Hi all -

I've got an '06 5.4L supercrew. I normally keep it parked in the garage at nights, however the past few weeks I've had to keep it outside.

We've had quite a bit of snow and cold overnight temperatures lately, down to 3 deg F a few nights. Most of the time in the teens. Plus snow and ice.

What type of cold weather effects do I need to be concerned about?

Thanks for your help -

Michael

 

Not much to worry about besides your doors freezing up.

 

Sorry, the northerners all now laugh...

Anyway, gas won't be a problem 'till ya get wayyy colder. If you had a diesel thats when the block heater comes in handy, but not necessary.

Adrianspeeder

 

i plug my truck in at -30*F to help the block stay a little warmer... other than that- it runs just fine regardless of temp...

 

I was wondering the same thing only about my bike. Yesterday I had to get way in the back of my shed so I took my lawn mower and motorcycle out. To get the bike back in I started it to get it up the ramp and instead decided to go for a spin.
My question is how cold can it be before it does damage to a yamaha 1100 air cooled engine with 20-30 oil or does it matter? If your nuts enough to ride in that weather, 35-40.

 

Yeah I know! Well, down here in NM snow and ice that stay for more than a day is unusual.

 

You need'nt worry. It's a DRY cold in NM. Dang! That's colder than it's been here in NY.

 

As a native Minnesotan, temperatures like that were common throughout most of the winter when I was still living back home. The only thing I would recommend is that you allow the engine to idle just a bit at start-up (maybe 30 seconds) so that the engine has a chance to idle back down to normal RPM's before you drop the transmission into gear. (This is actually a good practice regardless of the outdoor temperatures.)

Also, I would ease into your driving just a bit -- don't back out of the driveway and then floor the accelerator in an attempt to set a record 0-60 time! Instead, accelerate gradually up to speed to give some of the "stiffer" lubricants (wheel bearing grease, gear lube, etc.) a chance to warm-up just a bit before reaching highway speeds.

Other than that, cold temperatures shouldn't really bother a well-maintained modern engine.

 

Don't forget to make sure your coolant is mixed in the right percentage for those temperatures.

 

oh man I needed a good laugh. It was -33 here this morning and the truck fired right up no problems. I let the truck warm up for about 20 minutes and boom I'm off to work.

If it gets really cold -33 to -40 or so I don't turn the truck off. I keep it running when I grocery shop or have short runs to do. I tell ya it makes some weird noises when it starts up in the morning!..lol

 

Make sure you've got a nice mic of antifreeze in it

-Will

 

You bet it makes some weird noises. it was -21 a few weeks ago. I even had it pluged in and it sounded like it was yelling at me for wakeing it up that cold. I think most of the noise was coming from the power steering pump. But it all went away in about 45 seconds to a minute.

 

what do you guys mean when you say "plugged in"

 

block warmer...my mustang has one.

You literally plug it in with an power cord

 

When they say "plugged in" they mean your block heater. Its for cold weather starting.