I'm retired and don't have a need to drive every day. In fact, sometimes the car sits for 7 – 10 days.
Can anyone please suggest things I should do – and things I should NOT do – to keep the car operating properly during winter months?
My 2007 Ion (2.2 liter engine) has between 61,000 and 62,000 original miles on it.
Many thanks!

 

Start it regularly.
Drive it regularly.
After starting it, give it a full 60 seconds of warm up time. This sounds excessive and probably is, but you want to make sure, especially if you are in a very cold environment, that the oil that has thickened due to the drop in temperature as time to warm up and properly lubricate the engine before you put it under load.

take a drive, doesn't have to be long, to get the engine up to operating temperature. This should help to keep all of the seals in the engine and cooling system lubricated and such and minimize the chances of leaks due to things drying out. This advice applies year-round.

It also takes care of any condensation that has formed on top of the oil, as well as boiling off moisture in your exhaust system.

Water is a byproduct of burning gasoline. Many exhaust systems rust out far too quickly because people drive only short trips with vehicles and they do not get up to operating temperature, which in turn gets the exhaust hot enough to boil off any moisture sitting in the exhaust That may have condensed since you last drove. Also, the water from the exhaust you are creating by driving this drive is boiled off.

Driving regularly also keeps your tires from beginning to flat spot from resting in the same place. That's not going to happen in a week to 10 days so don't worry. Just pointing out that regular driving makes that a non-issue.

 

Thank you so much, derf. A lot of good information. I hope you have an enjoyable holiday!