Lowest temp you ever started an engine.

[PimTac]

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: PimTac
My 1985 Ford Ranger made a click when I turned the key and nothing else. Diagnosis: the main computer module had fried.


In an '85???

$500??





Maybe my memory is lacking here or I got ripped off but it was very expensive. That truck had lots of issues. Why I didn’t get rid of it sooner, I don’t know but that’s water under the bridge.

The module was a fairly large black box in the engine bay

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: tig1
True, battery power is very important in extreme cold starts. I mentioned my 77 V8 Nova with 10-40 Valvoline and how hard the engine was to fire, and when it did the entire valve train was clacking. That winter I was persuaded to try M1 5-20(1978) and the difference was amazing. Much easier cranking and no valve clatter at all. Battery and oil can make a huge difference in cold starts.


If it was actually important that I be able to start the MG in super cold temperatures, I'd be running Castrol Edge 5W-40. If not that, I'd at least drop to 15W-40 or 10W-30 from my usual 20W-50.

Even at 20º, the engine and starter groan in protest on the first half revolution with 20W-50, although it will usually free up a bit once it has made the initial movement.

The OEM configuration is a pair of 6V "tar top" batteries wired in series. These are still available if you hunt for them(one of the big parts suppliers carries them, and just like the old days they are shipped dry and you have to fill them yourself) but I think they only provide in the 300 CCA range. Most sane folks run a single 12V series 26 battery-a configuration the factory started using in 1975 or so-and it's not hard to find one with a 550 CCA rating.

I'd hate to have been someone who HAD to get it started with SAE 30 in sub-zero temperatures, although fortunately I think the factory was sane enough even then to specify a thinner monograde for cold weather.

Also, how many of you folks talking about carbed engines use ether when temperatures drop low? I keep some in the car and have been known to blast the intake for 2-3 seconds if it's initially reluctant, although with the choke properly set up it USUALLY isn't needed.

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted By: BISCUT
For me it was about 1997 or 8 in Crawford Notch NH. I was solo winter camping and it was so cold I thought i would die if I stayed. Ended up coming down off Mt. Webster and it was -28F and when I started my Chevy S10 Blazer (last Chevy I've owned) it turned soooo slow I can still hear it in my head. But it did turn over and it ran. I let it warm up for 10 min. Back then it was Dino every 3k for me.


Solo winter camping. you mean homeless ?

 

[bbhero]

Stop... Seriously.

Though that is kind of funny

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
-5*F at Sierra Summit ski area. Stayed for a week and were advised to get going as a white out was coming in. Mom's Volvo 144 on 10W-30. Fired right up. Cranked slow, but fired after a few turns.

Started my Audi many times many 0*F

The opposite is more of a concern to me. What's the highest outside air temp you ever started a vehicle. Mine is 126*F in the afternoon in Borrego Springs. Almost to hot to touch. Fire it and let A/C run for 10 minutes before getting in ...


110 F in Mexico on a rental car. It started right up.

 

[chemman]

February 6, 1989, Laramie, Wyoming. -40 Deg F (-40 Deg C).

1973 Chevy Impala with a small block 400 engine, a 2 barrel Rochester carb, Havoline 10W40 in the sump, and close to 250,000 miles on the odometer.

 

[Garak]

I started an old Duster years back below -40, and the sump contents probably were not up to the task, but it fired. The F-150 has done some below -40, but that's not my preference, at all. It gets plugged in. The old LTD was on LPG, and if you weren't plugged in at -20 C, let alone much colder than that, you'd be in trouble. Guys who had propane vehicles unplugged at those temperatures would have to pour boiling kettles of water of the mixer to get things going.

The Town Car had it's share of -30 C and colder starts without plugging in.

 

[Dino01]

1999 Ford 7.3 diesel with 200k, sat outside unplugged in -5 to -15 for 4 days with Delo 15w40 in the crankcase, fired right up after a little longer glow cycle at -15f. No drama, smoke, nothing weird, was expecting the PSD romp but nope, probably helped it had brand new glow plugs in it at the time

 

[Tony10s]

For my parents, the lowest temperature they started their engines was -26°F in late January 1985, in Virginia (January 21, 1985, I believe).

For myself, I don't know exactly ... Somewhere around -10°F in Virginia.

 

[dlundblad]

-27*F with PYB 10w30.

 

[SilverSnake]

-70 Degrees F. At the wild frontier of Anderson, Alaska, 1976
Ford F-100, 302 with SAE20 Polar Start oil
Truck was plugged in because nothing starts at that temperature overnight without help:
* 2 - 750W engine heaters
* 1 - 800W interior warmer (without this device the vinyl seats would shatter when you sat on them)
* 1 - 100W battery blanket

 

[ThankYouma]

4 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[TiredTrucker]

1983, -72F / -58c actual, Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory. 1079 Ford Bronco 351M. Next 10 years in interior of Alaska. Many, many times starts at below -50F.

 

[ZZman]

Around 5-10 below

 

[kc8adu]

January 94 -25f
72 f100 and 70 elcamino.
both ticked a bit in the first few minutes.
both showed how hard engine and tranny mounts get when its that cold.
lots of vibration.
btw most neighbors needed jumps and a few severely flooded theirs needing plug replacement.
flood one at -25 and it will not recover just sitting!
last year -15f.
99 accord.
no problem starting but tranny didnt like this one bit.
bang downshift 2-1 in the first few blocks and ok after a few miles.
and this with z1 in it after a rebuild.
its mostly maxlife now and no issues at -5f a few days ago.

 

[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

 

[Sam_Julier]

- 26 degrees in Stowe VT. Petro-Canada Duron 0W30 in a Volvo 5 cylinder engine. Easy start up.

Sam

 

[Skyline]

-52f 73 ford maverick inline 6 1988 or 1989 started barely but over heated warming up antifreeze in radiator was like a slurpy

 

[gfh77665]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
You people in the south who think 32F is cold, don't know cold. I have seen -40F three times in my life. ... It you have never been in those type of temps; it's like going to another planet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua0kSQdI6mE

 

[dave1251]

-20F with Quaker State 10W30.