michael1963

Alaska can be pretty cold I hear. I did an exercise up in Yellowknife in the Yukon and THAT was cold. I had a few friends that were posted in I think Fairbanks (I think that's where the base was) they were what we call 'scope-dopes', they look at the air traffic radar's all day and they loved Alaska.

It's funny you mention about the newbies and their extension cords being pulled out from their grills. The first winter I was in Cold Lake Alberta, I did that very same thing. When I came out in the morning, I just forgot that I had it plugged it, I was driving down the road and could hear and feel this 'banging' at my feet. When I pulled over in a panic, because I thought something had really gone wrong with my truck, all it was, was the plug of my cord bouncing off the road and hitting the floor of the truck. Man, talk about feeling like an idiot! Well that only happened once. Every since then, winter or summer, just before I get into my truck, I always to a 'walk around' just in case, now it's just a habit.

michael1963

Off a relay...now that's a pretty good idea too! I like having mine plugged into AC so that it can be one all night, well it's not actually on all the time because of the thermostat but you get the picture.
Yeah no matter what I do, every year my parking brake freezes up (if I use it) and I have to wait until it warms up before I can disengage it.

toyota4x4907

I've had a battery frozen and not work.The battery is the life-blood of getting her started. Once the engine is started, it will warm itself up.

I've never used the battery blanket/wrap that you posted. I am actually pretty interested in getting one of those for my GF's Tacoma now..... I have always used just a pad under the battery with success.

toyota4x4907

Meh, Alaska is pretty cold. Im in one of the colder places- Fairbanks. Land-locked city in a valley its not uncommon to see -40F/C in the winter. The first winter I was in Fairbanks (I am born and raised in Alaska) it got down to -65F for a few days... Its great. I love the cold. I can get and stay warm better than I can cool off. Thats why I hate Fairbanks though. -30F and colder winters with 70-90F summers!! Plus lots of forest fires--> SMOKE!

seagullplayer

I know for some of you 4 F is not that cold, but for Southern Indiana it is pretty cold, the last couple of mornings I have been very happy that my 1986 has fired up, without starting fluid.

My defrost sucks, but I think that is a duck problem.

Ran off the road yesterday, rural curve, Ice. Sure glad the 4x4 works, or I would still be there.

I use to use a "dip stick heater" in my old Ford. They are just enough watts to keep the oil warmish, if you plug them in before the engine gets cold. You will not get heat as soon as you start up, but they will help the engine start on a cold morning.
Best part they where much cheaper than a block heater and to install you just removed your dip stick...

99blackSE

iTrader: (1)

Too far from the ocean to benefit from the maritime effect. I hear ya. We get close to -65F with windchill sometimes here in Winnipeg. Or is that ambient air temp you're referring to? Edmonton gets colder than us yet though.

Never ran an internal heater though, just kept my gloves and toque on!

michael1963

I thought the reason why we all (the rest of Canada!) referred to you guys as Winter-Peg was because you where the coldest place on the earth...lol. I have friends that were posted with the PPCLI in Winnipeg that told the rest of us that the worst place to stand was on the corners of Main and Portage.

michael1963

It's funny, on real cold days, when I turn on my heater, it sounds like I am boiling water under my dash.

Hadmatt54

Just to give you an idea as to what a 12 volt battery is capable of:-These are general voltage ranges for six-cell lead-acid batteries (non sealed):
Open-circuit (quiescent) at full charge: 12.6 V to 12.8 V (2.10-2.13V per cell)
Open-circuit at full discharge: 11.8 V to 12.0 V
Loaded at full discharge: 10.5 V.
Battery ratings ie voltages are at 20 °C (68 °F), and must be adjusted -0.022V/°C for temperature changes.
You can see how much your battery voltage drops with every degree C change in temperature. So from 20 degree C to -40 degree C is a 60 degree change. -40 degree C = -40 degree F. At that temperature a fully charged battery at 12.5 volts will drop to 11.18 volts which is almost totally discharged. Because the voltage drops the available cranking amps drops as well.
In cold cliamates a block heater is good investment, but probably the best bang for your buck is a battery blanket. If you keep that battery warm you have a much greater chance of starting that cold engine. You want to keep the battery warm and not let it get cold, so the blanket is kept plugged in, but a block heater only needs to be plugged in an hour or two before you plan to start the vehicle.

Someone asked what a freeze plug is, so here is the quick answer from Wikipedia:
Core plugs, sometimes wrongly called freeze plugs or frost plugs, are plugs that fill the core holes found on internal combustion engines. The sand casting cores are used to form the internal cavities in the engine block or cylinder head(s), usually forming the coolant passages. A true freeze plug is an expansion plug located in the side of an engine block that is supposed to protect the block against freeze damage. Water expands when it turns to ice, and if the coolant does not have enough antifreeze protection it can freeze and crack the engine block. The freeze plugs (there are usually several) are supposed to pop out under such conditions to relieve the pressure on the block.

Unfortunately that is generally not how it works and many engine blocks have cracked before the freeze block has popped.

aviator

The Toyota block heater available from the parts dept. is very reasonably priced and at 100W power is one of the strongest ones you can buy and it's Toy quality.
It really works I had one on my 87 and even on the coldest <-30C days the truck would turn over and have instant too hot to stand heat in the cab.
The tranny was still full of glue (lol) until a few ks had gone but not hard to deal with otherwise...
For the ticking try using Engine Restorer (Silver and black can Oil additive) or Lucas oil additive - Ive used the former never tried the latter though it is supposed to work too.
The ER forms a film on the metal and thickens old seals the Lucas seems to add a film and improve flow characteristics.
Synthetics can help a lot but be sure to monitor your fluid levels especially in older higher mileage vehicles the thinner better flowing characteristics of syns mean they can leak out where dino fliuds did not.
If you choose to add a rad cover watch your temps I tried it (covering one half of the rad) one very cold day with my 94 and within about 10mins driving I had to pull over and remove it my truck was starting to overheat ... steam from under the hood and everything...

If your dealing with arctic/dakota type cold consider a battery blanket or even removing the batt. and bringing it inside with you at night... this is a common farm tactic and if you change to marine batt connectors very easy to do albeit at the daily expense of your radio presets.

99blackSE

iTrader: (1)

Yup, heard of the name before hehe. I remember seeing some days with -48/9 maybe even -50 windchill for you folks. Can't recall a -50C here, 47 or 48 yup. You sure know it's cold out on those days, just breathing the air you can feel it. Your buddies were right, Main and Portage can be pretty cool some days!

aviator

Yeah it's cold but it's a nice dry cold you don't feel it so much...
it's so darn dry you don't even get booger-cilcles...
as long as you can stay out of the wind one might even call it pleasantly bracing...

sb5walker

I found that true the winters I spent north of Ottawa - the dry cold wasn't as bad as the cold you get in a marine climate. I've never in my life been colder than when I've sailed off the coast of northern california in the winter, even though the temp wasn't even below 50 F. That's the most chilled I've ever been and hope ever to be.

I do remember complaining about the -30 F cold after peeing outside in Maniwaki one morning, and some guys from WAY up north laughed and said that wasn't cold, cold was when you pee and all you hear is the rattle of the little frozen yellow beads as they bounce off the ground(!)

I think in those temps I would just hold it. That's one place I wouldn't want to get frostbite.

MB4runner

LOL booger-cicles...

See the problem in winnipeg and manitoba is this: It's the prariries, flat as a board, there is no place you can hide from the wind!


And I have a block heater and a 120vac interior car warmer on my daily driver. On my older truck I have an oil pan warmer. But my older one still doesn't like to start when it's very cold.

michael1963

I remember one time in Cold Lake, it was SO freaking cold up on the missle range that, just for fun, we would have a contest where we would fill up a glass of water and throw it up in the air to see who's would turn into ice before it hit the ground...they all did! Not much of a contest but pretty funny too see just the same.

twowheeled

I'm in edmonton as well and our 91 4runner has made it through all the winters since it rolled off the showroom floor. Most important is the block heater I would say. I had a remote start installed and it is very very nice, it's nice to let the truck idle and warm up for at least a bit before driving off. When its -40 out the truck makes some god awful noises under the hood and you definitely have to idle a bit to get the underhood temps up. Otherwise the brakes are usually frozen solid and the clutch just sinks to the floor and doesn't pop back up.

michael1963

So is yours an automatic then?
I use to hate when my clutch would stick. I always dreaded having to go out and start it up in the freezing cold, that clutch override button is the cat's ass eh!

toyota4x4907

Its sooo nice!
Except....
I accidently forgot to make sure in wasnt in geat once and started it with the CCS and drove it into the porch. Luckily all I did was smash one of my LightForce housings.

michael1963

That's funny...well probably funny now...that is the reason why my mechanic didn't want to install it on a standard. I got in the truck once and without even thinking, just turned over the key...almost took out my work bench but as I was doing that I was stepping on the brakes, so I was thinking that one side of the brain kicked in that half second faster than the smart side of the brain! Now, while in the garage, I just park it in neutral.

85gijunk4x4

we used to run a 79 4x4 on the farm. all we did was we put in a really high thermostat. we'd start the truck and let it idle in neutral with the clutch out for a good 20 minites. we'd just take for a 5 mile ride around the block, real easy, and that after that it was up for the abuse.

lol, just throwin that out there. but its important to let it idle for a god while, to get everything warmed up and flowing good good.