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

[RalphVa]

Yeah, start your car with you in it in the garage and let it idle for a short period, see if you die.

That's the idea.

Ralph

 

[Gary Fowler]

I still have the Coleman catalytic heater in the wife's car. We bought that while in Canada and it runs 8 hours on a tank of fuel and also has a space blanket in the kit. I may need it for warming the house someday due to power outage but doubtful that it will ever be needed here but doesn't hurt to be prepared I guess. My old Caddy that I had in Canada had no block heater or other cold weather starting aids and it cranked everytime even at -40 although it did require a little grinding on the starter to produce some heat to vaporize the fuel at -40 but anything above -30F it would fire right up.

I cant believe the news reported to go out and start your car every hour and run it for 10 minutes. I think I would stop viewing that station if I were you. All my vehicles get started whenever I want to use them and only then. My tractors may set for months without starting and never fail to start. When I worked out of the country, my cars have set for up to 8 months without starting and started right up although the batteries were a bit weak from parasitic drain. Tractors don't normally have any parasitic battery drain so no need to start them frequently.

 

[3930dave]

As well stated already, short engine runs are not a good maintenance strategy.

OP - You understand using a battery maintainer, so you have that covered - that is the way to keep the battery up, not briefly spinning the alternator.

If you are coming up to an oil change, consider using a synthetic for the winter, if you aren't already.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Chef Pa started a thread - he was prepping a car to come up to Canada. Takes more reading that 8 bullet points, but if folks in OPs area aren't used to cold weather driving, it's worth a read:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/294645-prepping-car-cold-weather-northern.html

Rgds, D.

 

[Looking4new]

I start them when I want to use them. The rest of the time they sit. I also use winter fuel in the tractor and high test in the Heep.

 

[RalphVa]

Silly. Good way to run the battery down and crap up the oil.

Ralph

 

[MHarryE]

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.

 

[Bob77064]

When you start a vehicle especially a cold one it runs the battery down. Unless you are going to drive for a while and recharge the battery you are doing more harm than good.

 

[TomSeller]

the manual for my jd 4410 mentions an optional hydraulic heater in addition to the block heater. I don't have either but wish i did.

Great idea if your tractor is equipped to receive one. The ones I am familiar with install similar to a block heater.

 

[whistlepig]

I live in central Ohio about a mile from the Indiana border. You can bet your bippy that I am not going to get up several times tonight to start anything. And if I do have to do so whatever equipment that required me to do this will be sold immediately.

 

[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.