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1981 Fairmont wont start in minus 30 degree weather.

What are the some of the causes a vehicle will not start in minus 30 degree weather?

1) Battery is one year old and in good condition......till I drained it cranking the vehicle 2) Gas tank 3/4 full 3) Castrol GTX 10/30 oil 4) Fresh anti freeze after flushing a couple of months ago 60% anti freeze 40% water good for minus 40 degrees.

At my home when temperature drops below minus15 degrees I plug it in for 4 hours overnight using a timer and never have any trouble starting the vehicle. I got caught at my place of work yesterday when the temp dropped to minus 30 degrees with my vehicle outdoors all day. When I went to my vehicle after work and tried starting it, the engine sounded like an engine sounds on a bitterly cold day when you have not had the block heater heat the block. I discharged the battery after many minutes of trying to start the vehicle. Got some Cold Start spray and sprayed it down the throat of the carb and got someone to give me a boost still no go. There were a few times the engine almost started.

Is the oil thickened too much on account of the cold? Not enough play between piston rings and cylinder walls? Gasoline lines frozen and gas not flowing?

Have never had this problem before.

Your input appreciated Denny

Reply to
Denny B
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The car won't start because its -30 degrees out. Extreme Cold takes away your batteries ability to crank over an engine.

What is the Cold Cranking Amp rating ( see decal on side of battery ) on your battery?

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE, 3800 V6 _~_~_~_~275,068 miles_~_~_ ~_~_
Reply to
Harry Face

Reply to
Geoff Welsh

At -30 you shouldn't be using anything heavier than 5w30. Also, an engine needs to be in good tune at temps like that. You might check out this product, sounds good, but I've never used it.

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Dave

Reply to
Dave Brower

The oil is thick, the battery is way down on power and the metal clearances are all super tight.

Also, a Fairmont is a Ford, not a GM product :).

The oil you are using is far too thick for such conditions. I would use Mobil-1 0W-20 and a very high quality oil filter like a Wix (NAPA Gold is the same thing).

Mobil-1 has much better cold flow characteristics than does any dino oil.

John

Reply to
John Horner

You shouldn't be using 10W30 in those kind of temperatures - you want 5W30 or 0W30, and synthetic would work best. 10W30 gets too thick in cold temperatures, especially with conventional oil.

Reply to
Robert Hancock

Try using a can or two of Dry Gas at each fill for a while. Sounds like carb/gas lines freezing up. Might not be that but the Dry Gas (or equivalent) is cheap and can't hurt. Back in the day when I was a "grommet" at a local station and we used to take ones like yours, push them inside and put them up on the lift where it was warmer to thaw them out, then dose them good with dry gas. Sometimes we had to drop the tank, drain and refill. You'd be amazed at the crap that can accumulate in a tank over the years.

Reply to
D F Bonnett

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