-38F and nothing starts easy at those temps unless it's plugged in to something.
Coldest Temp You Ever Cranked Over Your Motor?
- Thread starter BumpDraft2004
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I'm bringing a knife to a gun fight, but I just cranked 15f this morning.
We've had a cold spell lately....coldest in 20yrs they say
We've had a cold spell lately....coldest in 20yrs they say
Somewhere around -30 to -35 in the Twin cities.
-15F here years ago. It rarely gets under -10F here.
Originally Posted By: fsskier
As a winter skier and winter tourist.....
Jackson Hole Wyoming, VW 412 w Mobil 1 5W20, mid 70's
-43, started eventually. Only car in lot to start.
Colorado, Several events at -40, always Mobil 1. At high altitude little power is developed , once I had to heat the block with a coleman single burner to make it happen.
Ely Minnesota, a few years ago, -47f, 3.1 litre Lumina apv, Mobil 1 0W20. Absolutely the only vehicle in the area that started that was not plugged in. Engine howled, growled screeched and screamed but eventually all was well.
Failures: Most of my cars stop starting when the cold CCS reaches about 30,000, at this point they pop and fire but no longer make enough power to overcome viscous drag. With 50 years of data, here is what I have:
20W50 Cars stop starting at about - 8f
10W30: Cars stop starting at about -25f
5W30: cars start down to about -34
5W30 Synthetic... fail at about -40
0W20 Synthetic: still starting at - 47F
Reading product data sheets - these numbers seem consistent with the anticipated viscous drag of the various oils.
This also nicely matches one of the first SAE journal
research articles that I ever read in the U of Iowa engineering Library - conducted by General Motors in about 1962.
I have seem some "polar start" oils listed for near arctic areas but have never had opportunity to try them - or no need to I hope!!
Great post! Wasn't Mobil 1 5w-20 the only grade of Mobil 1 back in the 70s?
As a winter skier and winter tourist.....
Jackson Hole Wyoming, VW 412 w Mobil 1 5W20, mid 70's
-43, started eventually. Only car in lot to start.
Colorado, Several events at -40, always Mobil 1. At high altitude little power is developed , once I had to heat the block with a coleman single burner to make it happen.
Ely Minnesota, a few years ago, -47f, 3.1 litre Lumina apv, Mobil 1 0W20. Absolutely the only vehicle in the area that started that was not plugged in. Engine howled, growled screeched and screamed but eventually all was well.
Failures: Most of my cars stop starting when the cold CCS reaches about 30,000, at this point they pop and fire but no longer make enough power to overcome viscous drag. With 50 years of data, here is what I have:
20W50 Cars stop starting at about - 8f
10W30: Cars stop starting at about -25f
5W30: cars start down to about -34
5W30 Synthetic... fail at about -40
0W20 Synthetic: still starting at - 47F
Reading product data sheets - these numbers seem consistent with the anticipated viscous drag of the various oils.
This also nicely matches one of the first SAE journal
research articles that I ever read in the U of Iowa engineering Library - conducted by General Motors in about 1962.
I have seem some "polar start" oils listed for near arctic areas but have never had opportunity to try them - or no need to I hope!!
Great post! Wasn't Mobil 1 5w-20 the only grade of Mobil 1 back in the 70s?
Me -22F degrees with no assistance with a 1979 Horizon. A friend of mine from Russia said they used to place a can of Sterno cooking fuel under the oil pan in Siberia. They would let it run for a few minutes with the Sterno still lit before they drove off. When the car was shut off the Sterno was placed under the pan immediately until started the next morning. He would say even with the Sterno 6 inches away from the pan, the oil would only be warm on days it was -60 degrees. They would dig holes in the dirt driveway for proper distance between pan and fire.
-17F,January 1996 in Muskegon, Mi. I had a 1985 Chevy 1/2 ton pick up with a quadrajetted 305. Started right up with Valvoline 10W-30.
Near zero for me...the belts didnt like it though.
-49°c with PYB 5w30 in my chrysler intrepid when I was in a business trip in Amos, Abitibi-Temiscamingue.
I remember I didn't plug the block heater. When I first sat in the car, the seat was hard as a brick. The ignition was hard to turn. When the engine started, you could hear the slapping sound, the power steering, the serpentine belt, the fan noise.
I've waited for approx 10 minutes before putting in drive. The transmission shifter was hard to move, I couldn't believe it. The suspension was frozen etc.
I remember I didn't plug the block heater. When I first sat in the car, the seat was hard as a brick. The ignition was hard to turn. When the engine started, you could hear the slapping sound, the power steering, the serpentine belt, the fan noise.
I've waited for approx 10 minutes before putting in drive. The transmission shifter was hard to move, I couldn't believe it. The suspension was frozen etc.
Coldest I can remember off-hand is -42 C (-43.6 F) in Edmonton a couple of years ago. 2007 Honda Accord was in a non heated but attached garage and the car was not plugged in; started right up.
Was supposed to catch a flight, but they can't de-ice aircraft below -40 C/F, so we sat at the airport for quite a few hours. As everyone says (and it seems to be true) it got colder at dawn, down to -43 C (-45.4 F). Which wasn't helping!
Ecotourist
Was supposed to catch a flight, but they can't de-ice aircraft below -40 C/F, so we sat at the airport for quite a few hours. As everyone says (and it seems to be true) it got colder at dawn, down to -43 C (-45.4 F). Which wasn't helping!
Ecotourist
Originally Posted By: Michael_P
A friend of mine from Russia said they used to place a can of Sterno cooking fuel under the oil pan in Siberia.
I remember people in the 1950's in Saskatchewan putting a pan of hot ashes (glowing coals and all) under their oil pan in support of cold weather starts. Batteries (6 Volt of course) were often taken inside to warm up.
Ecotourist
A friend of mine from Russia said they used to place a can of Sterno cooking fuel under the oil pan in Siberia.
I remember people in the 1950's in Saskatchewan putting a pan of hot ashes (glowing coals and all) under their oil pan in support of cold weather starts. Batteries (6 Volt of course) were often taken inside to warm up.
Ecotourist
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
Near zero for me...the belts didnt like it though.
Yea, you quickly find out about worn belts and tensioners or belts that are too loose, when it gets really cold!
Near zero for me...the belts didnt like it though.
Yea, you quickly find out about worn belts and tensioners or belts that are too loose, when it gets really cold!
I think it was about -37C, which is darn near where -40F = -40C. This was on 5W30 bulk dino in my 1990 Acura Integra with no block heater. I think there were dino lubes in everything at the time and there were lots of noises from everything, but it all worked fine. This car was later switched to M1 5W30 beginning around 100k km or 120k km plus Redline MTL in the transaxle.
"Great post! Wasn't Mobil 1 5w-20 the only grade of Mobil 1 back in the 70s?"
You got it, wondered if anybody would pick up on that. Only one grade, the VW 412 was new and it seemed like the thing to do.
It was clearly better winter oil than the dinosaur oil of the time - although we sold the VW at around 100K miles the motor still seemed like new.
OK, Memory test number two for some of you:
I also drained and refilled the differential with Amzoil 75W90 differential lube.....sadly Amzoil's "recommended for, but not approved or fully tested" for issue seemed to come to life. The teeth wore completely off the ring and pinion in about 10 k miles. VW had never seen anything like it, put in new parts under warranty. The local driveline shop helped them set it up, (this failure had never been seen before) refilled with Amzoil, it burned out again.
All the teeth just wore completely off! Rebuilt 3rd time, switched to regular diff fluid and no more problems.
The next year Amzoil claimed: Reformulated, now 4 times more EP rating than before - it was in all the literature.
Still not nuts about any of their products that they claim its just to expensive to certify them. My 50 years in the aerospace industry doing extreme environmental testing often showed products not fully tested and certified usually have
failures that nobody anticipated.
You got it, wondered if anybody would pick up on that. Only one grade, the VW 412 was new and it seemed like the thing to do.
It was clearly better winter oil than the dinosaur oil of the time - although we sold the VW at around 100K miles the motor still seemed like new.
OK, Memory test number two for some of you:
I also drained and refilled the differential with Amzoil 75W90 differential lube.....sadly Amzoil's "recommended for, but not approved or fully tested" for issue seemed to come to life. The teeth wore completely off the ring and pinion in about 10 k miles. VW had never seen anything like it, put in new parts under warranty. The local driveline shop helped them set it up, (this failure had never been seen before) refilled with Amzoil, it burned out again.
All the teeth just wore completely off! Rebuilt 3rd time, switched to regular diff fluid and no more problems.
The next year Amzoil claimed: Reformulated, now 4 times more EP rating than before - it was in all the literature.
Still not nuts about any of their products that they claim its just to expensive to certify them. My 50 years in the aerospace industry doing extreme environmental testing often showed products not fully tested and certified usually have
failures that nobody anticipated.
-25 celsius back in winter of 2005/2006. Car was a 2000 New Beetle with Esso XD-3 0w30. Started no problem, and the heated cloth seats saved my [censored].
-43F in the U.P. of Michigan in 1970's, the smoke from the chimneys went straight up and flattened out into a thin cloud about 50' off the ground. Only one guy in my neighborhood got his truck started unassisted and he went around jumping other vehicles as their batteries wore down.
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