After -10, you just die faster

[BlackBart]

A friend sent a pic of a whiteout at his local ski hill in Maine. Lifts not running. Then piers going underwater in Portland and Annapolis.

We hit ZERO yesterday (!), back down to -13.

My friend, his wife, and I pushed his Jetta wagon 100’ up his alley into a garage with a big propane heater. His 6th grader steered. After a couple of hours of heat and charging and the 9-1-1 additive Jim mentioned, it fired up. Problem 1 solved.

Then he and I sandwiched my door glass with gloves and gradually persuaded it up into the track and closed. I put some clear shipping tape on in case it wants to fall. Now I can wait a week until it’s 40. Problem 2 solved!

Remembering back to when I had Safelite replace this glass. I bought new Volvo blue clips. Glass guys said, oh no we already have them. So I’ll bet those were cheap aftermarket plastic and they got cold and shattered.

[volvolugnut]

Glad you got the window up.
All the clips shatter given some time. I have replaced them on newer Volvo and Mercedes. But never on 240 series Volvos, at least that I remember. Poor memory may be the reason we sometimes think old stuff was better.
volvolugnut

[Blacklab467]

I must withdraw my know it all lecturing -

Last night in -15, I proceeded to do a bonehead move. I drove my M-I-L and other seniors to a college basketball game so they wouldn’t have to walk in the wind and start a cold car. I got them up close to the door but had to go through the parking lot fee guy.

I ROLLED DOWN THE WINDOW instead of just cracking the door to talk. I think one of those plastic sliders broke or cracked and slipped, and the window nearly fell out of the door. In -15.

It didn’t break like it did in 2018 when I went through this same failure (did I learn?). I managed to carefully wrestle it back up the tracks to about 3” from the top, where it remains until I can fix it. I have spare blue clips, but taking apart all that cold plastic might not be wise.

That's hilarious.........I did the exact same thing on Thursday! I was so proud that the car started up without having the block heater plugged in at - 31 C, I let it warm up for 25 minutes and brushed the snow off. When I started driving and while waiting for the light to turn green to get onto the freeway I noticed that the driver's side mirror was obscured with snow that I'd missed. Without thinking my hand went to the window switch, 2 seconds later I heard the unmistakeable sound of blue plastic turning to pieces! I was afraid that I'd have to drive on the freeway for half an hour with the window half down but was able to hand bomb the window up while working the switch with the other hand. I've been here before a few years ago also and have a good supply of blue clips on hand in the garage, it's not a job I like doing but will get to it this week. Good advise BlackBart, I would also add that I keep the revs below 2000 until the temperature gauge comes up to normal. Cold starts are really hard on things, even with synthetic oil.

[matthew1]

For what it's worth, my unheated, insulated, non-attached garage is roughly 19°F warmer than outdoors. Twice recently I got in my Alltrack and the car's thermometer read 19°, then driving around minutes later it reported 0°, ± 1°.

BB thanks for your input on this. I made your comments a post on the MVS home page, with a photo of my friend's husky who loves this weather... just wants to be outside for hours.

[BlackBart]

oh no….famous for all the wrong reasons….

[BlackBart]

So let’s discuss this and actually learn something here -

Maybe I had that backwards. My thinking was that you need to build up heat in the block and oil as fast as possible. That takes a while when it’s truly cold. So don’t waste energy on interior heat, and don’t melt your glass when it will just run down and freeze your wiper blades.

OR…..?
As long as it starts and idles, put MORE load on the engine to heat it up faster. Turn on the seats, the defroster, lights on. More alternator load is heating the engine faster. Then if you can blast some heat inside, it will warm up all that plastic and you might break less stuff.

Thoughts? Any Canadian input? I know in Alaska you often just leave the truck running, all the time. Block heaters mandatory, battery heating blankets.

[volvolugnut]

This question may get more opinions than oil choice!
My opinion is to start and idle while manually scraping any ice needed. Turn on any electric defrosters but leave the heater off. Then ease down the road with slow speed and low RPMs. Avoid the highway until you get the engine warmed. Only after the tempurature gauge starts to rise then turn the fan/heat on low to slowly blow the cold air out of the ducts and start to warm the heater system. There is no heat available yet anyway.
With luck and moderate outdoor temperatures, in a few miles you will see the engine temperature rise to half normal operating range. Now you can drive faster, increase the heater fan, and start to enjoy some interior heat.
volvolugnut

[erikv11]

Regarding the cabin heater: or just set the climate control to auto with a comfortable target temp and the fan will kick in late and gradually, when and as there is actually heat to deliver, and you don't need to mess with it. The car will figure it out more quickly (more optimally?) than you.

I definitely agree on this point: blasting the heater fan to high while the engine is still cold kinda drives me nuts, even if it does ensure the ductwork heats only gradually.

[matthew1]

I've always adhered to the rule of turning on the heater early in the drive cycle to allow it to come up to temperature gradually, as the engine comes up to temperature. That way there's no temp differential shock to the cold glass.

If my vents are on footwell, it doesn't matter.

[SOURDOUGHJIM]

So let’s discuss this and actually learn something here -

Maybe I had that backwards. My thinking was that you need to build up heat in the block and oil as fast as possible. That takes a while when it’s truly cold. So don’t waste energy on interior heat, and don’t melt your glass when it will just run down and freeze your wiper blades.

OR…..?
As long as it starts and idles, put MORE load on the engine to heat it up faster. Turn on the seats, the defroster, lights on. More alternator load is heating the engine faster. Then if you can blast some heat inside, it will warm up all that plastic and you might break less stuff.

Thoughts? Any Canadian input? I know in Alaska you often just leave the truck running, all the time. Block heaters mandatory, battery heating blankets.

In the Arctic, most of the pickups and equipment have high idle systems. Its better for the diesels to operate at the high idle and the gas engine pickups won't stay warm at a low idle. Everything has block heaters and oil pan heaters. Methanol is used on the compressed air systems via an alcohol evaporator, Haldex A72420, to keep things from freezing up. An SEI-12 battery maintainer is installed on all of the pickups.