Snow covers your car. After 10 minutes of shoveling snow and ice from the roof and windows (not to mention 30 minutes of shoveling the driveway), you’re ready to go to work. Twisting the key languidly brings the engine to life, much to your relief. But … the windshield wipers leave streaks, the washers drizzle fluid inches short of the glass, the battery light flickers and the heater fan blows little air of any temperature. Not a particularly good day for even a late-model car that’s been neglected. Winter Takes Its TollThe traditional tuneup is gone. Newer cars are largely self-tuning, and don’t have ignition points or carburetors to tweak. Factory-fill radiator coolant in some new cars is rated for 100,000 miles, far longer than many people keep a car in this age of low-monthly-payment leases. Cars are still imperfect, mechanical contrivances, however. Although many maintenance requirements are reduced, there ‘s still plenty of stuff that can break or fall off. An afternoon of preventive maintenance will greatly reduce the possibility of bad things happening. It’s autumn—the leaves are falling, but the weather is still relatively warm. A couple of hours of maintenance will be a lot easier to take now than a couple of hours of repairs when you have to shovel your way an extra 50 ft. to work in an unheated garage. The Easy StuffClean. Clean out the interior and the trunk. Shampoo the carpets and the seats, because a winter of slush and melted snow will infiltrate dirt deep into the fibers, there to remain forever. Dump the ashtray. Clean the wheel well arches and undercarriage of mud and road dirt, so that salty slush doesn’t soak into them, providing a perfect environment for rust. ElectricalWhile you’re cleaning, clean the battery with warm water. Remove the terminals and wirebrush them and the battery posts with warm water and baking soda. Reattach the terminals and coat all exposed metal with petroleum jelly. You’re not done yet -— using some sort of household cleaner, clean all traces of dirt and oil from the battery’s top and sides, particularly near the terminals. Traces of dirt can trap moisture, especially during damp winter days. This moisture acts as a conductor along a path that normally doesn’t conduct electricity at all, and can leak enough current between the battery posts to prematurely drain your battery. In fact, consider replacing your battery if it’s more than four years old. Newer cars tend to use smaller batteries to reduce weight and improve mileage, and, combined with high underhood temperatures, that spells an earlier demise than you may have gotten 10 to 15 years ago. While you’re at it, check all the electrical connections for looseness and corrosion. That may mean getting underneath the car to see the ground strap and solenoid/starter motor connections. Check all light bulbs and replace any that aren’t working. The days are short during the winter, and you’ll depend on these bulbs for visibility a much larger proportion of the day. News source: Men MSN Underhood In GeneralStill in an electrical mode, check the alternator connections and mounts for looseness and evidence of overheating. High electrical demands for lights, heater fans and rear-window defrosters, as well as recharging a battery abused by coaxing a reluctant engine to life, can make a marginal connection overheat. ZoomCheck accessory belt condition and tension, because that extra electrical demand will strain a marginal belt. Many modern cars have a single serpentine, automatically tensioned belt, but it still can fray and come off. Check all rubber hoses. Five years, in these times of air pollution and high underhood temperatures, is a legitimate life span for a radiator hose. If one seems squishy, brittle or just suspect, now would be a good time to replace them all. ZoomCheck the date on the coolant. (Remember many new cars have extended drain intervals -— but not permanent coolant. Read the owner’s manual.) If it’s due to be replaced, use a 50-50 mix of fresh coolant and water. Consider changing your transmission fluid, differential lubricant and brake fluid if your car is more than 3 years old. Lubricants break down, and brake fluid attracts moisture and deteriorates. At any rate, check the levels, and don’t forget the power steering reservoir. Fill the windshield washer tank with washer fluid. Check the pump and nozzles for a healthy, well-aimed spray pattern. Many nozzles can be re-aimed by inserting a pin into the nozzle to use as a handle. Windshield wipers are essential for winter driving, and after a summer of sunshine, the rubber squeegees are probably in sorry shape. Play it safe and replace them. Be sure the wiper arms and springs are in good shape, and that the blade is held square to the windshield surface. You may need to bend it slightly to keep everything square. Check the air cleaner, and consider replacing it and the fuel filter. The fuel filter will tend to trap water, and once it traps enough, it will fail and dump all of its accumulated dirt into your fuel injection system. And winter, of course, is when you tend to find the most water in Fuel at the pump. ZoomWhere The Rubber Meets The RoadDriving in snow demands good tires. Be sure you have adequate tread depth, and consider changing to snow tires if you live in a heavy snow area. Go ahead and pick up a set of inexpensive steel wheels at the local salvage yard for your snows instead of having your tires remounted and balanced every fall and spring. And while the car is up on the safety stands, inspect the suspension bushings, control arms, ball joints and tie rods, and the brakes. Now would be a good time to replace the brake pads if they are more than 60 percent worn. Even if they are not, check carefully for corrosion around the calipers and sliding pins. While the wheel is off, pull the pads out of the calipers and be sure everything is sliding freely. Wirebrush sliding-key ways and pins that let the pads pull back from the disc when you remove your foot from the brake. Exercise the pistons by pushing them back into the calipers and then pressing on the brake pedal once or twice to break up corrosion between the piston and the caliper. Again, it’s a lot easier to look at this stuff on a crisp autumn day than it is to try to fix it some subzero morning when all of your wrenches stick to your fingers like the proverbial dared 6-year-old’s tongue sticks to a frigid flagpole. Rust Never SleepsBefore the salt trucks come out is a good time to get out the touchup paint. Use it to cover all the bare metal at the bottom of any stone chips and parking lot dings. Clean the chipped area thoroughly, and use a toothpick or a match to apply a touch of zinc-rich primer to the bare metal. Allow this to dry, and chase any overlap back to the lip of the scratch with lacquer thinner. Then carefully fill the chip with touchup paint. It’ll shrink, so you may need several applications to build up the level of paint to flush. On The RoadEven a perfectly running car may wind up stuck in a snowbank. So put together a kit of essentials for your trunk. This should include flares, a flashlight, jumper cables (if only to help some unfortunate soul whose car wasn’t winterized like yours), a folding camp shovel, kitty litter for traction, a bottle of gasline drier, and tire chains if they’re legal in your state. If you ever travel outside of urban areas, a couple of blankets and a cellphone or CB radio ought to be on board as well.