Whats kind of saddening is the start cycle of modern cars that prioritizes cat warm-up. I start my silverado and get like 15 seconds of 1500 rpm idle immediately. Can’t be good for things…
Cold Weather Effects
- Thread starter tbm5690
- Start date
The cold temps made the hose from the radiator to expansion tank drip on the X3.. known problem around this year. Other than that awesome in the snow and the seat/steering wheel heaters is awesome. Too bad it’s the wife's ride.
It’s official. Baytown, Texas is freezing. 
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
Yes! Then post pictures so we can have another sludge or not thread.
Is it over? 
Elkins45
Site Donor 2026
It’s been getting down to 0°F here almost every night. I’m not used to driving an automatic transmission in the cold. My practice in the past has always been to let the engine run for however long it takes for it to drop out of high idle and then drive gently until it warms up. I assume an automatic isn’t any different?
Yep. If it was a problem every automatic in MN would be dead.
We just picked up a new Chevy Equinox yesterday looked in the back hatch and a couple of wires in the back. Just realized it came with a engine block heater option not sure I'll ever use it
Usually the block heater cord would be routed out through the grill or front of the vehicle. Never seen a cord on the rear unless someone did a special install?
No the cord was being stored in the hatchback the plug must be in the front grill
And over here in LA, we clearly have moved on from "winter," it seems.
Hope people are not starting a Ford PSD at that temp with a CP4 HPFP. The CP4 is fuel lubricated. I can imagine bad things happening.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
It’s not even 9 am and at 54°F … heading to 80°F …It’s official. Baytown, Texas is freezing.
Too bad I’m changing a toilet and washing machine today …
I've sat in -14 and that was cold enough.
I took a snowblower and made a nice clear wide path on the lawn around the side yard so the dog can do his business easier. At 11 years old, sort legs and arthritis that's important.I think I might have done mine on a Tuesday too ... as recently as September.
Front yard has a path also for oil delivery guy and kids to get to their car. my driveway had a lot of ice on it so grass was safer.
My 1989 Mazda 323, fuel injected, started at 2400 RPM then revved to 3k or more for minutes. Never had a car since that was that bad. I used to put it in gear then let it lug itself around to "save the engine" from itself.
Cars have gotten more clever since then but still warm the cats up.
It's 13F here currently, going down to 3F. Not like all those negatives degrees everyone else has. No issue with '17 Accord 2.4L even with the Honda 51R in it. I also have cloth seats and motor warms up within 1 mile and making heat. My car is not a remote start and let idle since it's 6MT, clutch needs to be pushed in.
Wife's '19 Pilot with leather may get remote started which means it idles longer than it takes to get to work but at least the leather seats are starting to warm up. Honda's seat heaters take a long time, also no heated steering wheel.
Daughters CRV has remote start (I had it installed) so that may get started, not always. Cloth seats, no heaters in that.
I also just used the M18 inflator and hit all 3 cars with a top off of 1-2psi. My Accord is still out of whack on something. Tires are losing some slowly at different rates. I went +2 from placard as I'll be on the road around 5:30am tomorrow. Taking the M18 inflator and impact gun with socket just because, rarely do I do that.
Pilot was good on pressures as was the CRV. Both down about 2 psi between temperature and last check about 2-3 weeks ago but all even.
Wife's '19 Pilot with leather may get remote started which means it idles longer than it takes to get to work but at least the leather seats are starting to warm up. Honda's seat heaters take a long time, also no heated steering wheel.
Daughters CRV has remote start (I had it installed) so that may get started, not always. Cloth seats, no heaters in that.
I also just used the M18 inflator and hit all 3 cars with a top off of 1-2psi. My Accord is still out of whack on something. Tires are losing some slowly at different rates. I went +2 from placard as I'll be on the road around 5:30am tomorrow. Taking the M18 inflator and impact gun with socket just because, rarely do I do that.
Pilot was good on pressures as was the CRV. Both down about 2 psi between temperature and last check about 2-3 weeks ago but all even.
My old Ford Focus would run at 2500RPM on a cold start! And the engine would make sure it ran at that RPM. I could take off and start driving using just the clutch and it would go highway speeds on its own.
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