How to prepare your car for winter yourself
How to prepare your car for winter yourself
Set your car up for the cold weather ahead by following the step-by-step instructions. You'll save money and won't even get your hands very dirty. A 60-minute winter tune-up that anybody can perform will set your car up for the cold weather ahead. It requires a can of detergent for autos, sufficient anti-freeze, possibly some parts and the tools ordinarily found around the house. In many respects it will be as good as that performed by a competent mechanic and it will cost quite a bit less. You won't even get very dirty on this little job. Nor will you need a timing light, meters or special equipment. A good way to start is with a quick engine clean up job that'll take about five minutes. Buy a can of detergent at your auto supply shop; mix it according to directions. With an old paint brush daub the mixture over everything below the head gasket level, around the sides of the engine compartment, over the lower reaches of the steering column, etc. Avoid the ignition wires, generator, starter, distributor and battery. Wait a few minutes, then put the nozzle on the garden hose, adjust for a concentrated blast, and hose off all the detergent places. Do this outside, preferably on gravel, because you'll see a lot of grease. Now you've got a clean engine to work on.
Check Ignition First
Got a tire pump? If not, borrow the one on your boy's bike. With it blow away the accumulated dust and grit from around the spark plug bases. Now remove the plugs with a long socket (never with a pipe wrench or open-end, as you're liable to crack the porcelains). Inspect each plug carefully. If the electrodes are badly worn and eroded, those plugs have seen their best days. Install the recommended plugs in proper heat range for your car; your owner's manual will give the make and range. Plugs that have upwards of 10 to 12 thousand miles should be discarded. However, if your spark plugs are fairly new, clean them thoroughly but carefully with a sharp-pointed penknife blade. Plugs with a tinge of whitish colouring are too "hot" for your car; if the plugs you removed have a coating of blue-grey fluff, they are too "cold" for your car or your style of driving; a sticky wet deposit on the electrodes indicates oil fouling and a black dry powdery substance points to incomplete gasoline combustion which, in turn, suggests a need for adjusting the carburetor. Whether you install new plugs or decide to go along with the old ones, gap them to the specification in your owner's manual. Reinstall the plugs, clean the porcelain insulators, burnish up the top contacts and the ignition wire end connectors and hook 'em up. Now wipe all the grease away from all the ignition wires, the battery cable, distributor cap outside, the starter motor, voltage regulator, and the generator. If the fan belt is greasy, wipe it clean, too; check the belt by pushing against it for proper tension -if the belt deflects more than one-half inch, loosen the top generator mounting bolt and pull generator outward until the correct tension is reached and retighten. In the case of some V-8 engines you will pry the generator up to tighten the belt, after slightly loosening the big centre bolt. Start the engine and let it idle. With an insulated screwdriver lightly and intermittently short out each plug, one at a time, against the bare metal of the block or head. You should get a hot spark and a motor miss. A weak spark means ignition trouble. If your action fails to cause a miss, the spark plug is bad. If any of the ignition wires are cracked or bruised in any way, or if the insulation appears old, new spark plug wires are indicated. To avoid destroying the firing order of your engine, replace only one plug wire at a time. Obtain the correct distributor point gap from your dealer. Then remove the cap of the distributor and inspect thoroughly for cracks and pitted metal contacts. If it looks bad, it should be replaced. Remove the rotor from top of the shaft. If the end of the rotor and top contact are burned and pitted, a new rotor should be installed. Rotating the fan by hand, turn the motor over so the distributor points will open to their maximum. Using a gap gage, check the space between the opened points. Also inspect the points for pitting. Pitted points should be replaced, an easy job that takes only a couple of minutes. New points should be accompanied by a new condensor. Many contend that it is impossible to adjust the points without removing the distributor plate. Others maintain the points can be adjusted in the distributor plate while it is mounted in the can. If the points need adjusting, here is how. The screws through the breaker support plate are: one in a wide slot, the adjusting screw, and one in a smaller hole, the holding screw. Loosen the latter not more than two turns. Now insert the correct thickness feeler gage between the points, and carefully turn the adjusting screw until the feeler gage fits snugly between the points. Recheck by withdrawing the gage and reinserting it. Tighten the holding screw with the gauge in place. Next, burnish the rotor contacts lightly with finest sandpaper and reinstall on the shaft. Key the distributor cap back into place and snap-lock it.
Fuel and Cooling System
If your car has a fuel filter (usually located either as a part of the fuel pump or separately in the gas line near the carburetor), detach the bowl, empty, and wash it and the filter element in gasoline to remove the particles. Reinstall the bowl, but don't forget to put the filtering element back in the bowl or to fit the gasket in place. Remove the air cleaner and take the screen filter out of it from the top. Place the element in a can of kerosene to soak. With your screwdriver tighten all screws with lock washers on the fuel pump and carburetor. An open-end wrench can be used to tighten fuel line fittings. Still with the air cleaner removed, start the engine and allow to warm up a few moments while you remove the block cooling system drain plug. The water will run out, of course, but just insert the end of your garden hose, minus the nozzle, and adjust the flow so as to equal the outflow from the block drain. As soon as the draining water is crystal clear, turn off the hose. If you live in a warm climate where anti-freeze is of no use, replace the block drain plug after letting a pint of water escape. Then put in the contents of a name brand of combined rust inhibitor and water pump lubricant. If you intend to install anti-freeze, now is the time. Look into the open top of the radiator tank, if the inflow of water up to the top radiator hose is smooth and undisturbed, you can rest assured that the thermostat is functioning properly. If you have reason to suspect the thermostat or if your radiator has a history of frequent boil-overs, it must be fixed. Back to the carburetor. Loosen the screws that hold the automatic choke cover in place; by turning this cover plate, you adjust the choke for the correct leanness or richness of mixture. When the engine is warm and idling, the choke butterfly valve in the carburetor air horn should stand almost vertically, at an angle of approximately 82-84, so that when the engine is cold, the automatic control will nearly close the choke to provide a richer starting mixture. Retighten the choke control cover holding screws. Next, adjust the idling screw for a nice even idle at slow speed by turning it to the right until the engine shudders and threatens to stall; then turn it counter clockwise about one and one-half turns or until the engine assumes its smoothest sound. Some carburetors have two idle screws. If so, adjust the first as described, then adjust the second and finally, to balance the overall adjustment, readjust the first one. You can drain the carburetor if you suspect an accumulation of dirt. The last item on our quick tune-up is to clean out the oil reservoir in the body of the air cleaner and refill it to the marked point with light engine oil. Then shake out the air cleaner's filter element and set it in a clean place to drain while you reinstall the air cleaner body on top of the carburetor. Finally, reinstall the air cleaner filter. A word of caution: do not tighten the clamp around the air cleaner horn to the maximum; firmness is enough-make this too tight and you risk warping the carburetor air horn and jamming the choke butterfly valve. Some carburetors exhibit different characteristics when the air cleaner is in place. To eliminate this, take a final quick check of the idle adjusting screw and the air needle valve or valves. If you're a fast worker, you should have spent about 55 minutes since you detergent your engine. Your engine should be turning over more quietly and with a new smoothness, ready for winter driving.
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