If your battery and charging system aren't up to the task, your car may not start one cold Richmond winter night, or day.

Winter in Richmond makes drivers happy when cars warm up and they feel the heat coming out of the vents. But that only happens after the car starts and warms up a bit. What if the car won’t start.

You bundle up and run out to the car for a trip to a store in another town. As is often the case here in Richmond during the winter, the temperature is well below zero. Bundling up only helps so much.

You slide into the driver’s seat, insert the key and attempt to start the car. The last thing you want to hear is silence. You don’t want to discover that the car won’t start.

Maybe you’ll pop the hood and look at the engine while wrapping your arms around you to ward off the cold. Maybe you’ll just run back into the house and look out the window at the car with wishful thoughts that it will start the next time you try. But, whatever you do, this is certainly not part of your plan.

Winter offers a particular challenge when it comes to starting your car. The oil in the engine thickens in the cold. Once the engine is running, it will quickly heat up and, as the oil warms, it will thin. Pretty soon, the antifreeze will heat up and you’ll feel warm air coming out of the vents. But first the engine has to start.

The challenge of thicker oil when starting the car in the winter is that pistons, crankshaft and all the other moving parts in your engine have to work harder to move. This puts an additional strain on the starter, which has to work harder to turn the engine over.

If the starter isn’t up to that additional strain, the engine may not start. But then there’s the battery. 

When the starter has to work harder, it draws more voltage and amps from the battery. The battery better have the volts and amps to spare for those cold winter days and nights. If not, the starter won’t turn, the engine won’t turn and you’re not going anywhere.

It’s also critical that the alternator has the capacity to charge the battery fully so that it has the extra oomph to start the engine when temperatures fall precipitously. 

To put it simply, the entire starting and charging system of your car has to be in optimal condition to ensure that you’ll be able to start your car on the coldest days of the winter that is coming to Richmond. This is the time to have it checked out so you don’t find out the hard way.