|Those poor folks down south in Bemidji (lovely country, BTW). Up north here |the garage (unheated) and block heaters are items of choice, say, a couple |weeks ago when highs were -20F. While the battery doesn't have as many CCA |when frigid (or, as the weather guys say, bitter cold), it doesn't have to |work as hard if the coolant is warmed by the block heater. Can't figure out |how my unheated garage is A LOT warmer than ambient outside, but it is and |makes a big difference. Another little secret is parking car with grill out |of the wind; while wind does not affect mechanical devices, it does cool |them down to ambient faster.
Sure, I keep my car in the garage all year round. For security reasons as much as any other. I run 5W20 in this car ( just changed it today, Valvoline brand ), and have no trouble whatsoever. Of course, we're not down to -20F at the moment.
Even so, I have two jump kits, one 17.5 AH and another 12AH. That's what a lot of folks around here use. The jump kits stay in the house charged, until it is time to use them. Going on a trip, I toss one on the back floor of the car for *just in case.*
When I was working in Fargo, North Dakota in the middle of a horrid winter, I used the block heater by plugging the car into a parking space outlet at the hotel. 25 below zero Fahrenheit at that time. So cold, that Northwest couldn't get their aircraft started, something about not being able to fuel the airplane at that temperature. Don't know if it was a mechanical problem or what, but had to drive to Minneapolis to try and get a flight. Missed the last one out, and spent the night -trying- to sleep on airport seats ( impossible to do, BTW ). Maybe they should put block heaters in airplanes.
Anyhow, in a driving storm, I always try to park so the grill ( front ) is on the lee side of the storm, not getting battered with direct wind, as that will drive snow and ice into the engine compartment. I let the tail end of the car take the hit.
All in all, I don't have problems starting cars in cold weather, but it seems an awful lot of other people do. Go figure. 99% of the times I've had to jump other people, it was their battery and battery cables/terminals that were _shot_. Pure -neglect- on their part.
Lg