A 2004 Pontiac? As others have said, you are almost certainly OK. It often gets to -20 f here. I don’t do anything special for my 2006 Nissan. If I recall, the standard 50/50 coolant mix is good to -34.
Winterizing also means a general check up on the car. Which you should really do all year long. But it is good to make sure things are in ship-shape before the snow falls.
Wiper blades - snow and ice plays hell on them. It’s good to have a nice new pair before it hits.
Rubber. People that live in snow country pay particular attention to the tires they have. It can be a serious debate topic.
Coolant/anti-freeze and coolant level. Again this is just as important to prevent overheating than freezing.
I keep tools/blanket/tow straps/first aid in my car year round. But I suppose some people accessorize in the winter only.
As others have said. Take a peak at the color.
But DO NOT open the radiator cap when the engine is hot. You could and likely would get hurt by hot coolant and steam.
Cold starting a car can really wear on the engine. According to this article (sorry, couldn’t find a English cite), cold starting an engine can be the same as driving 1000km in warm temps. The average Finn wastes 10% of their yearly fuel consumption on cold starts. The common wisdom over here is to pre-warm your car (everyone here has a block heater) in temperatures under 5°C/41°F.
Always have warm clothing with you in the car even if your just driving a short distance. Your car might be warm and comfortable when the engines working, but if it breaks, you’re going to get cold really fast.
I saw some guys work out the advantages of pre-warming vs not pre-warming their vehicles with US gas and electricity prices.
As of last week, the cost savings for plugging your car in were under 1 cent per day.
That being said, these guys were gas-mileage fiends with small cars. You might get up a few pennies if you were driving a Ford F350 or something.
If your Finnish compatriots are actually burning 10% of their fuel due to cold starts, Finns must live VERY close to work and school.
Re: warm clothes
Yes, excellent idea. I also keep a blanket in the trunk.
Is that just the FUEL savings or saving from the extra wear and tear on the engine due to REALLY cold starts.
And besides wear and tear, when its really cold, I imagine that is when you could get catostrophic failure due to something getting stuck so to speak from the cold.
Engine wear wasn’t calculated in that.
To be honest, it seems like the internally lubricated elements of modern gas engines are the most reliable part of the car.
With or without cold starts, the actual engine seems to outlast the car 99% of the time.
If I could find a car where the transmissions routinely made it to 250K just like the engines do, I’d put it high on my shopping list.
How long have you had the car? Obviously you haven’t checked the anti-freeze level. It does go down after time so just because it came with the proper level of fluid doesn’t mean it will, particularly after four years if you’ve never worried about it before. For example: I noticed that my engine’s heat meter was almost topped out one night in October, and thought it was a little strange. You don’t worry about a car overheating, at night, in October around here. When I check the anti-freeze level the next day, I figured out that it had gone very low, and needed to be refilled. They sell a gage to help you figure out what temps your anti-freeze is good for, and it’s usually less than $5. I think you should pick one up.
I tried to get one of the little testers, but here’s not an antifreeze gauge left in town. It doesn’t get cold here very often and they were forecasting the end of the world. I ordered a pizza last night without thinking and it took almost two hours to get here - I asked the guy if they were really busy because of the cold and he told me they made eight thousand dollars the first cold night.