edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
Anyone who starts vehicles regularly below 0 and keeps vehicle outside, should invest in block heater.
Cold Weather Effects
- Thread starter tbm5690
- Start date
Agreed, but the problem with that is most of those people are the ones who live in apartments and rarely have access to outlets.
I think I might have done mine on a Tuesday too ... as recently as September.
I started my 3rd gen 4Runner (with factory leather non-heated seats) in the -35° F to -40°F range for about a week, while on a snowmobiling trip. It had Mobil 1 10w30 in it at the time, an Optima battery (one of the good ones before they were bought by Johnson Control) and Redline MT-90 in the transmission.
It cranked a little slow but always started without trouble, and then I'd get gently moving as soon as possible, so the rest of the drivetrain could warm up too.
I sold it about 20 years later, still running perfect.
Most of the time I don't see temps below about -20° F during the winter.
All temps are ambient, not windchill which is often stated to sound more sensational.
It cranked a little slow but always started without trouble, and then I'd get gently moving as soon as possible, so the rest of the drivetrain could warm up too.
I sold it about 20 years later, still running perfect.
Most of the time I don't see temps below about -20° F during the winter.
All temps are ambient, not windchill which is often stated to sound more sensational.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
True. There are other devices that help with interior heating.
I lived in apartments where temperature drops to below -30. Never occurred to me to idle longer than a minute. And that is when 10W40 in Europe was considered “winter” oil.
Especially with fuel efficient engines, it is waste of time. Not to mention that differentials are not moving, bearings are frozen, and one hits gas pedal thinking “well, things warmed up.”
edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
I once started Tiguan in WY. -41f on dash after I cranked it. But northernly wind was probably 30-40mph. What was wind chill, God knows. I only know my wife said: we ain’t going through WY in the winter anywhere (we were on the way to Park City, UT).
That's getting nippy.
As a popular radio host of the past used to say, "It's a nipper out there ... in fact, it's more than a nipper - it's a snapper!"
I think my record cold start (not using a block heater) was at -38°F in late 1978. That was a very tired old Chevy 307 with Quaker State 10W-30 in the sump. The engine was not happy.
A few years later I had a distress call from a friend and had to cold-start my '79 Mazda GLC at -37°C. I may have been running PetroCan synthetic by then. In any case, the engine started like a champ. I'm sure the manual choke helped.
Are you running 5W-40 in it
edyvw
$50 site donor 2026
Depends. Now it is 5W40, sometimes it is 0W40, sometimes 0W30.
I started X5 35d at -42 after being outside overnight with Valvoline 5W40.
A long time ago, I started Opel with 10W40 when the temperature was below 40. Overhead cams did not like that!
Kestas
Staff member
I've been amazed how warm 32°F can feel after a cold snap.
Unfortunately I have 2 things going against me that I can’t start the car and just go. I live on a somewhat busy rural road and have a cvt that doesn’t shift for the 1st few miles. When it’s below 10 degrees, I have to let it warm up for 10 minutes or so. I can’t just pull out of the drive and hammer down or I’d be pulling 4K rpm’s for 2 miles.
No CVT here, but in the extreme cold I've been driving slowly on the residential streets in our neighbourhood, waiting for the temperature gauge to move off the cold peg before hitting either of the two major roads that border our district.
I drove Jr's Mazda5 earlier today, and the MT was pretty stiff early on, even with synthetic GL-4 MTF.
It's been so cold that the vehicles warm up very slowly when idling - driving gets them there much more quickly.
I drove Jr's Mazda5 earlier today, and the MT was pretty stiff early on, even with synthetic GL-4 MTF.
It's been so cold that the vehicles warm up very slowly when idling - driving gets them there much more quickly.
That's why I have a seat warmer. I get in a drive.
Patman
Staff member
What I do in my Civic after a cold winter start is first of all to make sure that the temperature of the heater is at the lowest setting. I pull away almost immediately after starting and for the first minute or so I’m very light on the gas and I don’t let the rpm go above 1500. After that, I put the CVT in sport mode so that it raises the rpm a bit more and that helps warm the engine faster but I am still light on the throttle. I don’t turn the heater on until the first bar appears on the digital coolant temperature display (not sure what that actual temperature is though) But even at that point I only turn the heater up by one point (to 15.5C) and I leave the fan on it’s lowest setting. It sounds like a lot of work but it definitely helps get the engine up to operating temperature a lot faster (a couple of miles earlier)
Wife is same, she knows at work highway under 3 min drive and it will warm up as she accelerates to 75mph gently.
I do the same with the fan - off initially, and then on its lowest speed until the coolant temperature comes up.
In my older vehicles, coolant flow to the heater core was regulated by a valve in one of the heater hoses. I can see how closing the valve to restrict flow to the heater core would allow for a faster warm-up.
However, every car I look after now has full-time flow through the heater core, with the heater output regulated by the blend-air door.
Our van has a Scan gauge - I think I'll try turning the temperature right down, to see whether the coolant temperature increases faster. I don't expect it to, but it's worth trying.
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The drivers of the GM Gen 5 V-8 trucks have it covered with their 0w20 motor oil. 
With the HVAC on auto, my Burb will keep the fan off until the engine warms up the coolant a bit.
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