What is the best way of ensuring that your car starts on cold winter days?
by 
keithold thanks all baggers
ANSWERS: 10
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Get the battery checked before the cold weather sets in. A tune-up wouldn't hurt either.
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Move to Texas
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Keep it in a heated garage. Well, you asked...Keeping me in a heated house ensures that I start on cold days!
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make sure you keep antifreeze in your radiator 50/50 half water half antifreeze
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The *very* best way, keithold? = Don't shut it off the night before?! ;-)
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Buy a good battery!
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Have an electric heater installed in the hose between the radiator and the engine. Then turn on the electric heater a couple of hours before starting the car. I used to live in North Dakota (North middle US) and some people would leave the heater plugged in and working all night. These were usually 500 to 800 watt heaters. I had a 1500 watt heater installed on a car with a V8 engine and a 10.5 to 1 compression ratio. (heater designed for a tractor) A couple of hours and the water in the engine was nice and warm. There are several types of heaters but I found the water type to be the best.
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Make sure your automobile is properly maintained before the cold days start. Change your engine's oil and the grade as appropriate. Check your battery before it gets cold out by testing the battery; also make sure the wires, posts and connections are not corroded. Make sure you have a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water in the radiator. It's a good idea to check all belts and hoses before the start of the cold weather too.
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A heated garage will help, as will simply a garage connected to the house (keeps the temp in it a bit warmer than outside). It also helps to have a place to "stick" the nose of the car, so it doesn't get direct wind into the engine area. Once, a VERY cold New Years, I believe, I was working security, and my little Civic started when NO ONE ELSE on the security crew's did. I went to pick up the boss and our replacements, and drove a couple of guys home. I had managed to park my vehicle VERY close to the gate house with the back-end into the wind. (I think I lucked out a little, too... Because it was a holiday, I could do that. Otherwise, I'd have had to park in the lot, and the wind may have ravaged it! LOL)
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Car batteries should be replaced every five years. Cold weather will cause the surface charge on a battery to drop and as a battery gets older it will loose its surface charge faster in the colder weather.
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