Okay Huntingdon - Is Your Car Ready for Winter Yet?

It is time to start thinking about getting your car fully ready for the coming winter. The cold snap could be just around the corner and some are forecasting a particularly cold and harsh winter so it is imperative to not put off the job and get your Datsun or BMW prepared for the worst. (Do they still make Datsun?)

What however are the essential parts to making sure your car is fully ready for everything that an English winter can throw at it.

The first and probably the most important is to get your engine ready to deal with below freezing temperatures. This can be achieved by an oil change. Oil gets thicker when it's cold so in winter it makes sense to change it to a generally thinner oil so that it can still work properly when it very cold. Check you car manual if you are doing this yourself or you can check it in to your local garage. Check our directory for local garages if you don't have one you trust already.

Secondly, put some anti-freeze in the radiator. There is little worst than finding your radiator has cracked because it froze and expanded.

You should check all the hoses and belts to make sure they are in good shape. Freezing temperatures are hard on these as the extremes of temperatures can make them brittle and crack.

Check your tyres. Do they still have good tread on them. You can get a tyres from a number of places in Huntingdon, check our directory for the nearest to you.

Make sure your screen wash is full. You can get screen wash fluid from most garages which will de-ice the screen for you. A scrapper, de-ice spray might also be a good idea.

If you use your car a lot you might want to consider having an emergency kit of assorted tools in your car. For winter, you'll want to add a blanket and a portable heater that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter. A torch, food, a snow scraper and a shovel are other winter items to add to this kit.

Photo: tsuda