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Coldest temperature you have started your car in?

post #1 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:09pm
Thread Starter 
Inspired by the "How to properly warm up a vehicle" and "The outside temperature"-threads and the fact that we've had a long cold spell here in Finland for over a month I thought I'd check how well your cars are starting in the cold.

My -96 VW Golf started yesterday in -25c (-13F) without the block heater plugged in. I think my previous -87 VW Polo started in similar temperatures without block heater, I'm sure it started in -20c (-4F) atleast.

I don't have free parking close to my apartment so I have my car parked about 150m away on the side of the street so even if I have a block heater there is no electrical outlet for me to use so I can't use it half of the time, poor car.
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post #2 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:13pm
I've started my 05 avalanche in -10+ weather many times in Duluth, MN. Poor Truck
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post #3 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:22pm
I was very happy one morning in Helena Montana at o-dark-thirty when it was -50F. My block heater paid for itself that day!
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post #4 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:24pm
'95 Sidekick at -30 degrees F
'01 Cherokee Sport at -45 degrees F
'09 Wrangler Sahara at -55 degrees F

All three cars were fully winterized with block heaters and auto-starts.

I've operated cars at near -70 degrees F but never had to start them at that temperature.
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post #5 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:25pm
-25C sounds not far off what cars were started in when I visited Ketchikan some years ago. One would start the car with the heater on max and let it warm up while one had breakfast. There was no choice if you didn't want to be there for hours trying to scrape ice off the windscreen.
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post #6 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:39pm
Kalamazoo, MI 1989 Isuzu pickup, parked ouside, no block heater, -19'F. It started but it really didn't want to.
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post #7 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
-25C sounds not far off what cars were started in when I visited Ketchikan some years ago. One would start the car with the heater on max and let it warm up while one had breakfast. There was no choice if you didn't want to be there for hours trying to scrape ice off the windscreen.
Just about right. Try any other way in an Alaskan winter and you're looking at unpleasant driving to your destination, be it rigid tires, cold engine block, cold interior of frozen doors and windshields.
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post #8 of 35
1/28/10 at 7:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fatcat28037 View Post
Kalamazoo, MI 1989 Isuzu pickup, parked ouside, no block heater, -19'F. It started but it really didn't want to.
I would have bet on the cold winning that battle
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post #9 of 35
1/28/10 at 9:12pm
Coldest without block heater was -40.
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post #10 of 35
1/28/10 at 9:18pm
About 10 below zero (F) out in central Oregon, no block heater. This was in a '95 Ford Escort. It started up and ran, no problem. That was a good little car.
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post #11 of 35
1/28/10 at 9:19pm
Coldest was -27F. I also managed to lock my keys in the car that day, with the engine running. Took me 20 minutes to get back into the car, by which time my face was pretty much frozen.
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post #12 of 35
1/28/10 at 9:32pm
-27f.
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post #13 of 35
1/28/10 at 11:20pm
Hyundai Santa-Fe at -45C which is around -50F. It's right around the point where Celsius and Farenheit meet anyway. We have a block heater but weren't able to use it due to where we were parked. Luckily it was quite new at the time and it actually surprised us by starting!
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post #14 of 35
1/29/10 at 1:49am
Around 40 or 50 below F for starting. Driven in worse but once it is that cold you really don't bother turning the car off.
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post #15 of 35
1/29/10 at 6:45am
Around -40 degrees celsius, numerous times.
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