Coldest Cruiser Start? -10 degrees? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Oct 26, 2005
Threads
81
Messages
185
Location
Chicago, IL
Whats the coldest a stock cruiser can start ?

What can you do to start in -80 ?

I suppose block heater, oil pan heater?


Nicholas
 
What temprature do things need to be?

Carb? Fuel? Coolant? Oil? Diffs?
 
Mine will start at least to -25 with no block heater, sitting outside. It doesnt move very well until its warmed up, but it does start. Havent tried it colder, yet.

Now my FJ40 would go at -30 with no block heater and so would a lot of Mini's I have had.
 
Mine will start at -30 to -35 with a full choke and 5 pumps on the peddle. 1978 2f. That is after sitting for several weeks. It may start at colder temps but I haven't tried it yet. I use real oil. Synthetic would make it easier to start at colder temps I think.
 
45Kevin said:
Mine will start at -30 to -35 with a full choke and 5 pumps on the peddle. 1978 2f. That is after sitting for several weeks. It may start at colder temps but I haven't tried it yet. I use real oil. Synthetic would make it easier to start at colder temps I think.

-35C or -35F?
 
When everything is tuned right AND you have a GOOD battery a start at -30F is possible. The biggest problem at thise temps (and colder of course) is that the battery can't provide enough juice to crank the engie over hard enough to start.

Mark...
 
Wow-I've never started below +40F. Works every time!:flipoff2: :flipoff2: That's some serious cold you guys are talking about!
 
Mark W said:
When everything is tuned right AND you have a GOOD battery a start at -30F is possible. The biggest problem at thise temps (and colder of course) is that the battery can't provide enough juice to crank the engie over hard enough to start.

Mark...

And thats where the block heater comes in handy, it seems to help make the oil not so thick so that the starting system has an easier time to crank. I have had really good luck at those temps with Exide batteries and I am really liking the Orbital that I have had for the last couple of years. I have considered finding a way to isolate my battery with a cut off switch so that when my 60 had to sit for a while under brutal cold conditiions it wont trickle down.
 
During our last cold spell (-14F) I tried cranking the engine with the clutch pedal pushed down. It definitely increased the cranking speed by not having to spin the cold transmission. Once the engine started, I could let the clutch out and see the idle rpm drop noticeably. After a minute or so of idling, the tranny drag went away. It took another 5 minutes of driving for the shifting to loosen up.

If your battery is weak and its really cold, put the clutch down to start it.
 
I suppose that dual batteries would then aid in cranking the engine over,,,,how much is that isolator switch?
 
-44F (or C, 'bout the same anyways) when I lived in Alberta with my '77 FJ40 without synthetic. Takes a while for the tranny to warm up though...
 
stinkyfj60 said:
And thats where the block heater comes in handy, it seems to help make the oil not so thick so that the starting system has an easier time to crank. I have had really good luck at those temps with Exide batteries and I am really liking the Orbital that I have had for the last couple of years. I have considered finding a way to isolate my battery with a cut off switch so that when my 60 had to sit for a while under brutal cold conditiions it wont trickle down.


A block heater doesn't actually warm the oil that much. The oil is all down in the pan and the block heater warms via the water jacket.

It DOES warm the oil up n the engine (between the bearing surfaces and in the passages). This helps 'cause the oil gate REAL thich and sticky at those temps. This makes a big difference.

The block heater does keep the clearances in the engine within the correct parameters and prevents the formation of frost on the cylinder walls.

Isolating the battery won't make a lot of difference. The cold slows chemcail reactions. And since that's how you battery stores/converts/makes power it just looses all its grunt.

In extreme temps, I ideally like to have:

A freezeplug heater (or two).
A tank heater plumbed through an intake manifold heater and then the engine.
A glue on oil pad heater (pad).
A battery heater and an insulated battery.

So long as you have a place to plug the rig is, it will start just like it's a mid-summer day. ;)


Mark...
 
I've got an Optima Red Top and a block heater. Here in Jackson, WY I cranked it at -25 w/ the block heater and 20W-50 (It has been changed!). Now I can crank it without the block heater at -20 (5W-30) and after a bit of work I can get it to go at -30, but thats hit or miss. Using the block heater and 5W-30 it starts first key turn in -10 which is what its been every morning for the last bit.
 
Mark W said:
The block heater does keep the clearances in the engine within the correct parameters and prevents the formation of frost on the cylinder walls.

Isolating the battery won't make a lot of difference. The cold slows chemcail reactions. And since that's how you battery stores/converts/makes power it just looses all its grunt.


So, two questions:
Is there actually enough moisture in the engine to form frost on the cylinder walls? Anybody see this? I'd imagine that it just locks the engine, so if the engine hasn't been otherwise damaged and the block is warmed up, it'll still run OK.

What do the Artic and Antarctic expedition trucks do about batteries?

-Tyler
 
It's not a lot of moisture, or a lot of frost. But it doesn't take much to interfere with things.

Water is a byproduct of the combustion process in a gfasoline internal combustion process.


I don't know what the artic/antartic expedition rigs do for batteries/starting. The rigs on the north slope use the heaters we've been discussing. And when it gets real cold they leave them running. For days or weeks sometimes. Especially with diesels. They burn very very little fuel when they are sitting there just idling. And they are HARD to start when they completely cool off.

If you were dealing with extreme conditions away from any infrastructure, then you *could* have a lot more battery on hand to crank and start the cold engine than it would take to start it when it was warmer. Another approach is to use a fuel fired heater system (diesel fired engine heaters are not uncommon on over the road trucks).


Mark...
 
I've started my BJ60 at -27C with only 2 glow plugs and a circulating block heater but it wasn't easy. No that wasn't here in Guatemala, it was in Prince George, B.C.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom