If your diesel doesn’t start in cold weather and you remembered to plug in the block heater, your battery may be the culprit. Batteries can lose 35 percent of their power at 32 degrees F and as much as 60 percent at 0 degrees F.
This problem has two remedies: You can buy a battery with greater capacity (providing that there’s room for one under the hood), or you can buy a battery warmer. The two most popular models, both of which simply plug into a nearby 110-volt socket, are
The “hot plate” warmer, which simply slides under the battery like a cookie sheet and warms its little toesies.
The “electric blanket” warmer, which wraps around the battery and uses more current than the hot plate version to deal with really frigid situations.
Oil warmers: You can buy a heated dipstick to heat the oil in the engine crankcase — you just trade it for your normal dipstick and plug it into an electrical outlet.
If your heater isn’t able to combat the cold effectively, if you have an electric hair dryer and a long enough extension cord to get it to the vehicle, try turning the dryer on and putting the nozzle into the car’s air inlet duct. The warm air should help your engine warm up faster.
Never use engine-starting fluids to start your engine — no matter how eager you are to get underway. The ether in these fluids can ignite at such low temperatures that you risk a fire or an explosion. Although the containers carry instructions, measuring the “safe” proportions required is just too hard. If you feel that you must use this stuff, have a starting-fluid injection kit installed instead.
This problem has two remedies: You can buy a battery with greater capacity (providing that there’s room for one under the hood), or you can buy a battery warmer. The two most popular models, both of which simply plug into a nearby 110-volt socket, are
The “hot plate” warmer, which simply slides under the battery like a cookie sheet and warms its little toesies.
The “electric blanket” warmer, which wraps around the battery and uses more current than the hot plate version to deal with really frigid situations.
Oil warmers: You can buy a heated dipstick to heat the oil in the engine crankcase — you just trade it for your normal dipstick and plug it into an electrical outlet.
If your heater isn’t able to combat the cold effectively, if you have an electric hair dryer and a long enough extension cord to get it to the vehicle, try turning the dryer on and putting the nozzle into the car’s air inlet duct. The warm air should help your engine warm up faster.
Never use engine-starting fluids to start your engine — no matter how eager you are to get underway. The ether in these fluids can ignite at such low temperatures that you risk a fire or an explosion. Although the containers carry instructions, measuring the “safe” proportions required is just too hard. If you feel that you must use this stuff, have a starting-fluid injection kit installed instead.
