Posted: 2/4/2011 3:56:06 PM EDT
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What all should I do to prep a vehicle for winter time in Alaska? I’ve got a Suburban and a F250 (both 2000 model trucks). The Suburban has about 150,000 miles on it and the F250 has about 75,000 miles on the odometer. I will drive the Suburban up and have the F250 shipped (it has the V10 gas engine and it guzzles gas quicker than I can fill the tank). I’ve lived down south all my life and consider 30 degrees cold. That being said, I’ll be moving to Fairbanks and would like to know what I need to do to my vehicles to keep them reliable during the winter months in Alaska. An internet search down here for “winterizing a vehicle” advises to get snow tires, lower viscosity oil, freeze proof wiper fluid, and an emergency/survival kit. Is their anything else I should do? I’ve got another thread on in here about moving up and someone mentioned engine block heaters…or something to that effect. Is that something I should have installed up there? I’m currently located in Kansas and it gets pretty darn cold. Both vehicles have had trouble (sluggish start/slow engine turn over) starting on days where the temps were at or below zero her…so I’m guessing they will have more trouble up there. I imagine a mechanic up there would have a better idea of what needs to be done to a vehicle to maintain reliability, but I hate to be a pilgrim that gets skinned by a mechanic as soon as I get there (this summer). Your thoughts are appreciated. Thanks again.
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Add antifreeze to your blinker fluid to keep it from freezing. I can do it for you when you get up here, shouldn't run you more than a couple hundred dollars. Shoot I'll handle that for him & only charge $175...you trying to rip off a new transplant  nice Clark....real nice....i wonder where the dip stick is for the blinker fluid? 
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oil pan heater, battery blanket, block heater, fluids I did similar research when I PCSed up here. uafgrad's info is accurate for you. I get by in southern Alaska with a block heater plugged in every once in awhile. Obviously your older vehicles or vehicles with older batteries will need more than the new vehicles. |
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Add antifreeze to your blinker fluid to keep it from freezing. I can do it for you when you get up here, shouldn't run you more than a couple hundred dollars. Shoot I'll handle that for him & only charge $175...you trying to rip off a new transplant nice Clark....real nice....i wonder where the dip stick is for the blinker fluid? It's somewhere around the nut behind the steering wheel. |
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oil pan heater, battery blanket, block heater, fluids I did similar research when I PCSed up here. uafgrad's info is accurate for you. I get by in southern Alaska with a block heater plugged in every once in awhile. Obviously your older vehicles or vehicles with older batteries will need more than the new vehicles. We also routinely get 40-50 degrees colder in the winter |
for your seats, take an army blanket cut holes for the head rests, install, makes a nice warm seat cover AND makes a is really handy thing to have on long drives( or short ones if you are in Fairbanks), winterize by draining your antifreeze and replacing with a mix good to -60(about as good as you can get it) use a tester to check it. first install a large 4(5 is nice too) space plug in(like you would see on the outside of a shop) under the hood in a nice spacious location; for the battery blanket it is really simple to install, just undo tie down, lift place under and wrap. redo tie downs, run plug in to power box, block heater is rig dependent but it is the same, oil pan involves some high temp orange silicone goop smeared on the oil pan (side near the bottom), then duct tape to oil pan to hold in place(just leave duct tape it will fall off eventually but the heater will stay due to orange goop). some people like an AT heater too, kinda so so if you are really really in cold weather(Fairbanks can be that way) you might need one(small type, just like oil pan but smaller, same method). also important is a 750 or 1500 W heater hooked into a cut off switch. when you are at the office during the day you need to flip it to ON, this heats the inside for free( ) flip it off when you are home. survival kit it is important to have a full set of winter gear(base layer on up) as well as 1 size larger heavy coat(I have used this coat, it is really handy when you roll you truck at -25 and wait on the troopers for 55 minutes in a hooded sweatshirt because your REAL coat is stuck under the truck). lighter oil(lightest your manual says you can use). about every 4-6 tanks of gas use some gas line water remover. tires studded or studless, macho bullshit about not needing them destroyed my truck(see previous comments about coat). oh yeah a place to hold you sunglasses as on cold days when the sun is at the horizon level against the snow you CANNOT see on some days.(seriously). so i probably forgot something.
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oil pan heater, battery blanket, block heater, fluids when I had my PS hose replaced, they used aviation hydraulic fluid as opposed to PS fluid because it does better in the cold +1 did that to my rig when I lived in Fairbanks for 8 years, and it was 100 percent reliable....even at 65 below zero. |