How can I prepare for winter?
QDue to unforeseen circumstances, I have to press my Volvo 244 into daily winter use in a couple of weeks. How should I best prepare it? I want to protect it against the elements and ensure reliability.
Derek Smith, Stafford
Ed says:
AAllow a weekend or more for prep work. Put the car on ramps. Look for and remove peeling underseal. Wire brush bare or rusty metal you find and coat with anti-rust paint. Spray rustproofing wax over the underbody and into any crevices, box sections and reinforcements through the holes provided. Some may be closed with rubber plugs. Replace these afterwards. Spray the running gear and brake pipes too. The underbody should be dry before you start. It doesn’t have to be spotlessly clean, but there’s no point in spraying wax on top of mud deposits.
Remove plastic guards such as wheel arch liners: inspect and top-up the factory wax if necessary. Spray inside doors, bootlid and bonnet so that the lowest seams are treated. You should be able to do this through holes provided, although removing the door card allows better application and lets you check the weathersheet. This is a plastic membrane, usually stuck to the door’s frame, which keeps water from leaking down the back of the door card and into the car – often discarded during repairs. Reliability to some extent hinges on how much you used the car before. It should be enough to clean and inspect the HT leads, distributor cap and rotor plus the coil, but if the car was rarely used, renew all fuel hoses, renew the fuel filter and carry a spare. If cold starts are an issue, replace spark plugs, plus points and condenser where fitted. Tyres over ten years old should be replaced as a matter of course, and a new set of winter tyres would preclude nasty surprises. Check and change the antifreeze if required and flush the heater matrix while you’re there. It’s also worth cleaning the washer resevoir and refilling it with winter screen wash.
Try to clean the car regularly to prevent rust spots. Coat chrome plate with petroleum jelly and polish the paint to provide a water-repellent coating. Avoid enthusiastic hosing of the underbody – water is forced into places it never normally gets, which can make rusting worse in the long run.