Canadian Winterizing!
 

First snow fall today, time to get WINTERIZED!

here's what I plan to do. Please feel free to suggest ideas or products!

Up here where I live in Canada, an average winters day (January till march) it can reach Tempuratures as low as -45C That's cold. So cold I froze a clutch once WHILE I was driving!! (-45C +100Kmh = -108C) :eek:

Last winter the old Benz faired pretty well, except for bad tires and a dead plug.

This year however I want to nip this in the butt first.

I plan to:

1. flush cooling system and put a 60/40 wintermix in.
2. NEW battery (because I kind of need it.)
3. switch to synthetic 10W40
4. add auxillary block heater (1500W tractor heater)
5. Tranny flush and filter
6. Water dispersant every tank
7. Differential clean and re-fill

Which leaves me with some questions.

What is the best battery I can get for my car for winter starts. Deep Cycle?
What is the PH of PERFECT coolant supposed to be?
should I use lighter oil in the rear diff??

synthetic 5w40 would be better then 10w40. Or even mobil 1 synthetic 15w50.

Yeah, I'd go with a 5W synthetic, also I don't think that you need worry about the rear diff with a lighter weight, though I must admit that I do not live where it gets remotely that cold...
-nB

Deep Cycle = No no. Cars need "Short Cycle" Batteries, which means they can provide a huge rush of power for a short time period (about 35-40sec's max for our cars) Then they charge right back up off the alternator and are unscathed.

Deep cycle are for applications needing steady power at a relatively low rate of draw for an extended time period, once discharged to about 30-40% capacity they are then slowly charged back up. Using one in a car would probably instantly destroy it and likely wouldn't start the car. ;)


DieHard and Energizer make excellent 100AMP car batteries for our cars, we have one of each in the two SD's and they work excellent :D

We also use really light synthetic oil. I can't wait for it to be 0F outside so I can see the dramatic improvement over the 15w40 dino rotella I had in there last winter... :D

Answers:
 

Where can I find the Mother of all Jumper Cables?
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/136203-where-can-i-find-mother-all-jumper-cables.html

Battery for your Diesel
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/102886-battery-your-diesel.html

Is Antifreeze, like Aspirin, "Hype"?
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/142261-antifreeze-like-aspirin-hype.html

Cold weather starting links
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/137674-cold-weather-starting-links.html#post1018529



Have a great day.

For your new battery, look at the "cold cranking amperes" (CCA) rating and get the biggest one you can find that will fit in your battery tray. Also consider putting the battery on a charger overnight. Not only does it keep the cells topped up but the waste heat from the process keeps the battery warm. Cold batteries lose much of their ability. Seems to me that someone even sells a battery heater but I think a charger will do the same thing. I've seen chargers advertised that bolt onto the inner fender next to the battery; you plug them in along with your block heater.

Somewhere in this forum I remember seeing some notes on using lighter oils in the diff in cold climates; I failed to pay attention to the details even though I live in NORTHERN California. :D (That's a joke, son.) I was raised in northern Wisconsin but Saskatchewan is professional cold!

You may not need a block heater any bigger than the factory one, which is 400 Watts. Getting the plug out of the block is another question: it may be rusted in place. In my 300D, because of the trap cat, I can't even see the plug, much less remove it, so I installed a radiator hose heater from DieselGiant. It is supposed to be less efficient but better than none at all. It's also been reported here that some diesel owners go so far as to park the car and let it idle all night, or all day at work/school, etc., rather than risk a no-start in freezing conditions.

You have no doubt seen truckers close off part of the airflow to the radiator in cold weather. I had to do that with a gasser in the snap of 1990 when it was -30F going across the intermountain west. There were dead trucks all over the freeway -- it was quite an adventure. We spent the night in Battle Mountain, NV and it was -35F in the morning. I put cardboard in front of the radiator. That was a carburetor icing problem; it went away when it warmed up to -10F. Not sure if it is necessary in a Mercedes diesel.

I assume that all of the diesel fuel retailers go to a "winter mix" that doesn't gell but you might choose to experiment with a sample in your household freezer to see if you should use an additive. Forty below is serious stuff.

Remember to add a bunch of alcohol to your windshield washer reservoir or simply drain the whole system so it won't freeze and burst the bottle. If you do use alcohol, make sure it's real isopropyl, not "denatured" alcohol; the latter can have ketones and aldehydes and such in it and may dissolve plastics, paint, etc.

Let us know how you do!

Jeremy

My god man. Thats friggin cold. My doors barely open and close when it gets to 3 degrees celsius! And that, thank god is as cold as it gets... California is real nice to cars.

Really? I thought the dreaded trap oxidizer came from Cali. :D

For those kind of temps I'd be thinking Mobil 1 0w-40. 45C is cold, just keep it pluged in all the time I guess.

There is no perfect ph of coolant. Coolant comes in the bottle with a basic ph. They do this so that it can deal with the acidity produced by electro corrosion etc. As long as your ph is below 7ish you should be fine. I think that the Zerex G05 recommended for german automobiles since way back (they just started using this stuff in the us cars in 00) has a ph of about 5 when mixed 50-50.

Below 7 is acid. A PH of 5 would likely be very bad for your car ;)
I would suggest aiming for about 8 if you are mixing yourself, though the best test really would be to mix 50/50 or 60/40 and measure the PH. Then just test your coolant every so often and when it changes drastically clean and re-mix new coolant.
-nB

All great Ideas guys,

I'm going one step further however on the cardboard in the grille.
First of all, I don't put it on my grille I like to put it on the outside of the radiator, and cut a 4" hole on the cold corner of the radiator. I did that last winter and it didn't overheat, however it didn't allow it to heat up any faster
SO, I got myself a "hayden" electric push/pull fan.
I'm gonna connect it to the original aux fan circiuit, (via relay of course)
BUT have the power signal to the fan routed thru a switch in the console and in the winter on cold days I can isolate the fan with the switch and I have the cardboard AND 10 fan blades blocking air flow and my engine should get fairly hot, and I'd still have the overheating protection circuit to save my ass!