Winter car checks for Kilkenny drivers: how to avoid a breakdown
The checks that stop the first-frost phone call: battery, tyres, antifreeze, wipers, lights, and how to handle the Kilkenny hills in frost and fog.
The first hard frost of the year is the busiest morning we have. Every October or November there is a day when the phone starts at seven and does not stop until lunchtime, and nearly every call is the same: the car will not start. Most of those breakdowns were avoidable with half an hour of winter car checks in the weeks before. This is the list we would run through on our own cars, written with the Kilkenny roads in mind.
Very little of it needs a garage. The battery test and the antifreeze check are worth getting done properly, but everything else is a torch, a tyre gauge and ten minutes on the driveway.
Winter car checks: the battery comes first
Cold is hard on a car battery. The oil is thicker so the starter has to work harder, the battery itself gives out less power when it is cold, and the moment the engine fires you are asking it to run the heater, the heated rear window, the lights and the wipers all at once. A battery that managed fine through the summer often gives up on the first frosty morning.
Most car batteries last four to five years. If yours is older than that, or you do mostly short runs around the city that never fully charge it, treat it as suspect. The warning signs are a slow, laboured crank in the morning and headlights that dim at idle and brighten when you rev. Any garage or motor factors can load test a battery in a couple of minutes.
Check the terminals too. Corrosion on the posts or a loose clamp will stop a healthy battery doing its job, so clean them, tighten them and smear a little grease on top. Replacing a doubtful battery in October is a lot cheaper than a jump start in a car park in the dark.
Tyres: tread depth and pressure
The legal minimum tread depth in Ireland is 1.6 mm, but the RSA recommends at least 3 mm, and on a wet, greasy Kilkenny road in November the difference between those two figures is a long way in stopping distance. Buy a tread depth gauge from a motor factors for a few euro and check across the width of each tyre, not just the outside edge. Uneven wear on one side usually means the tracking is out.
Pressure drops as the temperature drops, so a tyre that was right in August can be well under in November. Check it cold, before you drive, against the figures on the sticker inside the driver's door or on the fuel flap, not the number on the tyre wall. Underinflated tyres grip badly, wear fast and are the usual cause of the blowouts we recover on the N10.
Winter tyres are not required by law in Ireland. If you fit them, fit a full set of four. For most drivers in the county ordinary tyres with plenty of tread do the job.
Coolant, antifreeze, wipers and washer fluid
With the engine cold, check that the coolant level in the expansion tank sits between the minimum and maximum marks. If it is low, top it up with the right type of coolant, not just water. Water alone dilutes the antifreeze, and if the mixture freezes it can crack the engine block or the radiator, which turns a cheap check into a very expensive winter breakdown. A garage can test the strength of the antifreeze with a small tester in about a minute.
Fill the washer bottle with proper screenwash at the winter concentration on the label. Plain water freezes in the bottle and in the pipes, and the first time you press the washer on a frosty morning nothing comes out, or worse, it freezes on the screen while you are moving. Keep a spare bottle in the boot. Muddy roads out past Freshford and Johnstown will empty a washer bottle in a week.
If the wiper blades smear, judder or leave lines, change them. Never switch the wipers on while the screen is frozen. It tears the rubber off the blade and can blow the fuse or burn out the motor.
Lights, and what to carry in the boot
Get someone to stand outside the car while you work through every light: dipped, main beam, indicators, brake lights, reversing light, fog lights and number plate lights. On country roads the lenses get coated in mud and spray, so wipe them every time you fill up. A car with one headlight looks like a motorbike on an unlit road.
Then put a small winter kit in the boot and leave it there until March.
- A high visibility vest for every seat, kept inside the car where you can reach it, not in the boot
- A torch with working batteries, or a wind-up one
- An ice scraper and a can of de-icer
- A warm coat, a hat and a blanket, because a wait at the side of the road in January is cold
- A phone charger or power bank
- A bottle of water and something to eat
- The screw-in tow eye from your car's tool kit, so a recovery truck can winch you safely
- Jump leads, if you know how to use them
Where frost catches Kilkenny drivers: Castlecomer, Clogh, Windgap and the N77
Frost is not evenly spread across the county. The Castlecomer plateau sits higher and colder than the city, and the climb out on the N78 can be clear at the bottom and white at the top. Clogh, above Castlecomer again, holds frost in the shaded stretches until midday. Windgap, in the hills in the south west of the county, is the same story: a steep road, a cold gap and black ice where the sun never reaches.
The N77 at Ballyragget is one to watch for a different reason. It runs through low ground near the river, and on still, cold nights the fog settles and the surface ices on shaded sections and bridges while the open road is dry. Anything in the shadow of a hedge or a wall freezes first and thaws last.
The gritters do the national roads and main routes first, and a back road may not be treated at all. Never assume a road is gritted because the one you just left was.
How to drive in frost and fog
Clear the whole windscreen, the side windows and the mirrors before you move, not a letterbox gap in the frost. Give yourself five extra minutes rather than pulling away blind.
On frost, everything is gentle. Pull away slowly, and if the wheels spin try second gear. Keep a much longer gap than normal, because stopping distances on ice are several times what they are on a dry road. Brake early and lightly, and if the ABS starts to pulse under your foot keep the pressure on and steer. On the hills at Castlecomer and Windgap go down in a low gear rather than riding the brakes.
In fog, use dipped headlights so other drivers can see you, and switch on the fog lights only when the fog is genuinely thick. Switch them off again when it lifts, because they dazzle the car behind. Do not follow the tail lights of the car in front as a guide. If they drive into a ditch, you will follow them in.
If you slide off the road
If it happens, stop trying to drive out. Spinning the wheels on a frosty verge digs the car in and can tear a wheel off a drain edge. Put the hazard lights on, check everyone is all right, and if the car is sticking out into the road get everyone out on the side away from traffic and stand well back, behind a gate or a wall if there is one. Ring 112 or 999 if anyone is hurt or if the car is blocking the road on a bend.
Then ring for recovery. Kilkenny Recovery Truck is on 087 288 2280 day and night, we carry a winch for exactly this, and the price is agreed on the phone before the truck moves. Be careful about accepting a tow on a rope from a passing jeep or tractor. It often does more damage than the ditch, especially to automatics and electric cars, which should only ever go on a flatbed.
Questions people ask about this
How long should a car battery last?
Four to five years is typical in Ireland, less if the car does mostly short trips or sits unused for weeks. If yours is past that age and the engine turns over slowly on cold mornings, get it tested before the first frost rather than after.
Should I let the engine warm up before driving in winter?
Modern cars do not need it. Clear the glass, get in and drive gently for the first few kilometres while the engine warms. Leaving a car idling on the driveway to defrost wastes fuel, and if you leave it unattended it is an easy car to steal.
Do I need winter tyres in Ireland?
No, they are not required by law. If you drive the hills around Castlecomer, Clogh or Windgap daily you might choose to fit a full set of four for the cold months. For most people in the county, ordinary tyres with at least 3 mm of tread are fine.
What should I do if my doors or locks are frozen shut?
Use de-icer or a hand warmer on the lock, and press gently on the door around the seal to break the ice. Never pour hot water on the glass or the lock, because it can crack the windscreen and refreeze almost immediately in the keyhole.
My battery is flat on a frosty morning. Can you jump start it?
Yes. A jump start is one of the quickest roadside jobs we do, and in Kilkenny city we are usually with you in 20 to 30 minutes. If the battery is old we will tell you honestly whether a jump start is a fix or just a delay before it goes again.