I am looking at preping my mini van (144,000 miles) for the upcoming weather. What should be the top 5 things I should do to it to help it get through what some are saying will be a very wet, snowy cold winter here in Indiana.
Snow tires - have them ready, but don’t drive on them until a snow is really coming
Coolant check, flush/replace as required
Battery…check/replace as required
Oil/filter change
Windshield washer fluid
Unfortunately, with the exception of the snow tires that’s just a start of a list of things you should regularly check, anyway. If you’re keeping up with the maintenance schedule, and repairing anything that needs repairing, all you should have to really worry abut is the battery and snow tires…and maybe not even the battery.
As long as you’re up on your maintenance then you should be fine…I’m not convinced you need snow tires in Indiana if you have fwd…Any decent all-season tires should be fine.
I live in Indiana and all weather tires seem to work just fine for me. The other recommendations of Chaissos make sense to me. If you are up in the northern region where you have lake effect snow, then you may need the snow tires if you have to drive on country roads.
I don’t know much about what is predicted for this winter. If a blizzard occurs as it did in 1978 here in central Indiana, you aren’t going anywhere even with snow tires.
Note: I live in Texas…no idea what Indy has for snow. 
But, I’ve live in new Hampshire, North Dakota, England, Germany, Holland and a few other places, so I AM familiar with the white stuff…I’m also very happy not to have lots of it here.
Check tire pressure. It always drops a bit in cold weather.
Wash It.
Wax It.
Fill The Windshield Juicer With -25 Degree Fluid.
Check And Fill The Tires.
Find Your Hat & Gloves.
CSA
"Note: I live in Texas…no idea what Indy has for snow. ;)"
It varies from the northwest portion of the state where lake effect snow can be rather heavy to the southern portion where the snow is much lighter. I live about 50 miles northeast of Indianapolis and the snow is much heavier than it was when I lived Bloomington, Indiana which is about 40 miles south of Indianapolis. I spent a couple of years in Carbondale, Illinois which is in the southern part of that state. I thought the winters there were much more moderate than central Indiana winters. One has to buy tires according to the local weather.
Do check that you have good tread if you don’t use winter tires. New all season tires can do well, worn all season tires can be terrible in the snow
So then all my statements could still be true. Snow tires, or all season’s, either way, if you’re not keeping up with your maintenance, then the list of things gets very long, very fast.
Dallas did get snowed in for about a week last winter, didn’t it? I wouldn’t mind having some good tire chains if I lived in North Texas.
Best would be to find a garage. Then up to date on maintenance like plugs, wires, oil, filters etc. If battery is old, belt, hoses, theremostat-the basics. Wouldn’t hurt to have a motor club membership to put you at the head of the if you need it.
Why would anyone change a thermostat that was functioning fine?
Why would anyone change a thermostat that was functioning fine?
When ever I did the timing belts on my Pathfinder I’d change out the thermostat…Mainly because I’m already there. I had to remove the radiator and hoses and all the other belts…As long as I’m there why not just spend another 5 minutes and replace it.
“Dallas did get snowed in for about a week last winter, didn’t it? I wouldn’t mind having some good tire chains if I lived in North Texas.”
In February we had temperatures below freezing for about 4 days, which is unusual here, and quite a bit of snow (dry powdery snow, also rare here, and beautiful). Many places got over a foot. The snow fell toward the end of the freezing days, so it wasn’t around for too long. The heavy snow fell during the day, when people were driving around, so the main roads were mostly slushy. Some roads were snowpacked. City traffic was lighter than usual, but not as much as often happens during ice storms. I had to travel 30 miles on a snowpacked back road. I didn’t want to drive beyond my experience, or my all-season tires, so I was on that road for over an hour. I passed several cars that were abandoned in the ditch and didn’t want mine to be one of them. Chains or cables might have been nice to have that day.