Lowest temp you ever started an engine.

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Originally Posted By: wwillson
Started a Cummins 5.9L in a 2006 Dodge truck at -34F. Let the intake heater cycle three times and it started. 5W-40 Rotella in the crankcase. Why it started, I have no idea, but I can assure you that it wasn't crazy about starting at that temperature. The 2007 and the 2016 6.7Ls start routinely at -15F


We use them in Russia around those temps …
 
Lived in northeastern Wyoming for 17 years, and experienced my share of brutal winters. One winter our analog thermometer on the back patio maxed out at -30. My sister's '79 Mustang (2.3), with a pan full of Pennzoil 10W-30 needed some assistance from the neighbor's huge truck battery to spin fast enough to fire, but it eventually stumbled to life & got her to work. Engines with carburetors were not fun in that climate. I remember my eyes freezing in the -50 wind chill. I made good use of magnetic oil pan heaters & battery blankets when I got my first car ('78 Monza 2.5). I distinctly remember one below-zero day working at the car dealership, barely any of the used cars on the lot would fire, but the 70-something Beetle we had fired up as if it were the middle of summer. That little air-cooled sewing machine was completely unaffected. As for the diesels....Fugetaboutit.
 
Originally Posted By: roadrunner1
-40 just outside of Wawa ONT, snowmobiled in that temp for several days and when we got back to our trucks they all started. Mine was an '07 6.0 PowerStroke with 10w-30, one buddy had an '08 Powerstroke 6.4 and another had an '04 Chevy gas engine.

The absolute coldest I have ever rode in as we were riding about 250 mi. per day.


That's funny; I stayed overnight in Wawa, ON last February. That's the only place I ever stayed where snowmobiles were parked in the motel parking lot. Don't remember how cold it was, but it doesn't really matter since I plugged an extension cord into a receptacle in my room and ran it outside to the block heater in my Dodge.
 
My personal best is -27F on my Camaro back in 2015. I had a mixture of M1 0w20 EP and M1 0w40 EF in it, and it started right up.

Most unlikely cold start is -22F on my '75 Chevy Vega in 1982 in Indianapolis. This was with 10w40 of some forgotten brand in the sump. (Maybe it was Arco Graphite.) It started right up on the first try, but when I let out the clutch with the transmission in neutral, the engine died. I assume this was because the oil was so thick. It restarted with no problem, though, and I made it to work OK.
 
Originally Posted By: wwillson
Started a Cummins 5.9L in a 2006 Dodge truck at -34F. Let the intake heater cycle three times and it started. 5W-40 Rotella in the crankcase. Why it started, I have no idea, but I can assure you that it wasn't crazy about starting at that temperature. The 2007 and the 2016 6.7Ls start routinely at -15F


My Cummins is notably grumpy about starting below 20F, even with 5w40. Without the block heater, it will never start on the first try, but will run on about 4.5 cylinders after the second. It takes about 10 minutes to wake up the rest of the cylinders and for the white smoke to go away. With the block heater, it's like starting on a summer day. I'm thinking about installing an Eberspacher Hydronic coolant heater, which is fired by diesel fuel. That preheats the engine to 160F and allows you to use the cabin heater.
 
-34F, Jan 1994. (lowest recorded temp ever in Indiana is -36F, that same morning, just a few miles east of where I lived at the time).
Started my F150 4x4 (5.8L Windsor) to drive to work.
Also started my wife's Villager; she asked "Why?" and I said "Just curious."
Both on 5w-30 dino. No starting aids, no block heaters used, nothing special. Just fuel injection and decent batteries are all it took to get them both started.
 
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Old gasoline radial engined aircraft had an "oil diluter valve" switch - before shutting the engine down in very cold weather, you opened the valve and it would allow avgas to flow into the oil tank... usually several gallons worth (approx 30 gallon oil tank for each engine). You did this while the engine was running... idling before shut down. It was by "time"... 10 seconds for 0*F, 15 seconds for -10*F, etc etc etc

You then watched for the oil pressure to drop a little... this told you the thinned oil made its way from the tank to the engine. Let it idle another 30 seconds or so before shutting off.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Old gasoline radial engined aircraft had an "oil diluter valve" switch - before shutting the engine down in very cold weather, you opened the valve and it would allow avgas to flow into the oil tank... ....Let it idle another 30 seconds or so before shutting off.


https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/oil-dilution-13805

Originally Posted By: Dale Moul

Oil dilution was the best option available 50+ years ago;
thanks to better refining and chemistry, (15W-50 oil), it is now obsolete and there is no good reason to bring it back. For cold weather starts 15w-50 will lubricate a lot better than single weight oil that has been diluted to go thru the engine easier.

If you still have the system in a plane, remove it to save a few pounds - then mount the parts on a hanger wall and let your friends try to guess what it is.
 
An internet search states the coldest on record winter temperature in Toronto was -31.3C on Jan.4, 1981. I would've been in my late teens so there's a good chance I was driving that day. I only once had a non-start issue in the winter due to cold. That was with my Golf GTI many moons ago with 10w30 in the sump.
 
Daughter just returned to the Bemidji, MN aiport and called me a little while ago to say her 2007 Toyota Rav4 with 155k miles (containing Valvoline full Syn ML 5w30) fired right up at -7F. It has been sitting at the airport since December 22nd in some pretty decent sub-zero temps, including one night of -33. https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/bemidji/historic

That car has been through a lot, so I'm impressed. Thought for sure the battery would be dead.
 
In Antarctica.....it was around -50F and felt like -10000F
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-50 something in parking lot of Craig Generating Station near Craig,Colorado in February 1985. 1984 Honda Accord with block heater using Mobil I. Official low for Colorado that day was at Maybelle,CO at -61F.
 
Around -38 F actual thermometer reading. 2008 Ford Crown Vic. No block heater. Overnight cold. I thought the power steering pump was never going to quit howling. This was a State Government car and they used XX W-30 conventional bulk (varied).

For about 5 seconds I didn't think it was going to start it was cranking so slow. The car was only a year old or so at the time.
 
Originally Posted By: deven
In Antarctica.....it was around -50F and felt like -10000F
lol.gif
whistle.gif


My car started today without being plugged in overnight, but it's only –25C/–13F at the moment.

However, if Winnipeg isn't colder than Mars and the Amundsen-Scott Weather Station in Antarctica again . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/12/28/canada-cold-weather_a_23319063/

. . . it will be. It's never dropped to –50F here that I know of, but I've certainly felt that pseudo temperature with the windchill.

https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-36_metric_e.html

–31C/-29F tonight.

January generally is the coldest month. Unfortunately, I have to stay tuned.

I'm gonna put a bottle of M1 5W30 out there now and will see how it pours at –31C/–29F, or at whatever temp it drops to.
 
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When I daily drove my old MGB, I had it start with no drama at temps down to -10F using 10W-40 cheap stuff in the early eighties. The car even had pretty strong heat and went pretty well in snow.
The only time I found 10W-40 lacking was on a very hot day in a column of very fast traffic, atypical of Ohio in the early nineties. We were running the old girl at 5000 revs, or about 90 mph. Indicated oil pressure dropped quickly, so I assumed a place in the slower 75 mph traffic. On that drive, I came to understand why BL thought that 20W-50 was an appropriate summer grade for the car.
Other than that, the B was a 30+ mpg car that was always entertaining to drive and even rode pretty nicely.
Handling was such that the driver could corner the car as hard as he liked and would never get himself in serious trouble. The car was always easily recoverable from any stupid driver move.
Great cars that you can still buy in decent overall shape for cheap.
 
Probably -30 to -35 on a few occasions back in late 70's vehicles with big V8s and 10w40 oil. Lincoln NE is looking at a -18 this new years night, no reason to try and start my vehicles so I wont even try.I have no doubt they would start though as they are all 4 cyls with decent batteries. Staying inside and watching some football so unless I run out of something essential product like TP or beer my vehicles will be resting until more pleasant temps arrive.
 
Lots of starts in the mid to upper -30°Fs; a 1984 Bronco II with 2.8? (solid lifters!) V-6, and a 1977 F250 w/400 V-8. I likely had 10-30 dino in both of them, I think it was before the advent of synthetics. I lived in an old farmhouse in N Wisconsin for a few years and they both sat outside. The Bronco had a battery heater and the F250 had dual batteries so they both always started - and with a hat, earmuffs and a hood over my head the mechanical clattering and PS pump whining wasn't too bad.
 
Originally Posted By: LEONAR
Lots of starts in the mid to upper -30°Fs; a 1984 Bronco II with 2.8? (solid lifters!) V-6, and a 1977 F250 w/400 V-8.


Those low compression ratio smog engines with carburetors were great cold starters when everything was adjusted properly + a healthy battery.
One tap of the gas pedal to set the choke and to get a shot of accelerator pump down the carburetor bores and go for it.
 
Originally Posted By: LEONAR
Lots of starts in the mid to upper -30°Fs; a 1984 Bronco II with 2.8? (solid lifters!) V-6, and a 1977 F250 w/400 V-8. I likely had 10-30 dino in both of them, I think it was before the advent of synthetics. I lived in an old farmhouse in N Wisconsin for a few years and they both sat outside. The Bronco had a battery heater and the F250 had dual batteries so they both always started - and with a hat, earmuffs and a hood over my head the mechanical clattering and PS pump whining wasn't too bad.


Amsoil and M1 were available at that time. I started using M1 5-20 in 1978. Made a huge difference in extreme cold starts.
 
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