Catera not made for winter ?

[investor74]

und3rd06,

Here is something you should definitely check into. The maintenance booklet speaks of an "engine coolant heater" when temps fall below -20 F. The change interval for the timing belt is highly dependent on whether you use the coolant heater.

I don't know exactly what the engine coolant heater is - maybe you can ask your dealer. I know they used sell things like electric dipsticks that you plug in overnight for easier starting in the morning (maybe helping your battery/starting problems), but I don't know if it has the same beneficial effect on the timing belt.

Unfortunately, I think cold weather is terrible for any car, not just the Catera. Think of all those moving parts unevenly going through a temperature change of a couple hundred degrees each morning and its a miracle that it works at all.

Barry

Barry

[und3rd06]

Ok thanks. I will look into that. I downloaded the user manual in a pdf format (is this what you mean ?). I will look into this for sure because winter is starting soon and I want to give this car a last fair chance.

[caterashaker]

Und3rd06, I live where it gets real cold too. I've had to hold the doors shut when it was cold but not just on my Cat. This has happened to other cars I've left out in the cold so this is not just a Cat problem in my experience. Once the car warms up, the door latching mechanism will engage which I'm sure you've discovered. Short of finding a nice warm garage, it's bound to happen again. Before I bought mine, several well intentioned friends tried to tell me that a Cat wouldn't go in the snow. Mine does great. I have a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks that are great in the snow & ice; sorry I didn't get to you before you bought the Kumho's. I would have suggested buying Blizzaks. One other thing I tried and to my amazement actually worked was the spray-on traction that Prestone makes. It really works. I first read about it in Popular Mechanics. The only problem is that I haven't been able to find it for the last couple of years. I first found it at Walgreens for about $4 bucks a can. Downside, when it gets on the paint job, it's very hard to remove but it's better than spinning!

[MyOpel]

I live about 3/4 hr north of Toronto.
I bought my 2001 Cat as a Daily/Winter driver last year November.
I've never used the snowflake except to see if it still works, and generally drive with the traction control off. Although sometimes starts are a little slow because of the open diff I’ve never gotten stuck.
BFG Traction T/A 235/45/17 perf all season
~35000 km per year
I know to avoid hills.

[und3rd06]

yeah I have to avoid hills as well but there are so many where I live....what a shame. Thanks for the tip about the tire brand.

[MyOpel]

I don't think that tire would be better then a quality winter tire. It's a good all season tire and I’m too cheap to buy 2 sets.

[und3rd06]

went to put my battery in my car today and hood won't hopen...
I have had it up to here with the POS !!! I'm flmaing right now...every thing is going so wrong with this car. I tought that 2001's were a good buy...well it's good bye for this POS !!!

[und3rd06]

Who wants a Catera 2001 Sport...wil trade for a pair of goalie hockey sticks a bag of pucks and a Jose Theodore rookie card

[maverick52882]

I noticed the same problem with the transmission that you mentioned.......on extremely cold days/nights (below 10 F) my Cat's transmission won't shift out of Park until she gets warm. Guess I've just gotten used to letting the car warm up before I go anywhere. It especially makes the vacuum cleaner noise disappear from under the hood when you let her warm up on a cold day......

[Mephy]

For the people who cannot shift OUT of park until it warms up, this is NOT a tranny problem... if you remove the leather cover to the gear shift, there is a yellow "lever" that gets "pushed" out of the way when you pull the "shift level" up to move the gear shift. Next to that little yellow "lever" is a silver little thing, that has a rob that PUSHES this yellow "lever" out of the way so you can shift it.... mine does this too, if you push the yellow "level" towards the front of the car, you can now shift.. I think it just needs to be sprayed with some WD40, I just haven't gotten around to trying this yet... but, that'll fix your problem when it's cold and can NOT shift outta park =)