Winter weather and car destruction tales

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...not from accidents because of sliding, but because of extreme cold or harsh driving.

Like, it is -30 out, and the car wouldn't start, but you were determined to start it...so you revved/jumped/quick-started it just a bit too much, and BOOM!

Or, the car is stuck, and you are frustrated and determined to get it out, so you say 'darn it' and just floor it...and BOOM!

Couple of years ago, it's -29.5C on X-Mas morning, and I have a 10W-30 mix in my Tribute...never changed it for the winter, and I had to get going for visiting, and I was blocking everyone...two vehicles jumping it, 10+ minutes of cranking, and it fired, but knocked like crazy..I was mad and just started revving it hard...took a while until it stopped making noise, and it never did run right after that!

LOL, lets hear yours!
 
I was involved in a couple grand blazing in glory failures.
Was told to drizzle gas down the carb, it backfired, heavy on the fire, REALLY heavy on the fire.
Got the old mans old diesel truck going and loaded up the dog(not mine) while it was to warm up for a bit. Dog got it into gear and rolled it over the lake bank about 30 foot down.
 
Working in Northern Alaska we'd pour gasoline into the oil tank of an old radial engine to get it started on very cold mornings.

One time while cranking there was a backfire and that's normal. This time where was a flash and a huge ball of flame. Evidently conditions were just right. The ball of flame actually detached itself from the front of the plane and rose up a few feet and just hung there for a few seconds. I was so taken by the light show that I had not cut back the throttle and the plane jumped the chocks and was moving down the lane before I caught it. I was not able to control the plane on the ice so rather that risk crashing into the hanger I added throttle and took off.

I flew around the pattern, landed and loaded the cargo that I'd left behind. My cargo handler/crew chief was laughing so hard he slipped and fell on his backside. One passenger was explaining to the other that they had to warm up the engine to get it ready. What was I to say. I agreed.
 
We need GHT back on here to tell the tale of his Volvo being stuck in the snow, then burning out so much that he blew out the tire.

Didn't he blow the transmission too?
 
-35 deg. c (-32 deg. f) I was 16, didn't have a car yet, so friend's mom gave us a ride to school in their 69 Ford (with a 390 engine) truck. It started knocking a few blocks from the school, then knocked real bad until it died two blocks from the school. Friends mom went to the nearest house to use the phone (this was before cell phones) and we walked (and froze) to school from there. Turned out the antifreeze wasn't strong enough and froze in the rad hoses and rad. The engine overheated and was totaled, and had to be replaced with a different engine. I never would have believed an engine could overheat in - 35 deg. weather like that, if I hadn't seen it for myself.
 
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It was a dark and icy night. As a young man, I was determined to go see my girlfriend (now wife). In my trusty '68 4WD drive Scout. I was sure I could make it over the ice covered roads (foolish youth). On my way, the Scout started a slow slide on the ice. I turned the wheel gently into the slide, no affect. The Scout gracefully, and ever so gently, spun 180, crossed the road and landed in the ditch. Fortunately, I was the only knucklehead out on the roads, so no other cars were involved. I got the Scout out of the ditch and cautiously proceeded to my girlfriend's apartment.

Early the next morning, my brother, out on a road call, noticed my Scout in the apartment parking lot, with a flat tire. Apparently my encounter with the ditch the evening before caused a slow bead leak in the tire, flattening it overnight. He latter razzed me about it "Where did you spend the night, last night!?!?".

Not much in the way of car destruction, but that's my winter tale.
The airplane tale gave me a good case of the chuckles, off with a bang!
 
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Originally Posted By: Rick in PA
It was a dark and icy night. As a young man, I was determined to go see my girlfriend (now wife). In my trusty '68 4WD drive Scout. I was sure I could make it over the ice covered roads (foolish youth). On my way, the Scout started a slow slide on the ice. I turned the wheel gently into the slide, no affect. The Scout gracefully, and ever so gently, spun 180, crossed the road and landed in the ditch. Fortunately, I was the only knucklehead out on the roads, so no other cars were involved. I got the Scout out of the ditch and cautiously proceeded to my girlfriend's apartment.

Early the next morning, my brother, out on a road call, noticed my Scout in the apartment parking lot, with a flat tire. Apparently my encounter with the ditch the evening before caused a slow bead leak in the tire, flattening it overnight. He latter razzed me about it "Where did you spend the night, last night!?!?".

Not much in the way of car destruction, but that's my winter tale. Lots of poor choices made when "Mr. Johnson" is running the show eh Rick? I experienced the "foolish youth" syndrome you are referring to more than once myself before Mr. Johnson departed for good. Those who enjoy/enjoyed the Seinfeld show will know who "Mr Johnson" is.Happy New Year.
The airplane tale gave me a good case of the chuckles, off with a bang!
 
This was on my 05 BMW X3. It was like 5 degrees F out and I started the car, let it warm up for 30 seconds then took it for a light drive on the BLVD, then turned onto the highway. Decided to redline it on the onramp...worst mistake I made.

I parked it for a few hours then started it, it blew blue smoke briefly. Popped open the oil cap and it was FILLED with yellow gunk(condensation). The engine didn't last much longer after that.

Replaced all the top end gaskets(thinking it was a bad spark plug gasket), turned out to also be damaged rings. Dumped in some "stop leak" and traded it in to a shady dealership. The car also had a boat load of other issues.

If it wasn't for the cold the engine would have been able to burn off the condensation to keep the oil from going bad.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Most of us realized not to do these kind of things by age 30.


Knock it off with the attitude, bud.

Vehicle was already giving me lots of problems, and this was a bad time for it to act up.

I didn't wreck it - I drove it for another 2+ years, it just burned a lot more oil after that, and ticked more.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
I didn't wreck it - I drove it for another 2+ years, it just burned a lot more oil after that, and ticked more.


Originally Posted By: addyguy
10+ minutes of cranking, and it fired, but knocked like crazy..I was mad and just started revving it hard...took a while until it stopped making noise, and it never did run right after that!
 
I once matted my old Neon after 1 minute of warm up in -28C, sounded pretty bad at the time but continued on as normal for a few more years.
 
For about 3 winters, I made a habit of power sliding my way through the financial district of Manhattan at night. There was literally nobody there. Not even cops.

One night when I was tearing around a corner coming onto Water Street, I heard a loud bang and all of a sudden I sounded like a hot rod.

Turned out both of my rear mufflers and y-pipe ejected themselves out of the back of my old Mark VIII. Never found out why. Wasn't rusted away. Just took off from the flange and never came back.
 
I know there are a lot of guys who think even 0w30 isn't good enough for start-up wear in Florida, but I highly doubt 10w30 had a factor in this. This is probably more an issue of revving the snot out of a cold engine.
 
About 5 years ago my 83 Caprice sprung a leak from a heater hose. I topped it up a couple times with water until I was able to get to a small garage in the town I lived in. Normally I'd fix it myself but it was cold out and I was busy going to college. It wasn't that cold the day it happened (maybe -10c). I told them I'd topped it up with water and I was dumb enough to assume they'd check the coolant strength after replacing the hose. I was wrong. The next day the temp dropped to -20c and I was driving to work when it started to overheat 10 minutes from my place. The coolant had frozen and there was boiling in the overflow. I made it to a small garage that defrosted the car for me and drained it a little, topped it up and checked the strength.

I continued on with the car still running fine but over the next year I had to replace the thermostat, radiator, heater core and replace the block heater with a plug. After that no more issues.
 
Winter can take a toll on a car's interior too ... in the late 70s my friend was at college in Saskatchewan. He was scraping the inside of the driver's-side window ('74 Dodge Colt) on a very cold day and slipped and hit the frozen vinyl door panel. The vinyl shattered.
 
Riding along Edinburgh street, start to get that floaty, black ice feeling. Oo-er.

Cop ahead flags me down. I stop very slowly and gently, and start to get off.

"You do realise you shouldn't be riding a motorcycle in these conditions, sir?" says the cop.

"Oh, its not so bad", says I.

Then I stand up and fall flat on my back, grabbing the bike on the way down and bringing it down on top of me.

It hurt.
 
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