[HOW TO START YOUR VEHICLE IN COLD WEATHER & CLEAN IT OFF]
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart
Drive Test showing you how to clean off
your car. Yes a credit card, a briefcase,
or some other stiff object is not going
to work for you. Go out and buy yourself a
quality snow brush, so that when you need
to clean your vehicle off you can get it
completely cleaned off. Now the first step
to cleaning off your vehicle is go inside
the vehicle and start the vehicle. up,
put it in neutral, and ensure that the
parking brake is engaged. When you put it
on full defrost, put the defroster on so it
recirculates the air in the cabin of the
vehicle. As well, if the air conditioning
doesn't come on when you put it on full
defrost, turn the air conditioning on as
well because the air conditioning will
draw the moisture out of the air inside
of the vehicle and help it to defrost
the windows faster. As well, once you do
start driving the vehicle, roll one of
the windows down a crack, whether it's
one of the back windows are one of the
front windows... I know it's going to be a
little bit chilly at the beginning, but if
you start driving the vehicle, it's going
to warm up faster than if you leave it
there sitting idling. I know, I know, most
of you have gone out and spent a couple hundred
bucks on remote car starters and you let
them sit there in the driveway and idle
away. But you don't have to actually.
They've shown, studies rather have shown that
they will actually heat up faster--the
engine will heat up faster--and give you
more heat out of the engine if you
actually drive it moderately for the
first two or three miles. And as well,
you're going to get better fuel economy
in the wintertime. So get yourself a
quality brush, a quality scraper because
there is going to be ice on your vehicle
if you have to leave it outside. If you
buy one of those cheap wooden ones that
are two or three dollars, they're not
gonna last very long and they're not
going to be much better than a credit
card to you. So make sure you clean off
all the windows, all the lights, and you
know you're not going to be able to get
the snow off the roof of your vehicle
for the most part. You can swipe a little
bit of it off, but really what you want
is the lights and the windows because
you want to be able to observe other
traffic and you want the other traffic to
be able to see you - so lights and windows.
So what we're gonna do here, we're going
to the vehicle here behind me--the one
that's got a bit of snow on it--and we'll
show you how to do that. Stick around we'll be right back.
[OPENING CREDITS & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back. Rick
with Smart Drive Test talking to you
today about how to clean off your
vehicle in the wintertime when it's
covered with snow.
Now first thing you do is you get in the
vehicle and you're going to start it up.
Now if it's an automatic transmission,
you're going to make sure that it's in
park.
You might have to touch the brake to get
the starter to engage on a newer vehicle. If
it's a manual transmission, you're going
to have to push in the clutch.
Now all vehicles have been electronic
fuel injection since the late-1980s
so you put the key into the
ignition, turn the key to the ON position.
And oftentimes what I tell students, is to
get into the habit of putting your
seatbelt on. By the time you put your
seatbelt on, the electronic fuel
injection--the computer essentially--has
done a systems analysis on your vehicle.
It's checked the outside temperature and
adjusted the fuel to air mixture into
the motor, which will make it start
easier.
The other thing that will help your
vehicle to start better in the
wintertime is make sure you turn off all
the accessories. So make sure that you
turn off the radio, turn off the
defroster, and any other electronics that
you might have operating in the vehicle.
That way all of the energy, all of the
power from the battery is going to go to
the starter. Now the other thing is that
once you turn it to the ON position and
the warning lights go on and off, then you can
crank the engine over. You don't want to
engage the starter for longer than 15
seconds. If it doesn't start after 15
seconds, turn it off
wait 20-30 seconds for the started to
cool down - because the starters get
extremely hot and you'll burn it out if
you incessantly crank it over. Electronic
fuel injection should start within 15
seconds. You don't need to crank it over
for longer than 15 seconds. If you're at
high altitudes--above 8,000 feet or 2,400
meters--and if it doesn't start on the
first go after you kept your foot off
the throttle. Push the throttle halfway
down and try starting it again. If it doesn't start
again after 15 seconds, turn it off,
wait another 30 seconds, push the fuel
pedal all the way to the floor,
crank it over again and it should start.
If it doesn't start after half a dozen
times you've got a problem and you
probably need a mechanic. So cold weather
starts. Turn the key to the ON position,
wait for the warning lights go out,
keep your foot off the throttle, fire it up.
It should fire up that before 15 seconds.
Don't crank longer than 15 seconds.
It it doesn't start in the first go, push
the pedal halfway to the floor.
crank it again. If it doesn't start on
the second go, turn the key to the
OFF position, take your foot off the
throttle, wait 20 or 30 seconds,
put your foot all the way to the floor
on the throttle ,crank it again and it
should start. Like I said, repeat that
process again. If it doesn't start after
six or eight goes on the starter you
probably need a mechanic. So we turn it
to the ON position, the lights have gone
off and on. We push the clutch in because
I have a manual. It's in neutral,
I've engaged the parking brake to secure
the vehicle against movement.
I've got it to the ON, the lights have
gone off and on, I turn it over. And here
and Vernon, BC, Canada right now, it's about minus
10-12°C (10-14°F) it's been pretty chilly here for
the last week. So this vehicle--even
though it's 1998--it's almost 20-years-
old--
electronic fuel injection, turn it to the ON
position, wait until the lights go out,
crank it over and it fires right up. I'm in
neutral, parking brake on, release the
clutch. And as I tell students driving a
manual transmissions: always release the
clutch as if it's in gear. Bring it up to
that friction point and then ease it out.
Just get in that habit. That way you're not
going to stall it if it's still in gear.
Okay, then we turn on the heat and defrost. Turn
turn the fan on full, turn it to defrost,
turn the temperature reading too high. The air-conditioning should come on
automatically. If it doesn't, turn on the
air conditioning because it'll help pull
the moisture out of the air and dry
out the cabin. Turn on the recirculate - you want
to recirculate the air in the cabin instead
of having it pull in cold air from
outside and trying to heat that up all
the time. So actually just recirculate the
air inside the cabin. it's going to heat
up faster. As well, most newer vehicles
are going to have a rear window defrost,
which is essentially just some electric
wires that run through the back window
and create heat. This feature will defrost the
back windows. You want to turn those
three things on. The vehicle heat up. You
have it on full and then you get out
and clean off the snow off the vehicle. We're going to go
out and do that.
[CLEANING OFF VEHICLE. MUSIC: MEAN STREETZ DOWNLOADED FROM YOUTUBE LIBRARY]
Quick overview of cleaning off your car
when it's covered with snow. Get in the
vehicle and fire it up.
So you turn the key to the ON position,
wait a couple of seconds and let the engine
lights go out. When the engine lights go
out, then you can fire it up. It actually
helps to start the engine up when it's
cold because the electronic fuel
injection will check the outside temperature
and changes the air to fuel ratio in the
motor. It's kind of complicated, but
just wait for the lights to go out. The
engine will start better. Then you turn
the defrost on high, make sure that the
parking brake is on.
If you have manual transmission, put it into neutral.
If you have an automatic transmission, ensure it's in park,
and the air-conditioning should come on.
Most newer vehicles, when you turn the
defrost to high, the AC will come on because it helps to
remove moisture from the air inside of
the cabin. Put the recirculate button on
the heater because that will just
recirculate the air in the cabin and it will
heat up faster. Turn on the rear window
defrost on if you have such a thing. Don't
turn the windshield wipers on and just
leave it idling. While it's idling you can
get out and clean it off and lfit the
windshield wipers up with your hand when
you're outside. It's going to do less
damage to the wiper motor and those
types of things when you're cleaning the
vehicle off. And then you can get in and when
you start driving turn the windshield wipers on
and do the final clean on the
the front windshield and the
rear window. So clean it off
completely. You want to get the snow off
the roof if you can, but all the lights and glass for sure. This technique is so
you can see other vehicles and they can
see you. So clean it off completely, and
as well when you get to the other end
and you park it and its snowing as it is
right now, you can lift the windshield
wipers up--as you see here in the image--
lift the windshield wipers up. That way
they're not going to freeze to the
windshield. And when you come back out
you can simply clean the vehicle off
again. Question for my smart drivers: do you
have a proper scraper in your vehicle
and snow brush to clean it off
completely? And
do you clean it off completely before
you take off in the morning. Or do you
sometimes get caught out... you're in a bit of
a hurry?
Leave a comment down in the comment
section there. All that helps the
new drivers learning how to drive after
they get their license.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Thanks
very much for watching. If you like what
you see here share, subscribe, leave a
comment down in the comment section. As
well, hit that thumbs up button. Check out all
the videos here on the channel if you're
working towards getting your license or
starting your career as
truck or bus driver. Lots of great
information here. And at our website more great
information over there and online
courses. Stick around to the end of the
video: funny bits and links to the other
videos and to my website. Thanks again
for watching. Good luck on your road test.
And remember, pick the best answer not
necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now.
[OUTRO, BLOOPER & MUSIC - RICK UNTANGLING LAVALIER MIC & CURSING]
Of course it's tangled!! that doesn't take 30 seconds!!
[CLOSING CREDITS & MUSIC]