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Vehicle Preparation
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 28 January 2008 13:10 |
When temperatures dip down into double-digits below freezing, keeping your engine’s operating temperatures under control becomes a critical factor. The biggest problem in radically sub-zero temperatures is actually overheating. Controlling the flow of air into your radiator helps keep your engine in its normal operating range – neither too hot nor too cold.
We fashioned removable grille blanking plates for all three air access points in the cars out of thin flexible plastic. The plates can be installed in moments with plastic “zip ties” when the temperatures get too low. With the flow of fresh air blocked, we’ll need to monitor engine temps closely to know when we need to open up the flow again.
We also took our vehicles to our local Mitsubishi dealer and had them give us fresh oil (5W20 synthetic) for the journey, and we asked them to test our coolant for maximum efficiency. Engine coolant breaks down over time, and we had to make sure we had the best protection available. Our coolant proved to be good to 50-below – that is, as long as we can keep the internal temperature above that point, our coolant won’t freeze on us.
Stopping overnight presents a particular challenge to the cars. Overnight is when the temperatures will be at their lowest and also when the cars won’t be generating their own heat. In extreme temperatures, people must leave their cars running all night long, but we wanted to avoid that if possible.
To help keep our coolant and oil flowing, we installed a set of stick-on engine block heaters. These little “hot pads” need only keep the inside of the engine above 50-below to protect us from the cold. We also bought a battery blanket – another hot pad – to warm our batteries for the morning starts.
Finally, we bought 100 foot extension cords – good to 67-below – with LED service indicators, and a basic workshop drop light for each car. The drop light will hang by the radiator and serve two purposes – first it helps keep the whole engine bay warm overnight, and secondly the light serves as a simple visual cue that power is being supplied to our block and battery heaters.
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Vehicle Prep 
