Any - Cold weather driving | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Mon 16 Jan 2012 18:55

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Well, now that we've got a bit of respite from the damp, grey, blustery weather and are enjoying a snap of 'proper winter, I thought that I'd start a thread of cold weather driving.

This year, I've started using the hot water on the windscreen de-icing trick. Fantastic! Thermos of hot water all over the windscreen and rear window, jump in and find that the heat has already demisted the inside. Crank and go. No scraping, spraying aerosols, idling for ages with the fan blowing cold air all over the place. And it is free.

Running the usual grille block, and 2/3 neat antifreeze to 1/3 water to hasten engine warm up.

Scrapped the oil filter warmer because it was too much hassle. Switched to 5W-40 oil instead of the specified 10W-30 which probably has the same effect anyway.

Drive straight off with no idling, keeping revs below 2500 for the first couple of minutes, below 3000 RPM for the next couple of minutes make full use of revs thereafter.

Anyone else got any winter tips/customs/protocols for driving in cold weather?

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 19:14

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

Unlock car - get in - start engine - push lots of buttons to make car furnace hot - wait until i can be bothered to move - move lever into D - drive.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 19:18

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Yeah, I don't have the electric grid heater, so there's no heat for me until the coolant warms up!

But the lack of scraping means that I'm not outside for long-so I don't get too cold anyway.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 19:33

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

If theres no snow on the car i dont need to be outside at all. Just sit in the car and let the computers/heaters etc do their work :P

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 19:58

Any - Cold weather driving - bathtub tom

Around 9.00am the sun's high enough to defrost it for me.

Retirement's grand!

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 20:01

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

Fill up a bucket with warm water. Throw it over the car. Get in and put the eleccy rear window heater on, wipers for the windscreen, whack the climate control up to 'blast furnace' and set off immediately I can see to reverse off my driveway. Get almost straight on the motorway and get the car running properly.

Then swelter in my coat and gloves and wonder why I didn't just put them on the passenger seat and suffer the chill until the car warmed up.

Often I put an old towel on my windscreen the night before - the towel freezes so you end up with a weird towelly board, but it makes setting off faster.

Edited by Bobbin Threadbare on 16/01/2012 at 20:02

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 20:11

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

Bobbin's a right little speedfreak!

I prefer to get my Stately-Home-on-Wheels up to room temperature, sit inside in a t-shirt even in -8c and just toodle as i observe cold minions on the pavement.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 21:20

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

Bobbin's a right little speedfreak!

:-O

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 20:36

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

I always end up putting the wipers on without realising that there's a patch of ice left on the windscreen-which seems to shred the blade-which then then skitters useless across the windscreen thereafter!

No one had a shattered winscreen then?! Wish I'd never believed that for as long as I did.

I try to keep the fan on a low setting, since blowing vast amounts of air over a lukewarm matrix is pointless. A gentle waft of warm air seems to work better-and robs less heat from the coolant.

Do miss not having an electric heater though!

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 20:48

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

Sod the coolant. Its my heat! I paid for the car, it'll do what i want it to do!

You see unthrottled, you mock but you know on a frozen morn you're prefer my car to yours. Admit it! :P

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 20:50

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Nah. My left leg would get restless with nothing to do!

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 20:51

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

I had a Fiesta courtesy car for a weekend a while ago, i had to change gear myself all weekend. Im sorry but no, no more. Such a pointless waste of time.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 21:19

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Aw. Was the Jag not working? Have a word with uncle unthrottled. He'll sort you out with a car that works!

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 21:20

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

Aw. Was the Jag not working? Have a word with uncle unthrottled. He'll sort you out with a car that works!

....and it will be steam powered

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 21:41

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

You cheeky b******. It was working perfectly fine thank you very much. It was in for a service as according to its book it hadnt been done for a while. My local independant has two TDCi Fiesta's as courtesy cars so it was either that or the bus.

The Jag has been 100% faultless and reliable without as much as a rattle or squeak from anywhere.

ETA: Now ive said that, expect to see me in a layby at the side of the road tomorrow.

Edited by jamie745 on 16/01/2012 at 21:43

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 22:33

Any - Cold weather driving - Bromptonaut

Except for Bobbin on the motorway non of you have got off the drive so far!!

When there's just a degree or two of frost the warm water works OK. Below -3 water on the galss re-freezes too quickly. Alternative process is to sally forth @ 06:30 with long extension lead and fan heater to pre-heat the cabin.

Toasty and off on it's thermostat by 06:45.

Once on the road be well aware where gritting starts/ends. Even at midday there are still patches of unthawed hoar frost; I doubt places in deep shadow have thawed since Friday.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 22:43

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Ah, but with the money you save on de-icer, you can splash out on neat screenwash. The jets don't freeze and a quick wash stops ice reforming.

Years ago when I used to garage the car, I kept a 100W bulb under the sump run on a timer. This worked a treat-but it came to an abrupt end when my dad found the bulb merrily glowing away.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 23:50

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

Except for Bobbin on the motorway non of you have got off the drive so far!!

Ah but what you're forgetting is that my car is faster than Bobbin's and *turns to unthrottled* 100% wonderful and reliable in every way.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 11:43

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

Except for Bobbin on the motorway non of you have got off the drive so far!!

Ah but what you're forgetting is that my car is faster than Bobbin's and *turns to unthrottled* 100% wonderful and reliable in every way.

Yeah but does it actually get driven 'faster'? ;-) I've already got to work by the time you've finished faffing.

I have got a garage actually, but there's not a chance I will get my car in there with the junk. Also Mr B might get jealous that his Celica doesn't go in the garage so it saves arguments.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 17:52

Any - Cold weather driving - jamie745

Yeah but does it actually get driven 'faster'? ;-) I've already got to work by the time you've finished faffing.

Its not a race m'lady. Which is just as well because - i'll say it again - my car is faster than yours.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 07:49

Any - Cold weather driving - TeeCee

No one had a shattered winscreen then?! Wish I'd never believed that for as long as I did.

Saw that happen many years ago. Sitting in a mate's car one frosty morning, I asked him why we weren't setting off. The answer given was; "'Cos I want to watch this, it could be funny."

On the other side of the road two young, chinese lads had come out of their house carrying a steaming jug of water. They poured this over the windscreen of their car to defrost it. The ice disappeared, there was a short pause and then a loud CRACK noise as the windscreen disintegrated into a crazy paving effect....

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 22:27

Any - Cold weather driving - colinh

...or get a garage

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 22:35

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

I'm not so sure. The hassle of opening/shutting the garage door is greater than the bucket of water. And there's the problem of the winscreen misting up one mile down the road.

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 23:31

Any - Cold weather driving - concrete

When I can't garage the car, when working away from home, I use a tip I learned in the 60's. Stop the wipers in mid swing pointing up the screen, insert a sheet or two of newspaper under the wipers-bingo no frost on the screen. I also had to pull the choke out for about 20 seconds before switching the engine off to fill the carburrettor with petrol so it would kick off first time next morning. Ah the joys of motoring years ago. Coblers, I don't miss any of the old tempermental ignition systems but the newspaper trick works every time. Cheers Concrete

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Mon 16 Jan 2012 23:37

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Ah, the choke before switch off was a classic cold starting trick. Interestingly, my carby Toyota always started without choke-and settled into a steady 500 RPM idle. After about 30 seconds to 1 minute it would stall. Never figured out why-defied every theory I could throw at it.

Newspaper works well-but it doesn't half look shabby!

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 09:59

Any - Cold weather driving - madf

Ah, the choke before switch off was a classic cold starting trick. Interestingly, my carby Toyota always started without choke-and settled into a steady 500 RPM idle. After about 30 seconds to 1 minute it would stall. Never figured out why-defied every theory I could throw at it.

Newspaper works well-but it doesn't half look shabby!

Used upo all petrol in carb...?

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 11:59

Any - Cold weather driving - bathtub tom

>>pull the choke out for about 20 seconds before switching the engine off to fill the carburrettor with petrol

No it wouldn't! The carb will be full of petrol anyway regardless of what you do with the choke. What your action would do is flood the engine with petol and wipe any oil off the cylinder walls, considerably shortening the engine's life. Similar to the 'old wifes tale' of blipping the throttle at turn off to leave the engine full of petrol.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 12:29

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

No it wouldn't! The carb will be full of petrol anyway regardless of what you do with the choke.

The float bowl will be full of fuel, but the idea is to flood the intake manifold with petrol while the engine is running. This is why cold engines were hard to start. Petrol condenses on cold metal surfaces and forms puddles. Liquid petrol won't burn. Blipping the throttle achieved the same effect because ywhen ou lift off the gas, the engine momentarily runs rich as the throttle is closed. Switch off when the engine is running rich, and next time it should start straight up with no choke or extended cranking.

You are of course quite right about the excess petrol washing the oil off the bores. Many an engine suffered loss of compression from this treatment.

The old wives tale was that 'pumping the gas pedal' before cranking on a car fitted with with an SU carb would 'prime' the engine. Of course SU carbs were generally not fitted with accelerator pumps because they were...er...constant depression by design and didn't need them!

My favoured method of starting a recalcitrant carby engine is to spray propane (not easy start) into the air intake. The propane won't condense. Engine always starts immediately. No choke, no floooding, no extended cranking, no detonation.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 04:25

Any - Cold weather driving - 1litregolfeater

Move all the junk into the grey bin, move car into garage, job done.

For years I used to go out with a kettle full of 50:50 hot:cold and pour it with merry abandon, never had any problems.

But I wouldn't chance it any more, it's not worth the risk. Windscreens are too expensive, and the one on the Corsa especially is very lightweight and thin.

Use lots of very tepid water and spread it quickly, all over. If you must.

Be careful with the heater inside, blowing very hot air on a very cold glass surface, well you just know.

If you can, just delay car journeys until after midday when the world might be more agreeable in most ways.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 07:15

Any - Cold weather driving - mss1tw

I'm a sparky so I fitted an outside socket, and leave a £20 fan heater in the van.

Put it on for twenty minutes, go back in, finish coffee and come out to all windows defrosted and the interior warm.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 08:05

Any - Cold weather driving - Andy P

My technique is very simple:

1. open garage door

2. reverse car out (can be tricky....)

3. close garage door

4. drive off with heated seat switched on

Edited by Andy P on 17/01/2012 at 08:06

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 09:09

Any - Cold weather driving - ChannelZ

Unlock car.

Get in.

Start engine.

Press QuickClear and rear demister buttons.

Wind down and up side windows.

Drive off.

Only other prep is oil change in October, and winter tyres if it's actually going to snow. Haven't bothered this year.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 09:58

Any - Cold weather driving - madf

My technique is very simple:

1. open garage door

2. reverse car out (can be tricky....)

3. close garage door

4. drive off with heated seat switched on

Better still:

Open garage door.

Drive straight out.

Wife closes door..

(no heated seat I am afraid but blocked off air intake,

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 10:52

Any - Cold weather driving - Ethan Edwards

Push remote garage door opener.

Drive out.

Push remote garage door closer.

Turn on heated seat.

Set climate control.

Drive off.

Winter is heck isn't it?

BTW I'm using a 50% washer bottle solution at the moment. Hasn't frozen up at all.

I bought lots and lots of 50p for a litre washer bottle concentrate at Asda's about 18months ago. Still have several litres left. I reckon in the summer there will be more on sale too.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 12:31

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Wife closes door..

Ha ha!

(no heated seat I am afraid but blocked off air intake,

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 11:44

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

I'm a sparky so I fitted an outside socket, and leave a £20 fan heater in the van.

Put it on for twenty minutes, go back in, finish coffee and come out to all windows defrosted and the interior warm.

I like this.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 13:22

Any - Cold weather driving - Red&Bold

come out of warm house - open car - start car - go back in warm house - eat breakfast - come out to a nice warm and de-iced car - go to work :-(

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 14:17

Any - Cold weather driving - Ethan Edwards

good idea...cept I believe it's now an offence.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231460/Drivers-leave-engines-running-clear-screens-face-fines-idling-offence-rules.html

And it does make it simple for any passing people to nick your car if it's idling in the street.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 14:27

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

It has always been an offence to leave a running vehicle unattended:

The offence is against S42 of the RTA 1988.

This section deals with Construction & Use offences.

Quitting is dealt with by Regulation 107(1) of The Road Vehicles (Constriction and Use) Regulation 1986 (SI 1986/1078 )

and

Regulation 107(2)(a). This states that no person shall cause or permit to be on any road any motor vehicle which is not attended by a person duly licensed to drive it unless the engine is stopped and the parking brake is effectively set. Exemptions to the requirements of this Regulation as to the stopping of the engine include a fire brigade vehicle, the engine of which is being used for any fire brigade purpose.

There have been a few cases where someone has had their car nabbed by a thief while defrosting.Also I do believe your insurance wouldn't cough up in that instance.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 14:36

Any - Cold weather driving - piggy

My technique over the last couple of days was to put purpose- made plastic sheet over the windscreen.This takes only a minute to fit and worked really well. Mind you, the inside of the winsceen tended to freeze when I started driving. One problem with pouring tepid water on is what`s going to happen to the water that`s now on the drive/street?It`s going to freeze,and in these times of no win no fee that`s not a good idea. I`m minded to try the fan heater way the next time we have frost since my house is in easy extension lead range from the car.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 15:55

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

One problem with pouring tepid water on is what`s going to happen to the water that`s now on the drive/street?It`s going to freeze,and in these times of no win no fee that`s not a good idea.

Not a problem if it's on your own drive! Even on the road, it's not a big issue-and you shouldn't be parked on the pavement anyway! I'd be more worried about a lawsuit from a cat owner whose cat had licked up concentrated screenwash.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 17:01

Any - Cold weather driving - Andy P

The one morning it'll be:

come out of warm house - open car - start car - go back in warm house - eat breakfast - come out to space where car used to be - go to work on public transport.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 17:13

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Well if you have two keys, shouldn't it be possible to leave the car idling with the doors locked? Still technically illegal, but at least relatively secure.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 18:17

Any - Cold weather driving - MikeTorque

It's illegal for sure, and what if your other key suddenly didn't work, not a good idea.

I put on pre-warm clothes and gloves before I leave the house, the heat stays inside so by the time I'm inside the car I'm still warm. Turn on engine and seat heater, quickclear windscreen & rear screen heaters, wait a minute or so and drive away when it's clear to do so.

If I'm outside already and not warm then I get into the car and tough it out, not really a problem, I either freeze to death or live, so far the latter.

When/if I get older and don't cope with the cold too well then I'll just wear more clothes and use an old fashioned hot water bottle, worked for my dads generation.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 18:42

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Mike, Why would the other key suddently become inoperative. Even if the remote locking dies, you could still use the key to open the door manually!

I'm not in the idling club btw-it uses a lot of fuel when the engine is cold.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 18:46

Any - Cold weather driving - RT

Stick-on sump heater pads are available, either 230V or 12v, but would need to be left on overnight - one each on the engine and transmission and a fan heater in the cabin on a time switch is all that's needed.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 18:54

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Heating the oil makes a big difference to fuel consumption of a short journey. As I said earlier, I made my own sump heater from an inspection lamp with a 100W light bulb in-connected to a timer. I thought it was great. My dad (who paid the electricity bill) thought otherwise!

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 20:42

Any - Cold weather driving - Andy P

What's to stop someone smashing the driver's side window?

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 20:43

Any - Cold weather driving - Avant

I know the problem - with the Mini and the old Z3 in the garage, the poor old Skoda (OK, poor new Skoda) has to sit outside.

Spraying 'night before' de-icer before it freezes and regular de-icer in the morning is simpler and takes less time than some of the original thinking above.

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 20:58

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

Avant-I've tried 'pre-ice' and found it to be next to useless. Doesn't help with the misting up problem either. Some of us are still on coolant matrix heaters. :)

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 21:22

Any - Cold weather driving - Bobbin Threadbare

Unthrottled, I thought yours ran on Shank's horsepower?

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Tue 17 Jan 2012 22:20

Any - Cold weather driving - unthrottled

That's a new one to me-I'll take it as a compliment, shall I?!

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