I just checked the forecast, and my little slice of Northern Illinois will be a whopping -16 degrees Fahrenheit tonight before warming up to a balmy -6 degrees by daytime on Friday. Then, it’ll dip back into -11 degrees tomorrow night. Wind chill? Glad you asked! It’s going to be -40 degrees. How do you prepare your car for this?
Deep freezes can have a profound effect on your car. Let’s start with diesel vehicles. Diesel struggles to remain a liquid under 32 degrees. Diesel vehicles are basically doomed in sub-zero temperatures without liberal use of anti-gel. But even if you can keep your diesel a liquid, it could be so cold that your starter just can’t crank your freezing diesel engine and its syrupy fuel fast enough to actually fire the engine. A block heater and maybe an engine wrap are necessary here.
In the coldest regions on the planet, like Yakutsk, Russia, the risk of an engine failing to start is so huge that some people run their engines nonstop all winter. Others take measures to insulate their engines from temperatures that can drop below -50 degrees Fahrenheit. Even gasoline cars struggle when temperatures drop below zero. Engines crank slowly, batteries struggle, and if you’re as unlucky as I am about once a year, your car is staying where you parked it because the battery and starter just can’t get the job done.
EV owners aren’t totally safe, either. Aside from losing some range, some EV models may not even charge at certain crazy low temperatures, and some chargers may not be particularly responsive, either. What I’m getting at here is winter can be a menace to a machine just like it can be to your mushy, fleshy body. Oh yes, that’s a big deal, too. You don’t want to get snowed in while driving, and if you do, you have to make sure your exhaust pipe is clear.
Anyway, I get concerned whenever there’s a deep freeze. I fear one of my cars has condensation in its gas tank, wonder if its battery will survive the freeze, and worry my sunroofs and such may not be leak-free enough to not leave huge chunks of ice waiting for me on the other side.
I often prepare for a freeze by running my vehicles to operating temperature, removing as much snow as possible, and making sure the battery is topped up. Then, I flip up the windshield wipers, make sure everything is closed up, and hope for the best. The photos in this story show how bad things have been at home lately. It’s so cold and snowy that everyone’s car is messy and icy.
I tend to buy cheap batteries, and this is when they usually let me down. If I need to drive somewhere when it’s -10 degrees or colder out, chances are that super cheap Walmart battery is not going to be ready for the job, even if I had only recently purchased it. One time, this led to a weird situation where the only vehicle in my fleet that started was a motorcycle. So, I bundled up in snowmobile gear and went for a ride.
As you can probably tell, I’m not looking forward to the next couple of days. How about you? If you live in a place where winter exists, how do you prepare for what’s about to happen?
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com
First, it’s time to play “Which door isn’t frozen shut”, luckily 4 doors means 4 chances. Next is the uneventful cranking that bad boy on and blasting all the heat, haven’t needed the jump starter but a stern look is usually all ya need. Make sure to remember if you fill up the gas tank because the guess-o-meter is going to read the correct amount or E…maybe somewhere in between until it feels like working. Then glorious ice scraping fun and shoveling yourself out because plow trucks are fun. And after all that it’s warmed up enough and on we go in a perpetual state of sideways because it’s a rear wheel drive car in the snow.
Back when I lived up north, I typically ignored the weather reports and hoped for the best. There is nothing like starting a Saturn S-Series parked outside in -12° weather. The chimes and bells make funny noises because the electrical parts that make the noises are too cold to move. Then I let the car warm up while clearing the snow/ice if there was any to clear. Then drive easily until the temperature needle moves and I start feeling any heat from the vents.
Now I just leave the EVs in the garage and pre-condition them before leaving. But we get 1-2 cold mornings a year where I live now.
The wife’s car will get the garage. My poor old car will sit out in the -15F and hopefully just take it. To prepare, I’m getting all of the stuff I need for the weekend today so I don’t have to leave the house! Honestly, I’m a bit more concerned about the old ass boiler in the basement than I am about the car.
Temps below 0F are our average lows for a few months (not this non-winter though, only have had maybe 10 wintery days so far), and about all we might do is plug in the Bolt overnight if it is below -10F, and park it so it gets morning sun on the windshield. We’ve had it sitting outside overnight, unplugged, down to -25F without issues. It does disable regen and limit power, but that’s minor. The old Jeep just stays on a battery tender and generally doesn’t move more than once or twice all winter.
I moved to California.
My cars are from Czechoslovakia, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom but I now have them in a country that uses Fahrenheit which makes it a lot harder to reach subzero temperatures. Problem solved!
It was -40 a few hrs north of here, so that is the same on both scales.
Absolutely another reason to switch to Kelvin. Or Rankine.
Ooh one I have not seen yet:
HAVE TREAD ON YOUR TIRES AND HAVE THEM INFLATED !!!!!!
Move to a warmer climate, but not Florida. You’ll then have to contend with flood damage.
And “Florida Man” 😉
I really don’t do anything beyond normal maintenance. Nowadays, I have a garage that is uninsulated and unheated (for now) so the temps don’t usually drop as and the car doesn’t have any issues.
The peak cold does cause other issues to show up though. A battery that was cranking fine at 32f/0c might give up at -15f/-25c so keeping a little jump pack isn’t a bad idea. Same thing with tire pressure dropping and angering the TPMS.
If it’s really cold I’ll let the car idle for a few minutes to defrost and get the fluids moving before starting out but I won’t wait for a full warm up. Usually just long enough to scrape the windows.
Turn it on, wait a few seconds and then go, without revving too hard the first mile or two. Exactly how most cars want to be treated. Make sure to fully warm it up at least once per day, driving just to warm it up if needed when temps drop below zero for more than 12-24 hours.
My JSW TDI is parked outside (in Chicago) and is my four-season car, everything else is garaged and doesn’t get driven in weather like this. The 911 has 20W50 in it, so it’s probably like syrup tonight. I do exactly nothing for the VW. I think the longest I’ve ever had to wait for the glow plugs to do their work is about 5-6 seconds.
I can’t raise my wipers because of the wiper and hood geometry, so I sometimes have to lift the blades up and remove ice from them, which is annoying.
Turn the key to aux/on position, then turn to off and remove from the ignition barrel. Next press the wiper stalk in the single wipe direction. The wipers will raise to full sweep and stay there (service position) so you can raise them away from the glass. They will not lower until the next time you hit the stalk (make sure the blades are lowered against the glass or they will contact the hood on their way down).
Thanks! I have keyless ignition, so would I substitute the first steps with power on, then power off?
Hmm, that’s a mystery to me! Check your owners manual, Volkswagen always includes a service position so that sounds like the right way that you’ve described.
I always like to put the car on the limiter for a few minutes so it warms up quicker.
Note: do not do this.
I hoist a snowblower up on the car and go to town clearing it of all things.
Note: Also do not do this.
Brass bladed ice scrapers are the best. I have been using them for 40 years. https://shopjoe.com/products/snow-joe-edge-ice-scraper-with-brass-blade
When I lived in Central NY state, when expecting a lot of snow, we’d put a tarp over the windshield and close it in the doors to hold it down. Then, the next day all we had to do was take the tarp off and the windshield was clear. Fortunately, it seldom got subzero, so we didn’t often have to deal with that.
I pay an obscene amount to live somewhere without subzero temperatures.
I sold my w126, so the Sorento has stolen my heated garage until another project arrives.
However, normally I just raw dog it and crank it till something happens.
I’m a Canadian Diesel tech by trade. I’ve never met an engine, especially a diesel, that won’t start when exposed to a can of
brake kleenSummer Air.Why not build a small fire under the engine block? What could possibly go wrong?
A reference to the recent fire issue with block heaters?
I’ve heard in China someone introduced a plastic oil pan for cheapness into some sort of commercial vehicle, and quickly learned it needed to be metal to survive the morning fire built underneath to warm up the engine
LIve in northern Alberta, use synthetic oil, have never plugged in 20 year old Volvo- only time it wouldn’t start was when it sat for 20 days at the airport- let it warm up a few minutes and drive nice until the tires get round and it all warms up- most fun at -40 is the shifter is like stirring peanut butter
Sub Zero temperatures? I was still pulling tomatoes and peppers from my plants this past weekend. Got a few lemons too.
We are getting down around -10 in the next day or two. The EV’s will be plugged in so the car can keep the battery warm. I can WFH tomorrow, so I will. I’ll likely hook my battery charger (5A with trickle function) up to the truck. It’s the hardest to start because of the 5.7L V8. Other than that. I don’t plan on doing much other than staying home if I can and hope the furnace keeps up.
It rarely gets below zero where I am in New England, so I don’t do anything special other than run RainX washer fluid with de-icer.
I’ll let the car idle while I’m cleaning the snow, otherwise I just start it up and let it idle till it kicks down from high idle, then I’ll gently drive away.
I’m just going to go out and curse the sky in preparation for this storm.
On Sunday I was supposed to fly from Charlotte to Denver to ski. Looks like my ski trip is canceled because of snow.
Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
Rather than Alanis’ appropriate song I’ve been blasting Everything Sucks by the Descendents.
You will also have more snow than Denver, the mtns have not been blessed this year.
Montrealer here.
-25C and warmer: nothing. Never had a modern car struggle at those temps unless the battery is dying. Below that, block heater, but it’s not really necessary.
Just bring in the portable booster pack in the house the night before and charge it up and keep it warm, just in case my battery decides to crap out.
I’ve prepared by living south of I-10.
It has been dang cold here in northern Ontario (regularly in the -20s C; tomorrow night should be below -30 C or -40 with windchill).
So far I’ve done nothing to winterize my car (other than, obviously, replace the water I put in my coolant system in a pinch in the summertime).
I’ve been very impressed at how the old fella starts up in the cold! The previous owner must have installed a good battery