Cold snap car problems and solutions thread...

murphyebass

Cold snap car problems and solutions thread...

• The lock problem I had recently in my GT ie it would just about open and then the lock would refuse to shut/close again.

Solutions seem to be: Hairdryer to the lock, Warm rag to the lock, WD40 the lock prior to snap. Hope they work.

• Another annoying one I find is the age old.. I just threw a kettle of slightly luke warm water over my windscreen and now its frozen over again before I start driving leaving me having to attempt to heat it up for 10 mins before driving off again or get another kettle.

Solutions seem to be: Get in quicker and go (not always ideal), de icer, device that goes into the car as a heater powered by the cigerette lighter (again varing degrees of success from reviews)

• Cant drive in the snow/ice...

Solutions seem to be: snow tyres or snow socks (think I'll be going with the snow socks due to cost and storage space)

Any others guys or any other solutions to the above......

Trampas

Don't use electric windows until windows are completly defrosted.

Snapped the cables which work the electric windows

murphyebass

Trampas wrote: »

Don't use electric windows until windows are completly defrosted.

Snapped the cables which work the electric windows

Cheers for that Trampas I wouldnt have thought about that but it makes sense when you think about it.

Similar to using the wipers on a frosty window. How to ruin your wipers in seconds!

Tabnabs

Doors and freezing weather:

If the seals are sticking and causing difficulty in opening the doors due to sub zero temps, keep them nice & dry - they wont stick. Use vasline, silicon based sprays, or talcum powder (WD40 has a reputation of damaging the seals over long term use) for best results.

roosterman71

If you put water on the window to de-ice it, also put it on the wipers. Then, put the wipers on the intermediate setting (or whatever its called) while you put the kettle back in the house. The water is wiped away and can't refreeze

Jumpy

roosterman71 wrote: »

If you put water on the window to de-ice it, also put it on the wipers. Then, put the wipers on the intermediate setting (or whatever its called) while you put the kettle back in the house. The water is wiped away and can't refreeze

This doesnt work.

The wipers lay a very thin film of water back over the window, which freezes instantly. On the return swing it adds another layer and so on until the water on the wipers is frozen.

A warm windscreen or antifreeze spray is one of the only options when its very, very cold.

bladespin

Hand brake - don't apply it overnight if it's freezing, it can lock on, better to choc the car.

A plastic scraper will clear a windscreen better than warm water, it won't refreeze.
Better still spray de-icer on the night before, less ice will freeze and it's easier to get off.

Frozen locks, heat the key, usually works, should warm the mechanism too.

Dricing on ice and snow, keep everything you do gentle, anticipate manouvers and always leave some safey margin, learn cadence braking and hope to countersteer. Do not just whack the brakes on during a skid.

Hope that helps, worked pretty well for me over the years.

inforfun

This

And if your locks are frozen, holding a little plastic bag with warm water aginst it might unlock it.

Make sure that if you go play with warm water to defrost your windows that none of it is spilled on the footpath, people would like to walk there without risking breaking bones.

Zubeneschamali

I find turning on the heated windscreen for a few minutes really helps. :pac:

stevenmu

Don't use very hot water to remove ice, it can cause the glass to crack. Also, it's very counter intuitive, but boiling water will actually freeze quicker than cold water, covering the glass in ice again.

Water straight from the cold tap actually does a pretty good job, you just need a little more of it. You can use a 2ltr bottle or similar straight from the tap, and it means you don't need to bring the kettle back in when you're done too, you can just throw the bottle in the car and drive off

thirtythirty

murphyebass wrote: »

• Cant drive in the snow/ice...

Solutions seem to be: snow tyres or snow socks (think I'll be going with the snow socks due to cost and storage space)

I drove all over the country in the worst of the snow and ice in a rear-wheel drive sports car last year. Really, unless snow depth is approaching the car chassis height, there should be no problems (incline depending!). It was ridiculous seeing range rovers sideways or crawling along at 1mph. There should be a public bulletin of "how to drive in snow/ice" aired imo.

Some tips perhaps:

1. Be light-footed! Wheel speed (i.e. power delivered / braking applied) should never experience a sharp increase or decrease. The aim is to keep traction. Imagine marbles starting to roll down a very slightly slanted table - thats the sort of wheel speed change im talking about.
2. Grow your "circle of awareness". If you don't already, you should be driving at least two or three cars ahead of you at all times. So if for example car 3 ahead illuminates it's brake lights, take your foot off the accelerator and start extending a bigger distance between you and the car infront. Which brings me to my next point.
3. Braking vs engine braking. Learn the point of brake pedal where your brake lights illuminate. Generally speaking this is the lightest point of braking that have your pads applied - it will also help you to slow brake and gradually reduce tyre speed. Alternatively, use engine braking if you have a long lead time to the stop point i.e. downshift the gears as needed.
4. Use a hi (or low, depending on how you view it!) gear while driving. Better to be driving with low revs in 3rd gear than high revs in 2nd gear where you could accidentally apply too much power and break your wheels' traction.
5. If you do slide - it's incredibly unintuitive, but let go of the brakes! This will allow your wheels to start rolling, you can straighten the steering, and then try applying the brakes gently again once you've got control. Bare in mind this may all happen in under 3 or 4 seconds!

That's all for now. Feel free to add more!

Ush1

spottyelephant wrote: »

5. If you do slide - it's incredibly unintuitive, but let go of the brakes! This will allow your wheels to start rolling, you can straighten the steering, and then try applying the brakes gently again once you've got control. Bare in mind this may all happen in under 3 or 4 seconds!

That's all for now. Feel free to add more!

Would you stay in gear while sliding also?

Zubeneschamali

Practice driving somewhere safe when it's slippy, like an empty car park.

In particular, I think some of the people giving advice should first check out their cars ABS ability. Cadence braking and engine braking are not as good as a modern ABS system, and your car probably has one.

thirtythirty

Ush1 wrote: »

Would you stay in gear while sliding also?

Some others might disagree, but i would tend to say no, push in the clutch.

The reason i'd say that is: if you've been driving with quite low revs and you started sliding during a brake, then even if you release the brake, the engine will be slowing the tyres (since presumably you're not trying to accelerate and have your foot off the accelerator!). This would mean that it would be harder to gain traction since the wheels are still trying to slow down, albeit not as sharply as with the brakes.


So in short, my personal view is to free-roll. It's dependant on the conditions and what's in front of you then as to whether you re-engage the clutch to try to use engine braking once you've stopped sliding, or feather the brakes.

Anan1

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Practice driving somewhere safe when it's slippy, like an empty car park.

In particular, I think some of the people giving advice should first check out their cars ABS ability. Cadence braking and engine braking are not as good as a modern ABS system, and your car probably has one.

+1, it's also a good idea to learn when and how your ESP (if fitted) reacts to a slide. There can be huge variations in this from car to car.

thirtythirty

Anan1 wrote: »

+1, it's also a good idea to learn when and how your ESP (if fitted) reacts to a slide. There can be huge variations in this from car to car.

+2: a car's alignment will dictate which way it slides too. The only way my car ever slides is ass-right! And that's with just the tiniest deviation in alignment, according to the NCT results!

roosterman71

Jumpy wrote: »

This doesnt work.

The wipers lay a very thin film of water back over the window, which freezes instantly. On the return swing it adds another layer and so on until the water on the wipers is frozen.

A warm windscreen or antifreeze spray is one of the only options when its very, very cold.

Interesting. I never have any trouble doing this

murphyebass

roosterman71 wrote: »

Interesting. I never have any trouble doing this

I drove a focus a couple of years ago that had lines going through the front windscreen to heat the glass.

I think it was trademark or something as others couldnt use it but another thread today shows VW have something similar.

Hopefully this'll be standard on all cars sooner rather than later as it a pain in the hole to say the least!!!

bladespin

murphyebass wrote: »

I drove a focus a couple of years ago that had lines going through the front windscreen to heat the glass.

I think it was trademark or something as others couldnt use it but another thread today shows VW have something similar.

Hopefully this'll be standard on all cars sooner rather than later as it a pain in the hole to say the least!!!

Heated windscreen, ford own the patent, it's nothing short of brilliant TBH, sat into the car this morning, fairly frosty windscreen, flicked the switch and it cleared in about 30 seconds, it's new to me and have to admit I love it.

recyclebin

Tip: don't drive a Volkswagen Golf mark 5 on snow or ice. You can't turn off the ESP fully so it's very hard to get moving on the smallest of incline. I may investiagate the fuse box this year to see if i can completely disable ESP.

Zubeneschamali

recyclebin wrote: »

it's very hard to get moving on the smallest of incline.

Why, what does the ESP do exactly which stops the car?

Anan1

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Why, what does the ESP do exactly which stops the car?

It's more the TC element, it brakes the wheel when it starts to spin. On ice, you sometimes need more slip than the TC will permit to get going.

jimmyw

Don't use the window switch on the windows if they are frozen, or try to defrost with a kettle of tepid water because you may cause this.( still am a bit afraid of it still, 2 years on )

vetstu

jimmyw wrote: »

Don't use the window switch on the windows if they are frozen, or try to defrost with a kettle of tepid water because you may cause this.( still am a bit afraid of it still, 2 years on )

What happened there? You light a newspaper to defrost your windows?

jimmyw

vetstu wrote: »

What happened there? You light a newspaper to defrost your windows?

Na seemed like that ok, but I used a kettle of water 2 years ago to defrost the glass, and 2 seconds later I came out to the car to find a flame burning at the window switches between the front seats,:eek:.

shogunpower

from what he said i think he tried to defrost the switches with water:eek:

EDIT:never mind

TheBazman

recyclebin wrote: »

Tip: don't drive a Volkswagen Golf mark 5 on snow or ice. You can't turn off the ESP fully so it's very hard to get moving on the smallest of incline. I may investiagate the fuse box this year to see if i can completely disable ESP.

I was sitting in my 5 series on a slight slope up to the house last year in the snow struggling to get up it - my missus in her mark 5 Golf just went up like there was no snow. Rear Vs front wheel drive makes a massive difference.

murphyebass

TheBazman wrote: »

I was sitting in my 5 series on a slight slope up to the house last year in the snow struggling to get up it - my missus in her mark 5 Golf just went up like there was no snow. Rear Vs front wheel drive makes a massive difference.

just for a moment I read that "struggling to get it up" ..... :P

any... way. Just thought about my GT. Along with other cars has to slightly roll the window down on opening the door. Wonder if this would affect it. I know its only slightly but it still has to move.

mullingar

stevenmu wrote: »

Don't use very hot water to remove ice, it can cause the glass to crack. Also, it's very counter intuitive, but boiling water will actually freeze quicker than cold water, covering the glass in ice again.

Water straight from the cold tap actually does a pretty good job, you just need a little more of it. You can use a 2ltr bottle or similar straight from the tap, and it means you don't need to bring the kettle back in when you're done too, you can just throw the bottle in the car and drive off

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the laws of thermodynamics say otherwise.

75C water simply does not freeze faster than 25C water under the same conditions.

100% agree on NOT using very hot water on the glass, the thermal shock could crack it. Use water at 30-35C (normal skin temp)

I keep 2 litres bottles of water on top of a radiator in the kitchen so its nice and warm to defrost the car

mawk

mullingar wrote: »

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the laws of thermodynamics say otherwise.

75C water simply does not freeze faster than 25C water under the same conditions.

100% agree on NOT using very hot water on the glass, the thermal shock could crack it. Use water at 30-35C (normal skin temp)

I keep 2 litres bottles of water on top of a radiator in the kitchen so its nice and warm to defrost the car

qft.
water that has been boiled hard for a few minutes freezes differently due to the dissolved oxygen being removed, it goes from zero to ice without the impurity this gave someone the idea that it freezes faster overall

impurities change properties, including freezing/boiling points. still, the freezing faster thing is a popular lie

mullingar

mawk wrote: »

qft.
water that has been boiled hard for a few minutes freezes differently due to the dissolved oxygen being removed, it goes from zero to ice without the impurity this gave someone the idea that it freezes faster overall

impurities change properties, including freezing/boiling points. still, the freezing faster thing is a popular lie

Agreed, impurities will change the freezing/boiling temp, but the stuff from our taps will just change it to max +/- 3C off the pure 0/100

Matt Simis

There was a big debate last year on this and someone linked to some research that showed, while not fully understood, that boiling water did reach freezing faster than merely warm water.

And it wasnt explained away by mysterious impurities!

mullingar

What may be happening is a different volumes of water is being used/compared.

My understanding is 2 litres of water @ 25c contains more thermal energy than 1 litre @ 45C or even 1/2 litre @80C.

2 stroke

Yes, it is a quantity issue. A cupfull of boiling water will freeze before a bucket full of cold water. Cold water is often more plentiful than hot.

Anan1

mullingar wrote: »

What may be happening is a different volumes of water is being used/compared.

My understanding is 2 litres of water @ 25c contains more thermal energy than 1 litre @ 45C or even 1/2 litre @80C.

I see your point, but wouldn't the baseline be 0 Kelvin (-273C) rather than 0 Celcius? Or is the temperature differential between the water and the surroundings all that matters?

2 stroke

Traffic delays during a cold snap are often worsened by drivers with flat batteries. Remember if you are sitting in traffic going nowhere, heater on, lights on, you are using a lot of electrical power, and your alternator is barely charging. Turn off your heated windows/mirrors/ seats once your car has warmed up, apply your handbrake when stopped and remove your foot from the brake pedal, 3 brakelights use at least 60 watts of power

ixus

Wear clean underwear.

2 stroke

2 stroke wrote: »

Traffic delays during a cold snap are often worsened by drivers with flat batteries. Remember if you are sitting in traffic going nowhere, heater on, lights on, you are using a lot of electrical power, and your alternator is barely charging. Turn off your heated windows/mirrors/ seats once your car has warmed up, apply your handbrake when stopped and remove your foot from the brake pedal, 3 brakelights use at least 60 watts of power

Forgot to say turn off the ****ing fog lights. I've driven 60 miles of motorway this evening, it wasn't foggy. Approx quarter of the cars had fog lights on front and back.