cold weather starting

I drive a 1993 chevy silverado stepside

for any warm temperature above freezing and to roughly -5C below the truck works perfectly. But any
colder and it is sluggish in starting... ie: takes longer to turn over.

I'm susecting battery myself.

Michael McNeil wrote:
> I drive a 1993 chevy silverado stepside
>
> for any warm temperature above freezing and to roughly -5C below the truck works perfectly. But any
> colder and it is sluggish in starting... ie: takes longer to turn over.
>
> I'm susecting battery myself.

could be the battery, also make sure all your cable connections are
clean and tight, battery +ive to starter and also -ive to engine block.
Also if you are running a heavy oil such as 20W50 that can cause cold
starting issues, a synthetic might be the ticket if your engine doesn't
leak too much.

good luck,

nate

On 28 Dec 2005 08:01:27 -0800, "N8N" > wrote:

>
>Michael McNeil wrote:
>> I drive a 1993 chevy silverado stepside
>>
>> for any warm temperature above freezing and to roughly -5C below the truck works perfectly. But any
>> colder and it is sluggish in starting... ie: takes longer to turn over.
>>
>> I'm susecting battery myself.
>
>could be the battery, also make sure all your cable connections are
>clean and tight, battery +ive to starter and also -ive to engine block.
> Also if you are running a heavy oil such as 20W50 that can cause cold
>starting issues, a synthetic might be the ticket if your engine doesn't
>leak too much.
>
>good luck,
>
>nate

I agree with nate on all of the above. Since switching to Mobil 1
synthetic oil, my cold weather starts are like warm weather starts.
No hesitation at all. And I checked my seals for leaks. Nothing I
can detect. Of course, this car had 20K miles on the odometer when I
did the switch to synthetic, so it wasn't too far gone in the seals
department.

I'm a happy camper with Mobil 1. Using a Mobil 1 oil filter also. I
shouldn't have to do an oil or filter change until the Springtime!

Lg

Keeping the battery charged and using a block heater for an hour before
hand help.

On 28 Dec 2005 18:41:46 GMT, (William R.
Watt) wrote:

>Keeping the battery charged and using a block heater for an hour before
>hand help.

That also.

On sub zero nights, I put my Vector battery charger on my engine
battery, and leave it there overnight. It tops off the charge and
then goes into float mode.

Weather here is completely unpredictable ( southern Lake Michigan ).
Have already had some below zero days/nights, and today it feels like
40F. Makes no sense to me. But on those sub-zero nights, it is good
to have a fully charged battery to start off with.

I haven't gotten around to the block heater yet. It can take up to 20
minutes for my engine temp to get up to 200F...what is holding me back
is the price. IIRC, they are over $100 from Ford/Lincoln/Mercury
parts department at dealership.

Lg

"N8N" > cleverly wrote:

>could be the battery, also make sure all your cable connections are
>clean and tight, battery +ive to starter and also -ive to engine block.
> Also if you are running a heavy oil such as 20W50 that can cause cold
>starting issues, a synthetic might be the ticket if your engine doesn't
>leak too much.

Once a month or so I check all the ocnnections for the vehicle and everything is clean and tight. I
usually run 10W30 in the winter months and chang eit over to 5W30 for the summer.

Therre are no leaks in the engine... even with 378,000 km on that little 5.7L 350.

Michael McNeil wrote:
> I drive a 1993 chevy silverado stepside
>
> for any warm temperature above freezing and to roughly -5C below the truck works perfectly. But any
> colder and it is sluggish in starting... ie: takes longer to turn over.
>
> I'm susecting battery myself.

Let's clarify terms here. What do you mean by slow to turn over? Do you
mean there is a pause from the time you turn the key to the time the
engine starts cranking? Or do you mean the cranking speed is low?

Some people mean, when they say that, the engine is slow to turn over on
its own, i.e, ignition and firing.

Michael McNeil > wrote:
>I drive a 1993 chevy silverado stepside
>
>for any warm temperature above freezing and to roughly -5C below the truck works perfectly. But any
>colder and it is sluggish in starting... ie: takes longer to turn over.
>
>I'm susecting battery myself.

Using a lighter-weight winter oil?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Michael McNeil wrote:

> "N8N" > cleverly wrote:
>
> >could be the battery, also make sure all your cable connections are
> >clean and tight, battery +ive to starter and also -ive to engine block.
> > Also if you are running a heavy oil such as 20W50 that can cause cold
> >starting issues, a synthetic might be the ticket if your engine doesn't
> >leak too much.
>
> Once a month or so I check all the ocnnections for the vehicle and everything is clean and tight. I
> usually run 10W30 in the winter months and chang eit over to 5W30 for the summer.

Why so? Here in Canada we use 5W30 in the winter (or even year around in some vehicles) and then use the
10W30 in the summer when the engines have a LOT of kms on them.

For what it's worth ... In winter with my 4.0L Jeep (6 cyl) I use 5W30
and a block heater switched on about an hour before starting ... turns
over just fine. That's the procedure to maybe -20C ... below that, I'll
switch on the block heater last thing before going to bed. And getting
to much below -30C if it's parked at work, I'll go out at lunch and
start it up. And I buy the "crankiest" batteries I can :-) and don't
keep them over 4 years. Without the block heater at say -30 it turns
over real slow and runs a bit rough for a minute or two ... imo the
block heater heats up more than just "the block" ... heats up sensors
and other stuff that might otherwise stick due to layer of frost. Block
heater ... one of the brighter ideas :-)

Michael McNeil wrote:
> I drive a 1993 chevy silverado stepside
>
> for any warm temperature above freezing and to roughly -5C below the truck works perfectly. But any
> colder and it is sluggish in starting... ie: takes longer to turn over.
>
> I'm susecting battery myself.