How have you kept your engine warm at night outside?

[don-wi]

Change the oil to 10-30 and take the battery out and bring it into your motel room. Install it in the morning when your ready to leave. If its really cold and windy find a big blanket to put over the front of the car to keep the wind from blowing through the engine compartment.

[BILL WZOREK]

" Runs Great at all temperatures but does't start below 20* "
Old Henry~ time to pack up & head down to visit Vic For the.
" BARNERS BASH Feb. 28th to March 2nd "
It will definitely recharge your dry cell / or what ever else you need charged up.
Henry might say thank you !!!!!!

[Mart]

Originally Posted by tubman

Also, when I was in college, I had a '52 as a daily driver with a "weak" engine. I had a 1200 watt tank heater on it and never had a problem starting it. Believe me, keeping one bank of a flathead at 120 degrees on a sub-zero day is really all you need to do.

^^ I was thinking much the same - although the two sides of the block are not connected, the water in the radiator connects the two sides. A heater in the opposite lower hose to the heater connection can only help. The engine does not have to be toasty warm, it just wants to be a few degrees warmer than outside, once it catches it will warm itself up.

I have had some experience of block heaters in Timmins, Canada, but there were all on modern cars.

[Randy in ca]

I just flew thru the previous posts, but unless I missed something it sounds to be electrical to me. The impression I have is that the engine is turning over well enough, it just doesn't fire. Having started engines in extremely cold conditions (-35 to -40) with starting fluid (ether), an engine in normal running condition will usually fire even if it's barely growling over. That stuff is extremely explosive so use with care. Did you have the choke open when you gave it a shot of starting fluid? (then close before cranking - easiest with 2 people or else really hussle!). If not electrical it's hard to imagine what else would cause no firing using ether other than all your valves being stuck open which doesn't seem very likely!! Good luck.

[2ndgeer]

Henry,
Although I've enjoyed your well prepared and presented travel stories I've never posted to thank you for them because I couldn't offer any solutions.
Here's one that you probably won't try but it worked for the roommate of a friend of mine. They attended the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Every night the roommate (who drove a Jeep) drained the oil out of the engine into a large pot. He heated the oil on the stove every morning and poured it back into the engine in the morning so it would start.
Yeah...probably too much work....

[Old Henry]

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Originally Posted by Randy in ca

I just flew thru the previous posts, but unless I missed something it sounds to be electrical to me.

It was, indeed. The coil had current, even extra by a jumper bypassing the resistor, the points were turning it on and off, but the spark at the plugs was miniscule to nil. No reason that I could think of other than the cold. The coil was recently rebuilt by Skip so I think it was OK.

[blucar]

This topic brings memories from long ago of when I lived in Idaho and a short stay in the SLC area..
From my experience, the Ford V8's were always hard starting in the winter months.. You could always count on your buddies with a "Stove Bolt Six" to give the Fords and Mopars a push... Had a neighbor when I lived in Idaho Falls during the '40's-'50's that had a '28 Ford, that damn thing would start at 30 below when nothing else would..
Block heaters have been around in one form or another as long as I can remember, of course the problem is finding a power supply when your away from home.
My son in-law that lives in central Montana uses a propane weed burner to start his trucks and tractors during the winter... 25 below at his place last week, the high was 10 below..
I have found that the flat head Ford engines will crank at low temp's but won't start. I came to the conclusion that the cranking of the engine drew to many amps, leaving minimal amps for the ignition..
It has pretty well been proven in recent years that the big problem is the windings in the coil.. (Non paid commercial for Skips coils)
A second problem with old cars is the six volt systems.. Six volt systems have very high resistance, much higher than 12v.. Not my opinion, this was told to me by an automotive engineer..
The weight of the oil can be a problem.. The recommended winter weight of oil use to be 5w. Modern cars generally use 5/30 which would leave a trail like a snail from a EFV8..
For a practical solution I would suggest the following:
W-40 makes an excellent starting fluid for an engine, much better than the common over the counter Ether based fluids that can wash the cylinders dry of lubricants..
Carry one of the self contained 12v starter battery packs in the car.. Nothing will fire up a flat head Ford quicker than a 12v boost..
As a general practice, when I lived in Idaho we used 8v battery's in our 6v cars, this helped start them in the winter..

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by tubman

I've read all of these, and I haven't seen any mention of a frozen gas line.

That could have been except that when I pulled the choke out it cranked faster and I could smell the gas coming out of the exhaust pipe so concluded that I was getting plenty of gas. Even turned my electric fuel pump on just in case it was vapor locked! (Yeah, sure.)

[blucar]

A simple solution to the problem of hard starting just occurred to me.
Treat the Ford the same way you would an un-cooperative female, snuggle up real close to the engine, taking same to bed with you in the nice warm room if necessary. Of course you might have to move the wife outside for the night.

[BILL WZOREK]

What am I missing about the tank water heater even though the engine is basically 2
Why won't taking the water from the inlet side of the heater ( lower radiator hose )and then put it back in on the other head Via. near where the temp Gage is.
Would that not circle the water????
Or better yet People run two temp Gages why not put in a t draw water from One side and put it back on the other side in a T at that side. making sure the tank heater in below the the water is coming in from / there is no pump in is it works like a Coffey maker the heated water is pushed through the line.
This way it would travel from where the water comes back in to the engine through the stats through the radiator to migrate back to where it will do the cycle all over again.

[George/Maine]

Something for show and tell today.
I recently bought and engine out of a 53 pickup 8rt.
It has block warmers both sides.
In the day I would think they worked well.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Walt Dupont--Me.

Back in the 50's my daily driver and only cars was old flatheads. They never failed to start and we have a lot of below nothing mornings here in Me. I remember one morning in 55 it was -30* below nothing. My only car was a 35 coupe with a stock 59Ab, It fired right up and got me to work. Walt

Yeah Walt, and without excuses, you understand what a "well-maintained" vehicle really means, including all of it's ancillary systems. DD

[billwill]

With 20 50 oil your lucky if ever starts

[don-wi]

You would be surprised what a warm battery will do in the cold weather.

[done4]

Just a thought, have you tried running a higher octane grade gas in the winter? My dad would burn premium in the winter months in Wisconsin.

I tried it on my OT 56 car which runs cold as a widows heart and it actually seemed to help. I only run her to November so I don't know if it would make a difference in the heart of winter.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by V8COOPMAN

Yeah Walt, and without excuses, you understand what a "well-maintained" vehicle really means, including all of it's ancillary systems. DD

If there is something more I could do to "well-maintain" my vehicle I don't know what that would be. I think Old Henry is probably maintained as religiously as any flathead there is, particularly any that are driven over 1,000 miles per month, in accordance with all manufacturer recommendations that I have been able to find and used to create the maintenance schedule attached. If there is some maintenance item that I might have missed that would affect cold starting please tell me.

[dp1743]

If you use a lighter weight oil, it should help considerably. Years ago I had a Chrysler K car with a 2.2 liter engine. With 20w-50 oil it would turn over but not start (fuel injected). I replaced it with 10w-40 and never had another problem starting in cold weather.

[Barlea]

Back in the early sixties as an apprentice, ten year old Fords were plentiful and cheap, and with a fresh good battery and 10W oil most of them would start without being plugged in at 20 below zero. They don't even need particularly good compression as long as the valves are still good. Two headbolt heaters were normal equipment here in Alberta and made it a lot easier though. If your Ford started quickly in the summer, it would usually cold-start come winter, but a battery that's just OK will never get you to work reliably in the winter. ..B.

[PeteVS]

You stated that there was very little spark at the plugs. That's gotta be the problem. Unfortunately, I don't know how to check out anything quantitatively or how to find a problem in the high voltage side. Rotor? Cap? Do high voltage components fail in cold temperatures?

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by PeteVS

You stated that there was very little spark at the plugs. That's gotta be the problem. Unfortunately, I don't know how to check out anything quantitatively or how to find a problem in the high voltage side. Rotor? Cap? Do high voltage components fail in cold temperatures?

I lean toward blucar's analysis and explanation that the draw on a cold 6 volt battery steals current from the coil enough to reduce or eliminate the spark. Makes the most sense to me.

Originally Posted by blucar

This topic brings memories from long ago of when I lived in Idaho and a short stay in the SLC area..
From my experience, the Ford V8's were always hard starting in the winter months.. You could always count on your buddies with a "Stove Bolt Six" to give the Fords and Mopars a push... Had a neighbor when I lived in Idaho Falls during the '40's-'50's that had a '28 Ford, that damn thing would start at 30 below when nothing else would.. . . . I have found that the flat head Ford engines will crank at low temp's but won't start. I came to the conclusion that the cranking of the engine drew to many amps, leaving minimal amps for the ignition..
It has pretty well been proven in recent years that the big problem is the windings in the coil.. (Non paid commercial for Skips coils)
A second problem with old cars is the six volt systems.. Six volt systems have very high resistance, much higher than 12v.. Not my opinion, this was told to me by an automotive engineer. . . . Carry one of the self contained 12v starter battery packs in the car.. Nothing will fire up a flat head Ford quicker than a 12v boost..
As a general practice, when I lived in Idaho we used 8v battery's in our 6v cars, this helped start them in the winter..

However, with my recent starting problem I eventually had the tow truck's huge 12 volt battery jumped to mine with two sets of heavy duty cables so I doubt that was the only problem.