It's still feel cold, but it seems better than yesterday. aorund -20C today. Was around -30C yesterday in Montreal. Felt like -40 to -45C with the wind. Regarding cold start, from what I know: at those temp, if you can, do not take your car/van if you don't have too. Cold starts are hard on the engine, cold driving also hurt the whole drivetrain. as the grease is often seazed. Do not take you car if it's less for than a 30 minutes drive. that's the worst thing. In the first 20 minutes or so, vapor accumulate everywhere in the engine. it disapears once the engine is warm enough. that will take at least 20 minutes. sometimes more in extreme cold. it will result in rust. I drove from Montreal to Quebec last weekend to see a west. it was in the -45C range easy! 5h Drive both ways. My 92 passat syncro engine temp gauge never went past the 75C line (it starts at 70 and go past 110C. it is normally in the 95C for such conditions. My alternator fried on the way back (do not think it's related. but the Quebec AAA equivalent had a record day that day). Things that were going to break will in such conditions. I would not drive a 20 years old van such as a west in a day like that. regarding the time at idle. a couple of minutes. no more. the rpm is to slow to warm the engine and the oil. So what you do is running the engine badly lubricated if any. Remote starter are pretty bad. They are supposed to have 2 minutes limits. But they often have 5 minutes or so. sometimes more. the key is a very slow drive. if you can. depending where you live. I agree is 's not always possible. But it better to drive around for a while rather than running it at idle and than on the freeway. it helps to slowly warm all the parts all together with decent regime. Also do not use the vent for heating in the first minutes. it can not do anything and take heat away from engine. Remove the snow from the air intake. otherwise you will only get humid air. do not use the recycle air thing. you do not need you humidity concentrating. This applies to gas engines. Diesel engines need even more precautions. JP |
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