Hey!

I've had this issue where my car wouldn't start one morning. It was -27F outside. I could hear the starter turning but no ignition.

It's a 2012 Altima. Battery has been changed last year, spark plugs changed in November, running fresh 5W30. My guess is that the fuel was condensing on the cylinder walls, or the oil was too vicous. It warmed up to 5F later in the afternoon and the car started just fine.

I'm thinking about adding a block heater. Any suggestions on brand/model/features?

Also, would 0W oil really make a difference?

Posted by Mickael Hey! I've had this issue where my car wouldn't start one morning. It was -27F outside. I could hear the starter turning but no ignition. It's a 2012 Altima. Battery has been changed last year, spark plugs changed in November, running fresh 5W30. My guess is that the fuel was condensing on the cylinder walls, or the oil was too vicous. It warmed up to 5F later in the afternoon and the car started just fine. I'm thinking about adding a block heater. Any suggestions on brand/model/features? Also, would 0W oil really make a difference?

if you don't have a block heater, you can kind of make a ghetto one. This was something my mom's ex-boyfriend from years ago showed me. He had a very cold-blooded Plymouth Duster (76 I think?) with a slant six... hated the cold. So he takes this extension cord, plugs a light bulb adapter on to it with a bulb and lets it sit down on the start, you know, down in the engine bay all night. Every morning, it started.
another friend of mine used to put an old hot plate on the ground under his engine...
rural people come up with the weirdest solutions.

This has been a downright cunty winter so far- our two daily drivers are both super high mileage diesel VWs and we've been pretty lucky so far, last week it hit -32c without the windchill and it definitely took a few cycles of the glow plugs to get both cars going, but neither of us have been stranded yet. The Ranger's battery has been weak and now it's frozen solid... oops!

Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest yet, so both cars are on battery chargers for the night. (And a can of ether handy!)

Fuck winter.
Fuck it in its frigid, awful face.

Oh and Mickael- are you using a decent brand of fuel? 5w30 should be fine in stupidly cold weather. I had a BMW that wouldn't even think about starting when it was really cold out if it had sub-par fuel in it.

Posted by bandi This has been a downright cunty winter so far- our two daily drivers are both super high mileage diesel VWs and we've been pretty lucky so far, last week it hit -32c without the windchill and it definitely took a few cycles of the glow plugs to get both cars going, but neither of us have been stranded yet. The Ranger's battery has been weak and now it's frozen solid... oops! Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest yet, so both cars are on battery chargers for the night. (And a can of ether handy!) Fuck winter. Fuck it in its frigid, awful face.

so far, I have snapped the windshield wiper actuator at -15F.
and the seals on the engine oil cooler are leaking a little in this cold.

The tank is full of octane 89 pumped at Ultramar

My old Buick had issues my first time taking it to NoDak (got down to -40) and heet gas treatment made all the difference. Put it in every tank. Also like Sam said a 100 watt bulb on a old heat lamp under the hood will make a huge difference. A good block heater is ideal but there are ways around it. Don't do what we used to do with the rigs and light fires under them. It works but it's a wee bit dangerous.

Posted by bandi This has been a downright cunty winter so far- our two daily drivers are both super high mileage diesel VWs and we've been pretty lucky so far, last week it hit -32c without the windchill and it definitely took a few cycles of the glow plugs to get both cars going, but neither of us have been stranded yet. The Ranger's battery has been weak and now it's frozen solid... oops! Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest yet, so both cars are on battery chargers for the night. (And a can of ether handy!) Fuck winter. Fuck it in its frigid, awful face.

It was between -35 and -40 for the whole week leading up to Christmas up here, and then back down after Christmas. I think the warmest it's been is -25? I ran out of time to get and install a FrostHeater so I'm trying to make it through this winter without it, but haven't run into any trouble yet. Silver wagon definitely takes a while longer to warm up than the black wagon(likely because of the EGR delete), and it sounds like a tractor...but it's started up first try each time (2-3 cycles of glow plugs). -44 with the chill tonight, currently -40.

Definitely glad I did the o-rings in my oil cooler before the real cold hit...even when it was only -10 it would lose a significant amount overnight.

Posted by shadowedsmile It was between -35 and -40 for the whole week leading up to Christmas up here, and then back down after Christmas. I think the warmest it's been is -25? I ran out of time to get and install a FrostHeater so I'm trying to make it through this winter without it, but haven't run into any trouble yet. Silver wagon definitely takes a while longer to warm up than the black wagon(likely because of the EGR delete), and it sounds like a tractor...but it's started up first try each time (2-3 cycles of glow plugs). -44 with the chill tonight, currently -40. Definitely glad I did the o-rings in my oil cooler before the real cold hit...even when it was only -10 it would lose a significant amount overnight.

the Cruze has started no problem, but I too have an o-ring issue on the oil cooler... it just dribbles enough where I get that burning oil smell that drives me absolutely batshit. The fly in all this is that it's only $80 in parts from GM to fix it... Downside is that it's a labor-intensive job, over 3 hours because the turbo and cat have to come off and the oil cooler is kind of a douche to get apart. So, hopefully it holds together till spring when I'll have the change to have it fixed.

Posted by Samurai the Cruze has started no problem, but I too have an o-ring issue on the oil cooler... it just dribbles enough where I get that burning oil smell that drives me absolutely batshit. The fly in all this is that it's only $80 in parts from GM to fix it... Downside is that it's a labor-intensive job, over 3 hours because the turbo and cat have to come off and the oil cooler is kind of a douche to get apart. So, hopefully it holds together till spring when I'll have the change to have it fixed.

That's a pain. It was ~$12 for the two o-rings from VW, and I changed the oil while I was at it. Took me a very lazy one hour to do the job, and that includes the PITA steel belly plate that needed to come off. It probably cost me more in lost oil than the parts themselves.

The solid one goes in the bottom of the oil cooler, and the one with the little nubs goes on the top. Pull that metal piece off and the thing comes apart. I was happy I didn't have to break into the cooling system at all (although I did on Christmas eve to do the thermostat and coolant temp sensor). It's a common thing on VWs, but I don't recall doing them on my black wagon...but when I looked at the engine when I was home, I think all of the grime caked onto it held it all together, haha.

(And yes, creepers are to be used as shelves, not as things to lie down on...I got made fun of endlessly for doing that.)

Posted by shadowedsmile That's a pain. It was ~$12 for the two o-rings from VW, and I changed the oil while I was at it. Took me a very lazy one hour to do the job, and that includes the PITA steel belly plate that needed to come off. It probably cost me more in lost oil than the parts themselves.

I've never once had to replace these on an ALH- until last week when I noticed my winter beater was puking oil everywhere when it was warming up. Hundreds of them on 2.0s and 1.8ts, but never on an ALH. I'm guessing it's because on the gas engines, it's a screw on filter and if someone puts it on too tight, it can loosen the oil cooler and disturb the seal. Turned out my oil cooler was finger tight, and probably has been since day one since I don't see any evidence of it ever being removed.

And yeah, coworker Jesse is running an EGR delete on his Golf and has his entire rad blocked off with cardboard and still has basically no heat.

Posted by bandi And yeah, coworker Jesse is running an EGR delete on his Golf and has his entire rad blocked off with cardboard and still has basically no heat.

it takes FOREVER for my Cruze to heat up when it gets subzero. It's a tiny little all-aluminum breadbox with pistons doing it's best to churn heat. I let it run for almost 20 minutes today while I ran up the street to the transfer station with my mothers' car. When I came back, I had heat and the temp gauge was at the operating peg. As soon as I started down the hill, the needle began to fall off. (facepalm)