Very cold outside, vehicle sitting for a few day's

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When I was in college my car at the time had trouble starting when it was way below zero (probably due to a weak battery and my use of 10W-40), but when I had to go somewhere I would take the battery out and put it in the dorm shower for a half hour with warm water running on it. Worked well.
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
When I was in college my car at the time had trouble starting when it was way below zero (probably due to a weak battery and my use of 10W-40), but when I had to go somewhere I would take the battery out and put it in the dorm shower for a half hour with warm water running on it. Worked well.


I bet you had the cleanest battery on campus too!
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Wind chill does have an effect on your engine at least with regards to warm-up an cool down, and maintaining temps during operation. Once the car has completely cooled down to ambient, then the wind chill has no further effect. The stronger the winds whipping up around your car, the quicker it cools off between cycles...and the longer to heat up. I was surprised at how quickly my car cooled down this morning (25 deg F with 10-25 mph winds) as I did a series of 6-12 mile trips with 15-60 min of cool down. In an hour, the water temp was essentially bottomed out again.
 
Originally Posted By: 07titan
Was wondering with the cold weather outside, like 9*,[wind chill] day time, likely to be even lower tonight. With the vehicle, 01 mazda, with over 160,000 miles, running good. Anyway car will sit till Monday, is it any good to start and let run for a few minutes, 5 at the most, then Sunday the same? Come Monday temp's will hover once again in the 40's. Here in the mid Atlantic states on the east coast. Maybe better to check tomorrow only, Sunday? huh? Just a concern about battery and being a older car with miles on it.


Don't start a car just to start it unless you will get the engine and exhaust to temp. Connect a temp compensated float charger if you want to keep the battery fully charged.

This like a block of steel or a car that do not produce heat are not ffected by windchill. If the car gets to say 10F and the wind picks up making the windchill -20F but the temp is still 10F, the car will be also be 10F.

Now if the temp drops from 40F to 0F in an hour, the temp of the car will not drop that fast so wind will pull the heat away quicker cooling it down faster than if there had been no wind, but once the vehicle is down to the ambient temp, windchill makes no difference.
 
Originally Posted By: bbhero
Well it is quite cold in fact... It is 2 standard deviations from normal. Which means that it is in fact quite cold for a given time of year and given area. 3 standard deviations from normal is record cold or hot with the possibility of all time records being broken.

An example of this was late last February in fact. We had record LOW maximum high temp records set. High temps were in the low 20s which broke previous records of highs 28 degrees or so. Average High temps in this area for late February are in the low 50s. We were 3 standard deviations from normal late last February.

Yes, this isn't -20, -30°F or -40°F in Saskatchewan. But for this area low temps in the single digits is rather cold. Maybe not record territory but quite cold. In northern Vermont where I went to vacation at a couple of yrs ago it's similar to low temps in the -10°F to -20°F range. Quite cold but not brutally cold. Up there where it can get to -30°F and colder to be considered their brutally cold conditions. Obviously cold is relative to the area which we are in.

A couple of weeks ago when low temps were in the low teens I noticed how some vehicles sounded while running down the road. I also noticed how my lady's Camry sounded when it started. Louder than if it was 50°F out.


Not sure if you missed the point or were just trying to argue for the sake of arguing...

The point was that regardless of how *you* feel about it, it isn't good for your car.

As an example, it is 10f here with 20mph winds. For a "feels like" temp of -10f. That's not cold for a car. Even at this temp I just hopped in and drove off.

If you are worried about the battery, get a maintainer and leave that plugged in, but don't start it for the battery's sake. Or as stated, update your battery, but I wouldn't do that just because of a chilly snap.

You car is fine. No worries.
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Wind chill has nothing to do with it, only the actual temperature. And 9 degrees is not severe, my old BMW regularly sees temperatures as low as -25 or worse in northern Wisconsin and starts just fine. It all has to do with the battery condition and proper selection of oil.

It does more harm than good to start an engine and let it idle for 5 minutes. Just leave it alone.


2x on all points.
 
I think I'll take a short run to the farmer's market tomorrow. Do some shopping and come home,,,,sounds good? yep.
 
I had that exact scenario today. The battery is weak in the Rat and has been revived many times because it drains from sitting. Plus the last time I moved the truck, the snow encrusted wipers died. A little research revealed the suspect was a popped breaker with an automatic reset. Pretty snazzy for an old Ford. I cleared the snow and ice off the windshield and hood. I figured that I would probably need to open hood to jump it. It started and as I turned the key, the wipers parked. I let it idle for a half hour, whilst I cleared some snow. I don't make a habit of long warm ups but stuff forgets how to work on old cars if you dont exercise them.
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