winter preparation.
 

just curious as to what everyone does to prepare their volvo for the winter months, in the cold states that is. in my part of the country, winters can be pretty harsh, and unfortunately while at college i must park my car out in the elements for long periods of time. so my only option is really to just do proper maintenance and i also try to trek out to the parking lot most everyday during the coldest part of the winter to start my car and let her get up to temp. last year, my battery went dead when it was ungodly cold out, and upon jump starting, i blew my transmission control unit. hoping to avoid that catastrophe again this year.

Live in so ca, 30 mins from the beach soo..

winter?

hahahahaah

For me nothing special, just review mental checklist:

Road salt:
- Windshield cleaned real well with a scrub sponge and soapy water
- Fresh high quality wiper blades installed before the snow flies
- Check headlight wipers, replace as needed
- Washer fluid topped off

Weak starting:
- Lower viscosity oil in engine (5W-30)
- Long, heavy duty jumper cables in trunk
- AAA paid up ;-)

Snow:
- Check tire tread depth and replace conservatively
- Good quality ice scraper inside on floor
- Smallish collapsible shovel in trunk

The best thing to do is move south. LOL Other than that, I usually put a good coat of wax on the car and spray the under it monthly.

Other posters all have good advice but sounds like you not only have to store the car outside in the elements, but you won't be able to drive it at all for long periods at a time. That's not good for your battery among other things.

And I would not just go out there once a week and run it in place; really need to drive it around a bit.

If you're able to get out there and drive for at least a few miles, say once every week, it should be fine.

But if you're going to leave it sit for months at a time I would pull the battery (make sure you have your radio code!) and store it somewhere that's a heated space. Freezing a battery really kills its longevity!! Put a trickle charger on it periodically.

In addition to others advice, I would squirt silicon spray in the ignition and outdoor lock cyls to keep them from freezing. Would add that stuff (sorry, been awhile since i lived in MI, so forgot the name of some of these products..) to the gas to keep the H2O in the tank from freezing. Also add some top-end lube (Marvel Mystery Oil) to the engine oil too.

Of course ck your coolant; make sure it's good to the coldest temp you expect to encounter, and use straight windshield washer solvent (don't dilute) in the washer reservoirs. Make sure the tires are pumped up to about 5 psi over normal.

Then you can walk by your ride in Jan/Feb when it's under it's frozen blanket with piece of mind that it will be back w/o incident in the spring!! :)

yeah, i did give her a good coat of wax. normal checklist done. will go purchase a collapsible shovel. and i think that i will definitely try to get out and drive around every couple of days of so and not just run in place. thanks for all the great advice guys, its greatly appreciated.

A 10 mile drive once per week would be good, if that is possible. I didn't think you were going to park it. It really is not good to park an old car for more than a few weeks. Stuff just doesn't want to work after sitting for months. I would rather have a car with 300,000 miles on it than one with 85,000 that has sat for a year or so. That goes for cars over 12-15 years old, especially those cars up north.

I will agree that leaving a car parked in the snow for long periods over the winter without driving it is not good for the brakes - they rust, at least mine did. Using the brakes will keep the rotors clean for sure, and it might also help keep the calipers free too.

This winter is going to be the first winter with my Volvo. I flushed radiator using Preston solution, and refilled Volvo antifreeze. Also replaced thermostat and ECT. I need new set of tires though. I had my battery checked at autozone. I don't know what else I can do.