Try starting it when you first wake up, so that if it does not start, you will still have time to call for a taxi.
Well, actually windchill could have an effect, though not likely in this circumstance. A high windchill will result in a warm engine cooling off faster, so that it reaches the ambient cold temperature faster than it would in the calm. If you have to park your car somewhere without a power outlet for a couple hours on a really frigging cold day, out of the wind is good advice.
Huh? You’re in Cowgary. It was when I was there that my car would start at that and colder without problem.
I think turning on the lights would be the worst possible thing to do. You want everything off when you try to start it - heater, lights, even radio. Because it’s so cold it will need to draw a lot of power and turning on the lights will take some of the power away from that task.
My car will often start at -12F and lower, too, but I try not to do that to it without having had the block heater plugged in for at least an hour, because, as I said in my earlier post, it’s damned hard on the car. All your fluids are thick and gooey and not in the right places, and it’s harder on the car than it needs to be. You do this to it once, probably no problem. You do it a couple hundred times, and you’re doing damage every time. Here’s a cite, if my experience isn’t good enough for you:
And you don’t give fuel injected cars gas when you’re cold-starting them. That only applies to carburetor-equipped vehicles.
I don’t belive in radiator fans either.
I think those are engine block warmers. My dad had one years ago, but mostly, they’re a Canadian thing. They aren’t widely used down here.
My dad used to plug in his car and let me have the garage. What a nice guy!
Wind Chill Factor is a measure of heat loss on exposed skin. As Rick said, it has nothing to do with inanimate objects.
I would not expect -12F to be the cut off point, unless your car is hard to start anyway. In my experience regularly getting below -25F is the level that I would consider a block heater, not that it wouldn’t help at -12F, but at that temp I would expect most cars to do fine.
Well, I can’t answer for him, but I do. It’s called Chicago. While it doesn’t often get quite as cold as it is right now (-9 at 9 am, -32 wind chill), it’s not unheard of. So if you have any tips as to how someone with no driveway and no exterior outlets on her apartment building would plug in a block heater, I’d be ever so grateful. Bonus points if you have tips for when I’m parked two blocks away and under a snow drift. Ta ever so.
(Nice to see the cultural blinders on some other side for a turn. 
)
I was really quite surprised to learn that there aren’t block heaters on cars down here. Since it doesn’t get cold enough in Maryland, I wasn’t too worried about it, but damn, Chicago? Minnesota?
For clarity: they are available here. My mom had one on her car when I was growing up - in a suburb where she had her own driveway and an exterior outlet to put a plug into. Some people in the city use them, again, if they have a driveway (rare) or a garage (slightly less rare, but not unheard of.) I live in a six-flat on a block of other six-flats with few garages, so nearly everyone has to parallel park on the street, at least 30 feet away from the nearest building, which probably isn’t even the one you live in.
You guys are so cute. 
I am sitting here smiling about starting a car in -12.
It was -40 this morning. It’s expected to warm up to a balmy -19 on Wednesday.
I ran my car for thirty minutes before leaving and still had to scrape the windows. We have an “arctic cold front” hanging overhead that is making it 15 colder than usual.
Block heaters come standard on our cars. One visitor from California thought our cars were electric due to the plugs hanging out the front.
First of all, a radiator fan cools the engine because there’s a temperature difference between the engine and ambient. Greater airflow gives increased heat transfer to the air. Since this thread is about starting a car, where presumably the engine is the same temperature as its surroundings, the comparison to the radiator fan isn’t really apt.
Second of all, even if there was a difference between engine and ambient temperatures, increased airflow would cool the engine faster (as Gorsnak points out), but it won’t make the car colder than the ambient temperature. In other words, what Rick said: “as far as your engine is concerned -12 is -12 it does not matter what the wind speed is.” The notion that the windchill makes the car “colder” is not true.
The idea isn’t to turn on the lights while starting, it’s to turn on the lights before starting, then turn them back off. The current draw will heat the battery; a warmer battery will supply more power. Whether this technique actually warms up the battery enough to start before it drains the charge (thus preventing a start) I have no idea. but at least it’s plausible.
I’ll second the extension cord with the work light. Ar even a heating pad, away from anything flammable.
You’re right - this is a cultural thing. I was an adult before I learned that cars aren’t made with block heaters. The cold cars/block heaters/outdoor plug-in thing is part of Western Canadian culture. When looking for a place to live, if you have a car, where to plug it in is part of the apartment search. Most apartment buildings have assigned parking spaces with outlets available for their tenants. Most Western Canadians have long heavy-duty extension cords for plugging cars in. We get royally pissed when someone parks us out of our usual space near our house in really cold weather, because it does make it more difficult to plug in. Parking lots at jobs usually have plug ins available. The park-and-ride for the C-train has plugs ins.
Still, if you live someplace that gets really cold regularly, it doesn’t make sense to me to not have arrangements for plugging a car in (block heaters, cords, and places to plug them in). It’s like when I found out that New Zealand houses don’t have insulation or central heat. It’s such a fact of life for us that it surprises the heck out of me when people who have somewhat similar conditions do things so differently.
What, nobody mentioned making sure the coolant mixture is rated for negative temperatures?
This is the most common problem next to dead batteries in weather like this. That the coolant mixture isn’t rated for subzero temps. You should make sure you have the coolant system FULL and at least 60 percent coolant 40 percent water.
If your radiator is froze up you’ll be able to start the car just fine except a few miles down the road the engine will actually overheat. No coolant flowing through the system = stopping the car 1/3 of the way to the airport and then calling a taxi.
If you can’t run a cord and a lamp out to the car (lamp placed near the lower radiator hose, but not actually touching it) then at least start the car a couple times during the night and let it warm up. In this weather is probably only takes a couple hours for the block too cool down.
So can we assume that Jennshark got the car started okay? I was thinking about this all night.
A trick in the old days was to put a wash tub of water under the engine. As the water freezes it will release latent heat, and keep the air above it from going much below 32F.
Of course modern passenger cars lack the clearance for a washtub.
[QUOTE=zut]
First of all, a radiator fan cools the engine because there’s a temperature difference between the engine and ambient. Greater airflow gives increased heat transfer to the air. Since this thread is about starting a car, where presumably the engine is the same temperature as its surroundings, the comparison to the radiator fan isn’t really apt.
Second of all, even if there was a difference between engine and ambient temperatures, increased airflow would cool the engine faster (as Gorsnak points out), but it won’t make the car colder than the ambient temperature. In other words, what Rick said: “as far as your engine is concerned -12 is -12 it does not matter what the wind speed is.” The notion that the windchill makes the car “colder” is not true.[\QUOTE]If the car had been sitting at a constant temperature for long enough to reach the ambient temperature then that is true. If it was driven before being parked, or if the temperature dropped over night, then it will be warmer if parked out of the wind or at least it will have been at ambient temperature for less time.
You’re absolutely right. I didn’t think of that because of another cultural difference - we take our cars for a fall tune-up, and part of that is having the coolant checked to make sure it is good to about -40 or so. I don’t think my car ever has anything other than the proper radiator coolant mixture in it - it’s never just water.