What happens to an engine during a cold start in sub-zero temperatures?

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Many years ago, my father was a long haul truck driver. He made trips across the northern states and Canada. Back then truckers carried a home made pan fashioned from a piece of tin or sheet metal, which was hammered into a shallow bowl.
In the morning, he would light a small fire in the pan and place it directly under the trucks oil pan. After 10 mins or so, the oil was warm enough to flow freely when he cranked the engine.
He told me that was only good to -30. Any colder than -30 and he would just leave the truck running all night. Diesel was insanely cheap back then and the cost of the fuel used over night was better than lost time the next day trying to get his rig running.
Good old days.
 
Buddy in the Army told same story of trucks in German winters. Light a small fire under the oil pan. They had to use an insulated pan to prevent damage to the forest floor. German govt was anal about US forces training in the forest over there. Id think nowadays they probably have quiet generators to run block heaters in downtime. Modern Army......
 
Think back how many old cars in Canada would start right up in -20 with just a choke. Start it up and run back in the igloo for 15 minutes.
 
Another issue is diesel itself. We don't have the kind of cold they get up further north, but it's banged on the -20F door here a few times, and a few days near -10F is not uncommon Diesl fuel gelling up or truckers coming into this part of the country from warmer areas with untreated or improper grade fuel Interestingly, none of the pumps I'm aware of at consumer stations offer a choice as to no1 or no2, and they "claim" the fuel is "treated." That claim doesn't do you much good when you get barely as far as Havre, MT LOL

At the big parts store I worked we used to sell Racor fuel filter systems. They also offered a fuel recirculation / heater setup
 
I've read that in the olden days (which were even before the days of yore), Russian truck drivers had no antifreeze so they would drain the engines each night, then fill them in the morning with hot water. I then assumed, on my own, that the hot water was heated each morning by the truck driver's sister who was a 5 foot tall, 98 lbs. 20 year old who could crack walnuts with her mshka and wore only a size 00 French maid outfit.
 
Running only water when very cold is a shaky deal. You MUST block off the radiator because it's possible to freeze the rad while the thing is running

I've junked out 3 Mopar engines that were froze due to no antifreeze

One was a commando 273. The heads and intake went onto another engine. This was way back around 76

The other was a 335 hp 383. At first I thought it was OK because the oil looked good. So I got a hose and started filling....and filling.....and filling. I finally stopped an pulled the intake. Block was cracked inside the block valley area.
 
pishta said:
Think back how many old cars in Canada would start right up in -20 with just a choke. Start it up and run back in the igloo for 15 minutes.
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Choke? We don't need no steenken choke, jus' pump da pedal a couple dozens times while you smoke a cigarette, thas all you need ta do eh?
 
Back in the 80’s a friend and I each had VW Rabit Diesels. Those damn things would never start after setting out all day in temperatures less than 20F. The cars had block heaters but the place we worked at did not have provisions to plug them in. We worked second shift and more than one night we would just let the cars idle in the parking lot all night. IIRC 8 hours of idling and the fuel gauge hardly moved. Was nice getting into a warm car at the end of the shift. My buddy tried the trick of firing a small charcoal grill under the engine a couple of hours prior to the end of the shift. No good, I ended up giving him a ride home.
 
my68barracuda said:
Back in the 80’s a friend and I each had VW Rabit Diesels. Those damn things would never start after setting out all day in temperatures less than 20F.
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I used to drive a '73 Mercedes 220D (a whopping 60 flywheel hp in a full size sedan). It was fine down to -10F without a block heater. While stationed in Dayton, OH they had a record-setting cold snap of -24F. It wasn't going anywhere that morning!
When I did get it started the next day (-10 again, then up to +10) it ran fine - but the mechanical temp gauge showed severe overheating (right off the top, and the highest mark was 250). The oil pressure was fine and the heater felt normal, so I kept driving... I made the correct diagnosis that the severe cold had frozen the fluid in the capillary tube, and the expansion caused a really high reading!
 
sis had an 81 VW diesel, smoke bomb when she started it. Governed at 55 with the A/C on. Kinda fun around town. I remembered the head gasket had ID notches in it and you had to get the identical one (or plus one if the head was milled?) when replacing or it would run with heaps of smoke. Hers was a 2 notcher and I think it as like that because she had the head reworked.
 
Cool story.
Did they mention anywhere in the videos the oil grade?

In 2015 a couple of the full size jeep guys made videos illustrating super low temperature differences.
Test 1: Three Synthetics vs a Conventional.
Amsoil Signature Series 5W-30, -51 C Pour point on data sheet
Mobil 1 High Milage 5W-30, -39 C Pour point on data sheet
Royal Purple 5W-30
Walmart Supertech 5W-30 (Conventional)


Test 2: two more synthetic 5W-30 and a 5W-40
Amsoil
Mobil 1
Castrol Edge 5W-30
Walmart Supertech 5W-30 (Synthetic)
Rotella T6 5W-40



Block heaters used to be common in New England. maybe still are.

Engine oil isnt the only oil to be concerned about at low temps. But thats another story...
 
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I had a '74 Triumph Spitfire with a 4 cyl and it came stock with a manual choke, as any proper auto should.

That car, to this day, remains the fastest starting vehicle I've ever owned or seen. Hot or cold (with a bit of choke) it would start seemingly with 1/64th of an engine revolution when you hit the starter. You couldn't bump the key so little that it wouldn't start. I never drove it in the Arctic Circle, but I bet it would start there too.
 
gregcon said:
I had a '74 Triumph Spitfire with a 4 cyl and it came stock with a manual choke, as any proper auto should.

That car, to this day, remains the fastest starting vehicle I've ever owned or seen. Hot or cold (with a bit of choke) it would start seemingly with 1/64th of an engine revolution when you hit the starter. You couldn't bump the key so little that it wouldn't start. I never drove it in the Arctic Circle, but I bet it would start there too.
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I had a 67 when I was a kid. Good little cars.
 
67Dart273 said:
Running only water when very cold is a shaky deal. You MUST block off the radiator because it's possible to freeze the rad while the thing is running

I've junked out 3 Mopar engines that were froze due to no antifreeze

One was a commando 273. The heads and intake went onto another engine. This was way back around 76

The other was a 335 hp 383. At first I thought it was OK because the oil looked good. So I got a hose and started filling....and filling.....and filling. I finally stopped an pulled the intake. Block was cracked inside the block valley area.
Click to expand...

You can disagree all you want, those are the facts
 
On old reciprocating engine aircraft, there was a cold start system to dilute the engine oil with fuel (gasoline) before shutting the engine down and letting it sit in the cold. The purpose was to thin out the high oil pressures. The gasoline would boil off when oil was at operating temperature. This was before multi weight oil tech.
 
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Mattax said:
Cool story.
Did they mention anywhere in the videos the oil grade?

In 2015 a couple of the full size jeep guys made videos illustrating super low temperature differences.
Test 1: Three Synthetics vs a Conventional.
Amsoil Signature Series 5W-30, -51 C Pour point on data sheet
Mobil 1 High Milage 5W-30, -39 C Pour point on data sheet
Royal Purple 5W-30
Walmart Supertech 5W-30 (Conventional)


Test 2: two more synthetic 5W-30 and a 5W-40
Amsoil
Mobil 1
Castrol Edge 5W-30
Walmart Supertech 5W-30 (Synthetic)
Rotella T6 5W-40



Block heaters used to be common in New England. maybe still are.

Engine oil isnt the only oil to be concerned about at low temps. But thats another story...
Click to expand...

The Walmart oil had a smaller pour throat. The other bottles had a larger mouth on the bottle. Maybe they should have pierced a small air hole in the bottom of the bottles.
 
fratzog lover said:
The Walmart oil had a smaller pour throat. The other bottles had a larger mouth on the bottle. Maybe they should have pierced a small air hole in the bottom of the bottles.
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Nice catch. Seriously I think its a good observation. I don't think the Walmart conventional oil would have done noticibly better but it probably would have done a little better with the same size bottle opening as the other three.
 
Mattax said:
Nice catch. Seriously I think its a good observation. I don't think the Walmart conventional oil would have done noticibly better but it probably would have done a little better with the same size bottle opening as the other three.
Click to expand...
You coming to the picnic Saturday?
 
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