Farmers Almanac or not, it’s time in McHenry to check the antifreeze-coolant in your car, truck or SUV

The first frost of the year in McHenry was October 9. The low temperature in the area has been at or below freezing since October 24. And yet, if the weatherman is right, we can expect some unseasonably comfortable temperatures this week and through the weekend. But that doesn’t change one immutable fact: winter is coming.

If the Old Farmers Almanac is to be believed, we’ll have a winter with temperatures above normal. But the Almanac isn’t always right. And even ‘above normal temperatures’ can get darn cold in the McHenry area. It’s best to be prepared.

Preparation for a McHenry winter includes preparing the house – taking in the lawn furniture, rolling up the hoses and draining the faucets, putting away the screens and pulling down the storm windows. Preparing for winter also includes preparing your car, truck or SUV.

Over the course of the next several weeks, this blog will be dedicated to helping you prepare your vehicle for winter. Appropriately, the first step in preparing your car, truck or SUV for winter is to consider your cooling/heating system. This is the system that conducts and controls the antifreeze-coolant that runs through your engine and out to the radiator and heating coil.

Antifreeze-coolant is a liquid specifically designed to avoid freezing while also conducting heat out of the engine so it can be dispersed through the radiator, or used to heat the interior of your car, truck or SUV when you want some warmth.

If the antifreeze-coolant is in good condition, it will work efficiently to an extremely high temperature while not freezing at extreme lows. Those extremes are generally from 34-degrees-below zero to 265-degrees-above.

The problem is that, as antifreeze-coolant ages it loses its … flexibility, shall we say. The lowest temperature before it freezes begins to rise. The highest temperature before it boils begins to fall. This means that, on a particularly frigid McHenry night, the temperature may fall below what your car, truck or SUV’s antifreeze-coolant can handle.

At the same time, the high temperature where it remains effective in removing heat from the engine may fall. The result is dangerous for your engine on either side of the spectrum. It’s important, therefore, to have your antifreeze-coolant checked.

While checking the fluid in the system, a check of the system should also include looking for leaks, checking the condition of all hoses and ensuring that the thermostat is operating properly (a valve that opens and closes depending on whether the temperature inside the engine calls for antifreeze-coolant from the radiator or not.

Comments

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing? If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders. Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Get out to McHenry Music Festival for a good time and music near to home

Some folks here in McHenry will load up the car and head out to Red Rock Amphitheater near Denver to see a show. Some will go to the MSG Sphere near Las Vegas. Some will go to the Bonaroo Festival Concert to see a show. That’s quite a bit of driving and you’d better make sure your vehicle is up to the trip. What happens, however, if something goes wrong – if your vehicle breaks down while driving there or back? What happens if the show is canceled, as happened this year with the Bonaroo Festival? We’re talking about some serious inconvenience, aren’t we? Wherever you go, whether your driving to Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee or anywhere else in this continent, you want to perform your due diligence and make sure the vehicle is up for the trip before you go. And it doesn’t really matter if you’re driving somewhere to see some live music or for any other purpose. A breakdown can be costly and may put you at the mercy of weather conditions or nefarious characters that come across you while y...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog