My Benz is normally a garage queen. Never gets very cold in the garage but we are having some cold night time temps here right now. And the Benz is sleeping outside while the evil VW Beetle gets to suck up some electricity.

So tonight my 560 will be seeing temps from negative ten and colder. And I will be heading to work at 7am, so it will probably be about negative eight or so when I fire her up.

I am sure she will start, but got me thinking. What is the coldest temperature you have had to get a car started in. Details would be nice, such as block heater, etc. Gas or diesel, curious on both.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

35 below zero F 1985 MB 300TD No block heater. 2nd day it started but wouldn't run because the fuel was gelled.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

My old '78 Blazer (RIP) started in -20 farenheit, gas motor.

My '83 SD in -13 with no block heater (some dumbass didn't know it was going to get that cold...) 3 cycles of the glow plugs and it fired off like it was only 20...

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

2004 VW Passat at -37F in Eveleth, MN. Moaned a bit but started right up, no block heater, nothing.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

-20 in upstate NY many years ago. An old GMC Jimmy

-28F in Hamilton, NY while under 3 and a half feet of snow. Took two tries but it started!

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1987 560SEL (210,000 miles)

350SDL: -10, three glow cycles and a bit of smoke/coughing but she still started.

Got the G up and running with a bit of effort at 9 just the other night. (I think that one injector that doesn't match the others makes cold starts harder then they should be)

I did -15*F in my 350SDL with one glow cycle. Fired right up like it was 60*F outside My TDI started up fine that day too (though not as smoothly as the Benz), the 91 Jetta needed a booster battery because the one in it was older... but it fired up too.

The VW IDI engines make these funny little soot balls when they are started when it's very cold out. They'll blow around on top of the snow when it's windy. This start made quite a few: 1991 vw jetta diesel dead glowplug cold start 408,000 miles - YouTube

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Nice. Kinda surprised that it took that much effort with a warm engine though.

If there is one thing that i've learned it's that there is no way your going to start a cold 617 or 603 without glow plugs. (Even on a warm day the G's 617 wouldn't fire without them)

In '80 or '81, the FIAT 128 Wagon (1100 cc, 4-banger, 4spd manual) fired right up in -38°F temps. Gas, no plug-in heater, just Castrol 20W50 in the tranny (upon recommendation of the FIAT mechanic)...I had to sit there and S-L-O-W-L-Y. .L-E-T. .T-H-E. .C-L-U-T-C-H. .O-U-T (in neutral) so the engine wouldn't snub...but after 10 minutes of warmup, the lil' bugger drove like it was 60°F outside...no one else could get their "garage queens" (w/heaters) started at all...I spent the morning being a chauffeur for the station's staff.

Then, during the cold-snap of Jan.'96, I attempted a transmitter run when the temp. was approx. -49° F at 0200 in the morning...in an '86 Chevy S-10 Blazer (gas), if I remember correctly, the V-6 was something like a 3.7L or 4.2L-in that range. The tranny was an automatic. I had a remote-thermometer-bulb in the grill (gauge inside) to read the amount of "cool" hitting the radiator. I had decided to stick to the highway. Since NOBODY WAS OUT AND ABOUT (even the State Patrol wasn't "runnin' gun"), I was the ONLY THING ON THE HIGHWAY THE WHOLE TRIP...

As I made the turn from I-90 EB to I-94 WB, I traveled about 6-10 miles north of Tomah and was entering the low-lying cranberry flats near Warrens. The moon was low on the horizon and there wasn't a breath of a breeze...and as the temperature gauge dipped down to a low of -49.6° F., the truck started "spazzing" as if the engine was flooding...I pressed the pedal to the floor to see if it got any better, then I found that if I "feathered" the pedal, I could keep the engine revving high enough to keep from "flooding. As I "spazzed" my way out of the "valley" - the engine started to smooth out as the temperature started to climb up and away from -49° F. and towards -47° F.. Once I got the engine "mixing right", I decided that I wouldn't look too "hot" frozen to death on the side of the Interstate, with my tongue sticking to my teeth. I turned around and headed back home 'cause at that point, I decided no TV Station's signal was worth dying for. Interesting little tid-bit about the heater in the truck though...the air coming from the vents was about 40° F., since I was able to monitor that with a small probe thermometer that I was able to stick in the air vent, that lil' bit of information ALSO determined what course of action I needed to take. All in all, I'm pretty dang lucky I didn't stall out there...no traffic at all...pretty sad...

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

59 International Travelall panel, +17 F in WA state. Aye, and it weren't a fit night out for man nor beast.

IT AIN'T A FIT NIGHT OUT FOR MAN OR BEAST - YouTube



Sorry, I'm a tenderfoot compared to ya'all.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I remember back in the seventies one time trying to kick start my BMW motorcycle with straight 40w in the sump. It felt like it had glue in the bearings! I drained it out and put in 10w40 and got it started.

I used to run 20w50 castrol in my gassers but found they would get tough to start around zero and below so would switch to something lighter at that point.

At 20 below and colder even starting the gassers gets dicey without block heaters.

A sound diesel will start down to zero usually without the block heat.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

25•F is about it for my TD. Of course I'm down to 2 or 3 glowplugs.

Just haven't gotten around to replacing them yet. Although I don't drive it in the winter anyway since I don't want to accelerate the rusting.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

1976 or 77. Got to 28 below in Cincinnati. Not too many cars started that morning. Wife's '74 Pinto 2.3L Auto started right up. Blasted thing had what looked like a motorcycle battery it was so small. Had crappy pot metal two barrel carb (darn thing developed a pin hole leak in the side of the fuel bowl it was so cheap). I hated that car from the day she bought it to the day we finally got rid of it. But the blasted thing started every day but one. And I think that was more a bad fuel issue.

I started a rent car, don't remember what it was, in thirty below Fahrenheit in Calgary one time. In fact it was 10 years ago this month.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

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