What To Do If Your Car Won’t Start In Cold Weather

As the cold winter days descend upon us, many people will experience the annoying inconvenience of a car that doesn’t start. It’s a common occurrence as low temperatures can cause the car battery to produce less current, which makes it much harder for the engine to turn over in the morning.
To help hapless drivers from getting stuck and not knowing what to do, we’ve compiled a short list of DIY methods to try out should this ever happen to you…
1.) Try turning off the electrical accessories such as the radio, headlights and heaters. These devices use up essential battery power, so if they are switched off then there is a better chance of getting the engine going.
2.) Attempt to dip the clutch slightly as you turn on the ignition. This lessens the amount of work the car battery has to do and should hopefully kick-start the engine.
If the above DIY car recovery methods don’t succeed, then it might be worth jump-starting your car. Assuming you have spare jumper cables and another sympathetic driver with vehicle present, you can jump-start the car by doing the following:
- Park the running car as closely to the vehicle with the dead battery as possible.
- Connect the positive jumper cable to the positive terminal on the good battery and then the positive terminal on the dead battery, followed by the negative connections. Start the engine of the running car, and run it for 2 minutes while revving the engine.
Attempt to start the car with the dead battery; if you get no response at first go back and ensure the cables are firmly attached to the terminals.
If the car doesn’t start after several tries, then it is best practice to call for a professional car recovery service.