Recommended frequent starting of autos in sub-zero weather - how about tractors?

[HarryVanderpool]

We hear it all the time in discussions of politics, but this reccomendation is clear proof that the main stream media is made up of totally impractical, clueless mouth-breathers.
Where did they come up with this?
They just thought it up which makes it right.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

 

[3930dave]

I have 2 nieces living 2 miles away. They tried the getting up at 2:30 last Thursday when the actual temperature was -33, started their cars and let them run for 15 minutes. At 8:00 it was -46 when they tried starting to go to work but neither car would start even though they had been warmed up. They called me and I drove them to work and their kinds to school. My answer is a heated garage. It costs money to heat but it does save wear and tear on the vehicles. Same with the tractor I run during the winter - it's in the heated garage.

That's cold, but a modern AND well-maintained FI car/truck should stand a good chance of starting after sitting overnight. Bad advice in your media news.

Synthetic oil in crankcase/Healthy battery with clean+greased terminals/Full gas tanks/Fuel filter changed on OE schedule, if not sooner..... and you stand a reasonable chance of having it fire up on a cold morning.

What I don't like about a heated garage is rust - with the tidal wave of salt here, a heated garage just accelerates rust damage. Block heater is my preference, or even a 100Watt+ flood bulb under the hood if no BH installed, electric battery blanket never hurts.

This kind of cold is no fun, but I've lived long enough to compare it to trying to keep carb'd cars on the road in these temperatures - as much as I like old cars/trucks, I'll take FI + synthetics every time !

Stay Warm, and Safe,

Rgds, D.

Edit - forgot to add - good quality automatic battery maintainer, ideally with a Cold Temperature setting, would do wonders for -40 nights.

 

[GolfAddict]

What I don't like about a heated garage is rust - with the tidal wave of salt here, a heated garage just accelerates rust damage

That's a new one for me, hadn't heard that before. Why does a heated garage accelerate rust?

 

[aczlan]

That's a new one for me, hadn't heard that before. Why does a heated garage accelerate rust?

Ice melts and the water (along with the salt that gets onto the car) get into everything.

Aaron Z

 

[GolfAddict]

Ice melts and the water (along with the salt that gets onto the car) get into everything.

Aaron Z

I just did some googling on it, and it seems the higher temperature increases the rate of the oxidation reaction. So, that salty water can go to work on your metal more efficiently I guess.

Obviously, keeping the car washed regularly helps a lot, and if you don't keep a car more tha 4 or 5 years you probably would never notice the difference.

Learn something new everyday...

 

[3930dave]

That's a new one for me, hadn't heard that before. Why does a heated garage accelerate rust?

If it's cold, and dried salt is on a vehicle, rust is relatively inactive. The same way as a car battery won't do much, until you add liquid to it.

Generally speaking, chemical reactions are accelerated with an increase in heat. A car in the cold with salty water on it rusts; same car with salty water on it AND heat - it rusts even faster.

A heated garage is lovely to step into, and drive away from. In this climate, if your road vehicle is stored that way all the time, you have to wash it constantly. In the old days (back when people did things themselves) any decent apartment complex had a free wash area in the heated garage, for this reason.

Rgds, D.

 

[RaydaKub]

If it's cold, and dried salt is on a vehicle, rust is relatively inactive. The same way as a car battery won't do much, until you add liquid to it.

Generally speaking, chemical reactions are accelerated with an increase in heat. A car in the cold with salty water on it rusts; same car with salty water on it AND heat - it rusts even faster.

A heated garage is lovely to step into, and drive away from. In this climate, if your road vehicle is stored that way all the time, you have to wash it constantly. In the old days (back when people did things themselves) any decent apartment complex had a free wash area in the heated garage, for this reason.

Rgds, D.

My first house had a big Trane heater on the wall of the garage. There wasn't a lot of insulation in the house walls plus the pilot light kept the garage at 35 degrees even in sub zero wether. My 85 GMC rusted out so badly that the entire floor pan crumbled apart and the tailgate fell off in 13 years. The first 3 years I drove my old beater around for daily winter use. The beater died after 3 years and I started driving the GMC daily. The warm garage melted off the slush every day and let the fresh coat of salt eat it alive in just a couple years.

 

[crazyal]

Was that advise paid for by the local muffler shops? You run your car in sub zero weather for only a few minutes and you will be replacing your muffler often as you dump lots of acidic water into it. Your best defense is to heat up the exhaust system to dry it out.

Why start a vehicle if you are not going to use it? Makes no sense to me. All that wear and tear for nothing.