It wasn’t a good car, and certainly didn’t have synthetic oil, but Winnipeg winters killed one of my cars. Busted the ring gear with only 110,000 km on it. It was a 12 yr old K car that had already been written off by the 1996 hail storm, so it wasn’t a big loss.
Have you ever tried pouring regular oil that has been sitting in the trunk of a car in -40°? it is thicker than molasses in January. Without a block heater all of your oil is stuck in your oil pan for several minutes while your engine warms.
Did you also know that you can get flat spots on your tires from sitting out in the extreme cold? I really don’t miss winters in the prairies.
My parents had a K car. It made for a good game of name the part. For example: roof – peeled off; paint – peeled off; windshield – fell off; engine – caught on fire; transmission – replaced; everything behind the front seats – squished by a new Delta 88 driven by a 16 year old new driver named Jinx.
I’m thinking of Randy in A Christmas Story: I can’t put my arms down!
I don’t own that quantity of clothing of any sort, never mind cold weather clothing.
And Northern? If your only experience with warmth was that Florida summer I don’t blame you for preferring 15-degrees, but it’s not 15 now, is it. “It’s a dry heat” counts for something but it only goes so far. My particular whinge point is 105F but others may vary. My standard retort is, “You don’t have to shovel 110.”
I just now remembered reading about the the Alaska Railroad during WWII. It was all steam then and when it was really cold, they had to keep at least one locomotive moving at all times. With all that dripping water, one that stopped would instantly freeze to the rails and the moving one would be used to bunt it back into motion when needed. A frozen one could be loosened up with steam lances and the like, but it was a royal PITA.
Having lived 20 years total in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami, and the real tropics (Panama) I can say from experience that there are few experiences on Earth hotter, stickier, & stupider than an August day in Orlando. Blech to that stuff. Just like blech to 0F / -15C or below.
Neither one of my vehicles has an engine block heater so I’m at the mercy of the weather. No problems starting so far. The pickup did have factory-installed engine block heater but it never got transferred over when they replaced the engine. The cord is still there though.
Some vehicles are ready to receive a block heater but do not come with a block heater. If you have one of those vehicles, you could have a block heater installed inexpensively.
Neglected to mention, going back to the extension cord issue, that back home everyone’s cords are accounted for, having been on duty plugging essential gear into generators for the past 3 months as the grid sllloooooowwwwllyyy gets rebuilt.
Yeah we get catastrophic storms but at least the temperature stays within the “survive without technology” band year-round.
Presently -31 with a -42 wind chill in Cool Pool and an over night low of -37 C. I’m a backer of the Magnoplug/Volt Safe as well and am patiently waiting. I did consider getting one of the Beta models they offered but changed my mind. Synthetic oil makes a pretty significant difference at these kind of temps and the post about the big ass battery was spot on. I managed to stuff an 1150 cca battery in my 92 Cherokee and the first time it fired up I thought it was going to torque the motor off the mounts! Even now, I have an 850 cca AGM in my Legacy and the original was 550.
Bobcat Goldthwait did a bit about how insane Canada’s weather is. He’s absolutely right, BTW. Why do we live in a place where exposed skin will freeze in less than a minute? Mostly bragging rights… And my car won’t start. I now have two extension cords in the car because I’m basically too lazy to remove one of them and I’m secretly worried that if I take one away the other will go looking for its friend.
Sometimes you can’t win for trying. Last night my vehicle started up with a bang, but I still had to go buy an extension cord to reach from my office to another office due to a breaker popping after-hours.
Saw a quote on my Friend’s FB the other day that made me laugh; “Easterners! Extreme cold weather coming! Prepare your emergency supplies and ensure you have a generator and blankets and 3 days food and water at the ready! Westerners, wear your heavy coat.”
I got through the winter without having to buy a second new extension cord! Just tucked the one bought in December away in the shed with the rest of the winter gear.
Only one per year! I’m getting better at this this “unplug the friggin’ cord, idjit!” thing.
Even now, I have an 850 cca AGM in my Legacy and the original was 550.
I now have two extension cords in the car because I’m basically too lazy to remove one of them and I’m secretly worried that if I take one away the other will go looking for its friend.