engine runs, so that viscosity in winter counts when the car is being started. Furthermore, viscosity grades of oil do not refer to their actual viscosity. Rather, they refer to how much the viscosity changes given a certain change in initial operating temperature.
With that issue settled, check your engine oil and see if an oil change is due. This is to prevent any damage from being dealt onto your car because of increased friction among the engine parts. The same goes for gear or transmission oil. Driving during winter is more complicated than driving in any other season of the year. Always ensure that the transmission oil level is topped up.
When shopping for the right kind of gear and engine oils, look for the ones with very low viscosity. Oils become more viscous during winter because of colder operating temperatures. Having low viscosity will help the fluids flow more freely, ensuring that your engine and transmission system are still well lubricated.
Take note however, that it is best to refill transmission fluid with an identical type and brand to prevent any incompatibility. There are many kinds of chemicals that make up transmission fluids, and the composition in each brand may vary widely. To prevent unwanted chemical reactions, this should be done.
Radiator Anti-freeze
A lot of people think that since winter implies the coming of very cold weather, the car's engine should have a much easier time at keeping itself cool enough. However, this is not true. A car's internal combustion engine is usually sheltered to some extent, so that the radiator is still a very essential part in as far as keeping your engine in a good working condition.
Just like the wiper washer fluid, the radiator is typically filled with nothing but water. However, a radiator that has nothing but water inside it will inevitably encounter much difficulty when winter comes because the water content will freeze. Thus, adding an anti-freeze mixture is also important.
Mix 1 part of the anti-freeze mixture to 1 part of water, to ensure that the fluids will not freeze during winter. A ratio of 1:1 is also recommended for the radiator, with slight adjustments if your area experiences extremely cold weather. In even more extreme scenarios, a radiator is sometimes filled with pure anti-freeze. Thus, observe your radiator in the first few days of the winter season for you to have a better clue on what to do next.
Gasoline / Diesel
When water vapor is exposed to cold temperatures, it typically turns back into its liquid form. This principle, called condensation, can happen to your car's fuel tanks since water vapor is almost always present in outside air. This makes water mix with the car's fuel, which will cause damage to the engine due to moisture buildup. If this happens continuously, an engine breakdown may occur, pretty much like what happens when a car gets submerged in a flood.
Thus, it is good practice to always make sure that your fuel tanks are full as often as possible, to prevent air from entering the tanks at all. Furthermore, since gas prices always go nowhere but up, you can save a few dollars by buying gas earlier than usual. You're going to buy it anyway, right?
The "Other" Fluids Fuel Levels, Washer Fluid, Gear Oil, Engine Oil and Anti-freeze
