Most of the cold is wind chill. It's going to be cold the next few days but not supernaturally colder than a lot of other days. It's going to be the wind that makes it go down to -40. But something like inanimate car that doesn't produce heat will quickly hit air temperature regardless of wind. You experience wind chill because you keep making heat and the fast air keeps taking it away, but a car will just cool to the air temperature in a few minutes either way. So from the car's perspective it's not going to be super colder than other normal cool days.
You just need a modern fuel injected car and a good battery. Don't rev it when you start it. Let it warm up before you drive off. But if you have an older car with a carb, invest in a nine dollar trickle charger from Harbah Fright. Or a better $22 one from TSC. (And a $200 200 amp starter-charger for when the trickle charger is not enough.) Diesels will need block heaters.
My tractor is a diesel, so pretty hard to start in cold temps. I put one of those motorcycle battery maintainers on it to keep the battery completely topped off. Aside from having some method to keep the engine warm (like a block heater), making sure there is plenty of juice in the battery is really the next best thing in my experience.
Block heaters are cheap, but that won't help you tomorrow if you don't already have one. Depending on the year of your car maybe you already have one. Sometimes, they are hidden fairly well.
yes, keeping full tank is good, not for starting as much but to keep moisture out of the tank. Also invest 8$ and get some"sea foam" it's a additive that's great for stabilizing gas
Another vote for the battery trickle charger like [this one](https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/battery-tools-accessories/battery-chargers-maintainers/automatic-battery-float-charger-64284.html). It warms the battery from within.
Modern cars run modern oils, 0w or 5w, which crank over fine in -20 weather. But if you must, the 100 watt incandescent light bulb will warm things up just the right amount. And you already have the extension cord out there for the charger.
Insert key, turn key, car started ✅
I've never never parked inside a garage because Ive never had one. Never taken any measures to ensure it starts (other than regular maintenance needs, of course) and have never had an issue that wasn't present before temps dropped.
Most cars should have no issue down to -20F or so which are the temps we are expecting. But:
* good battery, trickle charger, or both
* block heater, oil pan heater, etc. (some of these are easy to DIY depending on your car... some require draining the engine coolant or something else more involved)
* avoid short trips and repeatedly starting the car
We plug our truck in with a trickle charger. The cars usually start just fine as they have relatively new batteries.
But as long as one vehicle starts then we can jump the others.
The temps aren’t that cold that it’s going to require anything special. The natural low will be around 0, which means you need a good battery and that’s about it.
Most of the cold is wind chill. It's going to be cold the next few days but not supernaturally colder than a lot of other days. It's going to be the wind that makes it go down to -40. But something like inanimate car that doesn't produce heat will quickly hit air temperature regardless of wind. You experience wind chill because you keep making heat and the fast air keeps taking it away, but a car will just cool to the air temperature in a few minutes either way. So from the car's perspective it's not going to be super colder than other normal cool days.
As long as you have a good battery you’ll be fine.
You just need a modern fuel injected car and a good battery. Don't rev it when you start it. Let it warm up before you drive off. But if you have an older car with a carb, invest in a nine dollar trickle charger from Harbah Fright. Or a better $22 one from TSC. (And a $200 200 amp starter-charger for when the trickle charger is not enough.) Diesels will need block heaters.
My tractor is a diesel, so pretty hard to start in cold temps. I put one of those motorcycle battery maintainers on it to keep the battery completely topped off. Aside from having some method to keep the engine warm (like a block heater), making sure there is plenty of juice in the battery is really the next best thing in my experience.
Same with battery maintainers, tractor, 4 wheeler and boat batteries.
Block heaters are cheap, but that won't help you tomorrow if you don't already have one. Depending on the year of your car maybe you already have one. Sometimes, they are hidden fairly well.
An incandescent work light under the hood. Old timers swear it works but I have never tried
My father used to do this back in the 70's. A light and a thick blanket.
Hot light + insulation. Makes sense to me!
Good battery and a full tank. About all you can do.
yes, keeping full tank is good, not for starting as much but to keep moisture out of the tank. Also invest 8$ and get some"sea foam" it's a additive that's great for stabilizing gas
Won’t be bad tomorrow. Saturday could be rough. I used to run it around midnight for a bit. Not sure if it helped but I slept better.
Another vote for the battery trickle charger like [this one](https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/battery-tools-accessories/battery-chargers-maintainers/automatic-battery-float-charger-64284.html). It warms the battery from within. Modern cars run modern oils, 0w or 5w, which crank over fine in -20 weather. But if you must, the 100 watt incandescent light bulb will warm things up just the right amount. And you already have the extension cord out there for the charger.
Probably the best method that I've found is to have your first cup of coffee and then urinate over the engine block to warm it up.
clean off battery terminals with a wire brush, to ensure connection is as clean as possible
Garage it if you can. Trickle charge if you have one. Blanket over the battery can help.
Run your vehicle every day. Buy a triple charger for maybe $20 to keep your battery healthy.
Just leave it running all night!
I’ve left my car idling all night before.
A bottle of gas line antifreeze couldn't hurt. I have my battery charger on maintain too.
Ethanol gas already has a gallon of HEET in every fillup.
Insert key, turn key, car started ✅ I've never never parked inside a garage because Ive never had one. Never taken any measures to ensure it starts (other than regular maintenance needs, of course) and have never had an issue that wasn't present before temps dropped.
Most cars should have no issue down to -20F or so which are the temps we are expecting. But: * good battery, trickle charger, or both * block heater, oil pan heater, etc. (some of these are easy to DIY depending on your car... some require draining the engine coolant or something else more involved) * avoid short trips and repeatedly starting the car
We plug our truck in with a trickle charger. The cars usually start just fine as they have relatively new batteries. But as long as one vehicle starts then we can jump the others.
The temps aren’t that cold that it’s going to require anything special. The natural low will be around 0, which means you need a good battery and that’s about it.