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Winter Car Tip


Subdeacon Joe

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22 hours ago, bgavin said:

When we lived in Colorado Springs in the late 80s... I had to go out in a blizzard to get my oldest daughter from a friend's house.
My Dodge 4x4 had studded snow tires all the way around.
But... it was snowing SO hard, I had to have the kid walk in front of the truck with a poke stick so we could stay on the road.

 

About half-a-century-ago, I was driving an Air Force pickup truck up Montana way.  I had one of my NCO's riding shotgun. We were driving into a ground blizzard, and you could not see out the windshield!  We put our N3B parka hoods up, drew the drawstrings up to make the "snorkel", and I had him look out the right window to tell me if I was drifting toward the shoulder, while I stuck my head out the driver's side window to see any indication of traffic ahead of us, and be sure I was not too far over the center of the road! 

 

I can also tell you that at -52 F, (no wind, pure temp) even with a tank heater plugged in and the battery out into the house, straight 5W oil probably is thick enough to pave a road!  Took the battery out, slapped the cables on and turned the key... Car went urrr once and that was it.  Next morning the temp warmed up to -38F and I got the 1965 Ford wagon started with no trouble! :rolleyes:

 

Stay well and safe, Pards!

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When we first moved to The Springs, they tutored me on never parking the vehicle facing East.. because the engine would get loaded up with driven snow, and prevented from turning over.  The MPs use to get the unwashed to test their batteries by licking the jumper cables.

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Trying to get to work after an ice storm on a brick street, I had the pleasure of watching g the front end of my wonderful used Dodge Swinger crumple up as it slid into a parked car. I was in a line of vehicles that were all sliding all over the place. It was my luck that I was the only one near a parked car. Adding insult to injury, the front frame broke when I went home to call my insurance agent, in the driveway yet!:rolleyes::blink::(:blush:

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14 minutes ago, sassnetguy50 said:

@Trailrider #896 next time it is that cold, drain the oil while it is still warm.  Bring the oil and battery inside to stay warm.  The warm oil will turn over like summer and immediately lube the valvetrain.  

I do appreciate the tip. It was not quite so easy to drain the oil, as I had no lift and lying on the ground, in spite of wearing an N3B parka, thermal-knit underwear and a wool shirt, it was just too danged cold!  Fortunately, I was not on call, and if they had needed me that bad, they would have had to come and get me (about two miles off the base). Long ago, and far away, when I was much younger.


Stay well and safe, Pard!

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On 11/11/2020 at 6:28 PM, sassnetguy50 said:

They’ve added a lot of curb and gutter to keep you on the road now.  Just watch out for parked/stuck cars.  Modern add on fog lights help a lot in whiteouts.

yup - iowa did this back in the 50sand 60s - it was a hazard as you bounced into oncoming traffic when you got too far left ,  settled on shoulders like other northern states , 

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