Quote:
Originally Posted by RH77
Just polling, what is the most common reason for the failure of vehicles to start in extreme cold? Fuel-line freeze up, coolant frozen-up, battery shot, etc?
RH77
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I would say that around MN that a frozen/weak battery is the most common cause for a no start condition.
But given that all things are equal and all parts of the motor are new and fine. We know that combustion needs three things: Air, Fuel, and spark. And we also know that fire needs three things to occur: Air, fuel, and enough heat to ignite.
I hypothesize that when temp are, say, -40°F that the fuel has a hard time atomizing well. That would lead to a non ideal Fuel/Air ratio. Also the fact that the air coming into the combustion chamber would be a chilly -40°F would contribute to poor ignition of the fuel/air mixture. This may explain why some vehicles require a few seconds of cranking time as this will warm up the combustion chamber somewhat due to friction from the piston and the spark from the spark plug.
Now when you throw a weak battery on top of all that jazz, you can see how most cars would be unable to crank any longer after the initial warm up and become stranded or require a jump start.
So there you have it...my two cents on the matter of what happens when it's really cold, lol. And knowing is half that battle.
