Warm up car in cold weather?

[aquariuscsm]

I had a neighbor who drove a V6 Mustang. She'd start it up and immediately throw it in gear and floor it up the road on cold mornings. Engine sounded like a dry can of marbles,and as if it was going to literally fall to pieces.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Eventually I disabled the automatic choke and replaced it with a manually controlled butane bleed into the air intake.

That was the final straw with my F-150 and the feedback carb. The automatic choke just started getting worse and worse and worse....


I think they are (or were) generally a pain. The butane bleed works well though. I suppose in extreme cold one might use propane, or a mix, if one was leaving the cannister in the car.

It's probably less applicable to fuel-injected cars but I've only had one of them so far, (a Ford Sierra) and that was in Taiwan, where cold starts are much less of an issue.

Even so I may fit a butane bleed to my current Taiwan car (carbed Daihatsu Skywing) if it ever gets to the top of the "to do" list.

 

[01rangerxl]

I have a BITOG confession to make. It was 4*F outside a couple mornings ago per the IAT reading on my Scangauge. I was running late for work because it was 4* and I did not want to be outside. I did not let the truck "warm up." It got 10 seconds, then reverse, then drive. I felt a little guilty.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Fer Gawd's sake quit worrying about warm up and DRIVE it!

That's easy for you to say.

In fairness to the other posters, I know, you've all gotten a bad batch of weather. It'll pass. Heck, it'll pass here, too, in May maybe!


It lasted 2 days, we saw a whopping 30 degrees here for a few hours! Already hot and humid this AM...

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I have a BITOG confession to make. It was 4*F outside a couple mornings ago per the IAT reading on my Scangauge. I was running late for work because it was 4* and I did not want to be outside. I did not let the truck "warm up." It got 10 seconds, then reverse, then drive. I felt a little guilty.


For penance you must add some miracle engine oil restorative, preferably one that restores compression and cures balding.

 

[Bamaro]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I have a BITOG confession to make. It was 4*F outside a couple mornings ago per the IAT reading on my Scangauge. I was running late for work because it was 4* and I did not want to be outside. I did not let the truck "warm up." It got 10 seconds, then reverse, then drive. I felt a little guilty.

You must change your oil immediately!

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
I think they are (or were) generally a pain. The butane bleed works well though. I suppose in extreme cold one might use propane, or a mix, if one was leaving the cannister in the car.

When the electric feedback carb was sort of working, it started nicely in the winter. The choke and fast idle would never deactivate on their own, though. It just got worse and worse, though. I mentioned in one of the threads about the trick for starting LPG cars when it gets too cold up here and they're not plugged in - a boiling kettle dumped onto the mixer. But, that's when it's closer to -40 C and so forth.

@SteveSRT8: Well, we're -10 C right now, which is a lot better than it was. It feels almost summery out there in comparison.

 

[Ducked]

You can get electrical heaters for the sump base or the dipstick hole. No use to me because, sadly, I've always been a landless peasant apartment dweller, but in the USA I'd have thought they'd be useful to a lot of people.

A long time ago (60's?) you could buy cheap little kerosene-fuelled sump heaters in the UK. I saw one once in the shed of an empty cottage that was for sale. Thing a bit like a Davy (miners) lamp, with a fine mesh cowl surrounding the wick (presumably to reduce fire/explosion risk from ignited petrol vapour).

I was tempted to knick it (I'd bet the eventual purchasers just chucked it out) but conscience prevailed.

I'm not sure its such a great idea though. Seems possible condensation from the combustion would cause more electrical grief than the heating solved.

IIRC some British Army Landrovers were fitted with diesel-powered engine pre-heater burners, maybe by Eberspracher?

I'd have a go at improvising something, but since it never gets below zero here (except rarely in the mountains) I don't currently need one, though I suppose oil-preheating would still be a good thing in the "not -summer".

It'd mean, for example, that I could go back to using straight 40 engine oil all year round.

 

[Garak]

My old Audi had an oil pan heater. VW/Audi yanked block heaters in Canada some years ago thanks to a lawsuit where someone in Quebec burned their garage down with a shorted block heater. So, VW/Audi replaced block heaters with oil pan heaters, probably from the same manufacturer.

I have a magnetic oil pan heater I use occasionally on the F-150. I may put a permanent mount heater there, now that the leaks are all gone and I wouldn't be trying to stick the pad to an oily surface.

Another alternative seen on occasion here are Webasto systems. You can Google it. They're good for those who would actually benefit from them (as opposed to a standard block heater and interior warmer), but they are pricey.

 

[gfh77665]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Clevy
If I lived down south and all I experienced was -10c cold I might put a jacket on because that isn't cold.

Negative 10C is brutal cold for us in So Cal, the coldest night we had the last 25-30 years was 28F or about -2C, the yearly normal cold nights, abut 4-5 nights a year, were around 36-40F or about 2-4C.


These temps are unthinkable for us in SETX. People PANIC here if it hits 40F.