As the weather outside drops to -0 -10f with wind chills way below that, this question came to me. Are there any dangers, like parts you wouldn’t expect to freeze that very well might?
One thing I heard but unsure whether I should believe it is at a certain cold your brakes can shatter. (Getting hot when being used causes the shattering, hot then cold = shatter is how it was explained to me)
You’re fine. I’ve lived places where it’s gone to way lower than that. I’ve never in my life heard about brakes shattering. You’ll find that around -22 F you might have trouble starting your car and might need a block heater to warm it before it’ll go. Mine was ok at -22 but when it’d get to -31 it would balk.
Three things off the top of my point:
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Wind chill means nothing with respect to your car. Or any other inanimate object, for that matter. Wind child only affects living things.
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You should keep your gas tank full in cold weather. The more space that’s available in a gas tank, the greater the chance of condensation build up. That water could then freeze in your gas line and cause problems. There are additives to combat this.
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When I lived in Wisconsin in '95-96, we had a cold spell with temps approaching -30F. One of my co-workers started his truck one morning and the oil filter blew out. While no investigation was conducted to establish the exact cause, the extreme weather was a chief suspect.
When I lived in Alaska, it commonly fell to -40 in the winter. I had a block heater, but the battery would freeze (or get so cold as to not function), so I had to bring it in the house at night. Eventually, I bought an electric battery blanket as well. The only damage I experienced was a blister on my thumb when I turned the key housing with an ungloved hand. Just like a burn.
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Bold added by me
Thank you for fighting my ignorance on that. As for the brakes I was suspect on that already and consider that fought and won as well.
From reading the replies I cannot use the weather to call off Monday.
You’re very welcome. To further that point a bit: Wind Chill temperature describes the rate at which your skin will lose heat. In other words, if the air temperature is 0F with a wind chill of -30F, then your skin will lose heat at the same rate as if you were in an environment with an air temp of -30F and no wind.
My door isn’t big enough for that and I would hate to take it apart for such a short-term problem.
If you’re desperate to avoid work, you could replace the coolant with pure water. By morning you should have a big enough crack in the block to preclude any operation at all.
My worry would be tires. I had one actually freeze to the ground, and as I pulled away from the curb the tread peeled off like a banana peel, still stuck to the ground, leaving steel belts showing on the part still on the rim. In all fairness those tires where unsafe at any temperature and should have been replaced thousands of miles earlier. But even with good tires, watch your air pressure when it gets cold. It can take a little extra boost to keep it right. At the same time, don’t over do it, as at highway speed the tires heat up and could become over inflated. Fortunately there is a heap of wiggle room with any well made modern tire.
I was in Ust-Ilimsk in Siberia last January. It got to -57 Centigrade, straight up, none of this wind chill stuff. Cars and trucks were being operated more or less normally. I saw several people without block heaters who kept one of those old fashioned oil burning highway flares burning under their engine block. I did hear about a family of three who died following a breakdown at night, but most people survived pretty well.
I would only add that one should plug in their block heater when the temp is below 20F. It’s easier on the car and helps reduce emissions.
Somewhere between -20 and -30F is the practical limit for starting a car without a block heater or battery blanket.
somewhere south of that is the point where manual transmission and rear axle oil need to be replaced with a lighter weight oil. I had a customer in Alaska burn out a clutch when it went to -50F and he tried to pull away from being parked with summer weight oil in his tans and rear axle.
I have never heard of a problem with cold brakes.
Putting lighter (thinner) oil in the crankcase (engine) will help with cold-weather starts. Most people use 10W-40, 10W-30 or 30-weight for warm-season driving. For cold-weather driving, 5W-30 is better.
There are at least 3 types of block heater. The most common kind is permanently attached to the engine. There is another which is magnetic- you crawl under the vehicle and slap it on when it’s needed, where it’s needed. You can put on the transmission, the oilpan, or whatever.
One last thing. Plug in the block heater only for the hour before you intend starting the engine. Leaving it plugged in for longer than that only wastes electricity.
While we’re discussing the topic of cold weather engine operating: Warming up the car
Basically, do I really need to do this? If so, how long? What temperature does the car need to get to before it’s good to drive?
For what it’s worth, I live in southern AZ, and the coldest it’s gotten lately was the low 20’s Farenheight, nowhere near 0ºF. Usually the coldest it gets is the low-40’s.
Warm oil is best for engine parts. As one wise mechanic once said, “the worst thing you can do to your car is to start the engine”. Warmer engines have fewer harmful emissions. But even in extreme cold, more than 5-10 minutes is unnecessary except for comfort.
Your door isn’t big enough for what? Bringing in the engine block, or the entire car? :dubious:
Always let the car warm up. The rule of thumb in Alaska was to let your car warm up for the amount of time it took you to scrape off your windshield.
Your door is too small to get a battery through? Dude, just what the hell are you driving?
I’ve never heard of brakes shattering, but certainly first thing in the morning when it’s cold (e.g. -30 C), the brake fluid might be a bit thick, so the brakes will be hard to operate. I usually pump the brakes a few times before starting out, just to warm up the fluid. Otherwise, the brakes might not work well the first time you need to stop, and you might slide into the intersection.
Heh, I’m reminded of an amusing bit of instruction when I was taking driver’s ed:
After going through a deep puddle, pump your brakes a few times to test their functionality (it never went into what to do once we found that our breaks no longer worked), and then it went on to say “NEVER pump your breaks in a car equipped with ABS” :rolleyes: