#blockheater

Kinja'd!!! by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 01/09/2017 at 19:30

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Replies (33)

Kinja'd!!! "cluelessk" (cluelessk)
01/09/2017 at 19:40, STARS: 1

It’s been -40 with the windchill for the last few weeks here. Even with a block heater and a few minutes of idling your breath with still freeze up on the inside of the windshield. Even after I’ve reached operating temp anytime I coast or slow down my coolant temp drops about 10 degrees.

We have the same laws here in Manitoba but they’re not enforced. It’s just too cold.

Kinja'd!!! "comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer" (00cyclonefan)
01/09/2017 at 19:42, STARS: 0

I predict a shit storm of argument and people calling each other names over this story....because that’s exactly what it’s intended to do...both sides kind of a have a point, but both sides are also kind of acting like jackasses. Clicky-clicky’s though, for the ‘news’ site. Think about it, why would anyone in England have any reason to care about this story from Michigan? None, other than to start an argument and drive page views when people repost it.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 19:46, STARS: 0

Do you cover your grille?

That’s seriously cold, Yo.

Kinja'd!!!

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 19:49, STARS: 0

Well, I guess you have a point, but the kid is a dick. I got a ticket once in front of my house because I was missing my front license plate, but when I went to the Highway Patrol office to complete the fix-it, the sergeant’s Corvette was parked prominently out front with no front tag. I let it pass. If I had it to do now, I’d be talking to the captain.

And I’d bet you a pastrami Reuben that the twerp was in the house longer than “7 or 8 minutes.”

Kinja'd!!! "comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer" (00cyclonefan)
01/09/2017 at 19:57, STARS: 0

Sure, the kid is a dick, but he just went a little farther than a ton of us do...he was warming his car up in the driveway, either oblivious to or ignoring the law against it, he just acted like a doosh when caught....the town is also kind of being a dick in passing a law that even though it makes some sense on some levels, they know the entire town is going to ignore, especially people too poor to own a new enough car with remote start or install one on their hooptie. It’d be like making it illegal to not lock your house door....the biggest thing, though, is that stories like this do nothing to make people come together, they get people in stupid arguments. Right now, we need a little more coming together and a little less yelling at each other. Man, I’m turning into a friggin’ hippie here, but we have to stop yelling at each other in this country (the US).

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 20:01, STARS: 0

I do not disagree with your initial analysis at all. What makes this fodder for the UK newspaper is that the kid made such a fuss about it and also had all his social media pictures readily searchable and put himself on blast.

Kinja'd!!! "Dave the car guy , still here" (a3dave)
01/09/2017 at 20:04, STARS: 0

In the winter when we get under -5ºf I’ve put a piece of cardboard behind the grill to block part of the airflow. I cut it just large enough to leave maybe a quarter of the radiator uncovered. Seems to do the trick to make it warm up faster on the road and not cool down while driving.

Kinja'd!!! "cluelessk" (cluelessk)
01/09/2017 at 20:13, STARS: 0

I don’t but I probably should.

Kinja'd!!! "comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer" (00cyclonefan)
01/09/2017 at 20:13, STARS: 0

Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you were arguing with me, I’m just probably starting to get a hot spot radar for this type of story...it’s the breakdown of ‘news’ organizations into click-bait revenue generators. Outside of the specific town this occurred in, this is not ‘news’ to anyone...it’s click fodder. Honestly, other than possibly a comment on the legitimacy of public policy, this isn’t even actual news in this town. The devolving of the press in this way represents a very scary opportunity for stuff to go on ‘behind the curtain’ while we’re busy arguing about what color the dress is.

Again, sorry, not criticizing you, I just hate the trend this is seeming to become. Whether you like or hate the last election results, a neutered (even if self-neutered) press is not a good thing.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 20:24, STARS: 0

That’s how I’d do it.

Kinja'd!!! "Tazio, Count Fouroff" (tazio0625)
01/09/2017 at 20:27, STARS: 1

Incredible...it used to be illegal to *steal cars* So now it’s illegal to leave your keys in?

True story — the preacher dropped in to see my farmer GGF and found him, unsurprisingly, out in the barn. They talked for a while and eventually GGP lit a cigarette, so the preacher fussed at him — not for smoking, because 1930's; but for putting his barn at risk.

GGF’s response: “It’s my own damn barn, I’ll burn it down if I want to!”

America what has happened to us??

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 20:27, STARS: 0

Piece of cardboard. Cover maybe half of it.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 20:28, STARS: 0

Not in the least. I am in complete agreement with you. I just thought the kid was annoying enough to share.

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
01/09/2017 at 20:30, STARS: 0

I’m with the officer on this. Any self-respect car owner will drive their car often enough the ignition cylinder will wear out so you can just pull the key right out without shutting it off.

I mean it’s what I do. If the tickets for leaving the keys in the ignition, then don’t!

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 20:31, STARS: 1

That’s an interesting story. GGF probably felt embarrassed and defensive. Preacher probably cared about GGF and wanted to not see him inconvenienced or worse. Am I being an insufferable Liberal? Sorry. I feel for both of them.

But I also like your analysis. And if I lived in Roseville, Michigan, I’d have an engine block heater and a piece of cardboard covering part of my radiator.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 20:33, STARS: 0

Agreed. And as I was saying in another comment in this thread, the punk who got the ticket was really an annoying jerk of a kid, with his obnoxious mug posted all over social media and he’s made a fool of himself to thousands of people.

Kinja'd!!! "Tazio, Count Fouroff" (tazio0625)
01/09/2017 at 20:43, STARS: 0

You may be right!

Also he maybe resented the paternalistic insinuation he wasn’t sufficiently aware of, and was insufficiently capable of dealing with, possible consequences of his choices? =P

Kinja'd!!! "Tazio, Count Fouroff" (tazio0625)
01/09/2017 at 20:47, STARS: 0

PS please accept apologies for replying by letting my potentially offensive individualism out!

Kinja'd!!! "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
01/09/2017 at 20:54, STARS: 1

Definitely NOT a good idea to be leaving keys in an unattended car. But I find it kind of odd that the officer decided to write a ticket when it seems like a warning would have sufficed. This is the kind of thing that reinforces the theory of there being a “ticket quota”.

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
01/09/2017 at 20:55, STARS: 1

I also live in Manitoba. I don’t use the janky-ass cardboard. If your thermostat is working properly it’ll block coolant flow through the radiator until it’s approaching operating temperature, at which point it opens up again, allowing the cooling system to function properly without any negative effects of blocking airflow.

If the block heater’s been going for a few hours, even at -30°F the Jeep will be blowing hot air from the heater after three minutes idling and will then be up to operating temperature after another three on the road. It takes a few minutes longer of the block heater wasn’t on, because it’s starting at a lower temperature, but it still heats up quickly enough. But block heater or no, no matter how long I let it idle it still feels like I’m driving through glue for the first couple minutes until the tcase and diffs are warmed up, and there’s nothing janky-ass cardboard can do about that.

Kinja'd!!! "cluelessk" (cluelessk)
01/09/2017 at 20:57, STARS: 0

Ya getting into first gear is super difficult for the first couple of minutes and the oil in the shocks is almost frozen solid.

Kinja'd!!! "Wacko" (wacko--)
01/09/2017 at 20:58, STARS: 1

We also get a few -40s every winter, and 5-10 ain’t enough. My remote starter does 2 5min cycles then I have to start it manually.

I don’t put cardboard, cause the temp can change quickly one day to another.

At that temp all the heat is only for the windshield, not for comfort.

Kinja'd!!! "comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer" (00cyclonefan)
01/09/2017 at 20:59, STARS: 1

You know what, as an olive branch because I maybe came down a little hard on you, I’m currently trying to locate a small coolant leak in the rental spec Focus, and I hit the remote start instead of letting it run with the keys in it...just for you, man. ;-)

Kinja'd!!! "Wacko" (wacko--)
01/09/2017 at 20:59, STARS: 0

That’s why remote starters exist

Kinja'd!!! "Wacko" (wacko--)
01/09/2017 at 21:01, STARS: 0

I’ve been driving in norther Canada for over 20 years, and all my cars for the past 15-17 years have had remote starters. Before with my crap cans I had 2 keys, one to manually start the car, and one to lock it

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
01/09/2017 at 21:17, STARS: 0

The Jeep’s an automatic so doesn’t have that issue, although it does tend to hang for a couple seconds when going from drive to reverse, or between gears, when it’s still cold. It’s cooled by a heat exchanger built into the rad, so that actually works in reverse once the tstat opens (and even with the tiny amount of heat from the block heater) so it’s not an issue if I leave it idling longer. The shocks are garbage anyhow so I don’t really notice much change in ride quality.

It’s hard to say if the Niva experienced that phenomenon though, cause the trans was hosed and didn’t always cooperate anyhow. It actually leaked badly enough that after one particularly rough episode I went to change the gear oil, pulled the drain plug, and only got a few drops out.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 21:18, STARS: 0

Not at all.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 21:20, STARS: 0

Do you have synthetic lubricant in those gearboxes?

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
01/09/2017 at 21:22, STARS: 0

No, command start exists so lazy rich Texans didn’t ever have to get into hot cars.

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
01/09/2017 at 21:38, STARS: 0

No. Thinking about it more it’s more likely due to the grease in the wheel bearings. Gear oil is pretty similar in viscosity to engine oil, which pumps alright at -40, whether synthetic or not. Grease on the other hand does not behave so nicely.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 22:16, STARS: 1

An elegant solution. When NASA designed the $2,000 pen to write in zero-gravity, the Soviets used pencils.

Kinja'd!!! "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
01/09/2017 at 22:19, STARS: 0

Gosh, it would not occur to me not to use synthetic everything lubricious in that kind of cold.

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
01/10/2017 at 12:57, STARS: 0

The diffs will survive. The wild range of oils people run in them (and most people completely ignore them) hasn’t ever caused problems. With 523,000 km on them running conventionals (and plans to replace them soon for unnecessary reasons) with no issues there’s no sense in wasting money on synthetic. The tcase uses ATF in it and if it’s good enough for the AW4 it’ll be fine. The wheel bearings have whatever Timken packed in them, and they aren’t serviceable. They’ll survive. Maybe if these were delicate pieces of art they might need synthetic, but all the ancient equipment still running around up north hasn’t survived this long while running on synthetics. Not to say there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s not a big enough advantage in anything other than the engine. Yes, there’s synthetic in there.