too cold to start today need help!! Pronto

[travisfraughton]

ok, so my truck runs like a champ has for as long as i've owned it and whenever there's a prob. i fix it. problem today is that it was just too cold to get it start, think the oil was just too cold. I have already rebuilt the starter, replaced the battery and the cables, it cranks like a champ. I am sure it's just the cold.
I need to find a way to warm up that oil!!!!! and asap cuz it's my daily driver and I absolutely have to drive the thing.
any rapid fixes?
and anything more permanent later on? anyone used the engine block heaters from lmc?
etc etc etc
any and all help is greatly appreciated
thanks

[67ss&99ss]

I don't know much about engine oil heaters, never gets cold enough in Georgia to really need one. However, I do have some questions for you. What weight oil are you using in your engine? How cold is it outside? What gauge are your battery cables and what do you have the ground cable connected to?

I would recommend a 10w30 or 5w30 oil for the winter time. It gets to the low 20s sometimes low teens here and I haven't had any issues with 10w40 oil, the factory starter, a battery with 420 CCA and good battery cables. I just upgraded to 2 gauge battery cables this weekend, and I could tell a difference in cranking. I believe they were $12-13 each. I have my battery cable grounded to the cylinder head, but it is cast iron. If you have aluminum heads, I would recommend grounding the battery cable to the block.

[C10longwb]

I live in Texas and It doesn't get that cold here eaither but I had a 7.3l diesel that was very picky when it got down below 30 the truck had a block heater from the factory and it was night and day pluged it it started like it was 90 out not pluged in at 25 degrees wouldn't even hardly crank so I know a block heater is a good way to go but I have seen oil heaters that stick into the pan summit and jegs carry them I belive may look into that
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[travisfraughton]

well I'm running pretty heavy oil, might switch it down a step.
the starter, cables and everything are stock and have worked fine for at least 2 months with no issues.
I went to autozone and found a magnetized heater (says it'll heat a block) and I'm going to try that for tomorrow as I am not changing the oil out in the cold tonight.
it was about 4 degrees this morning. I would say that i want to move to florida or arizona or something, but I had too much fun riding snowmobiles all over god's beautiful mountains today so I think I'll stay.

[Indyuke]

If your truck cranks well, then I'd imagine the oil isn't the problem. If the oil was the problem, it would be so thick it would prevent the engine from even cranking over. For example, own around -20 or so with regular 30wt oil you won't even get a full turn out of the engine, especially with a frozen battery that won't put out much juice at that temp.

If you're getting good spark, have compression and the engine is cranking over just fine, your problem might be improper fuel atomization. Rather than arriving at the cylinders in a fine mist, it gets there in large droplets that don't burn well, and foul the plugs easily.

But that's all besides the point. An engine block heater would solve that problem as well as heavy thick oil.

[Jacfourteen]

Originally Posted by Indyuke

If your truck cranks well, then I'd imagine the oil isn't the problem. If the oil was the problem, it would be so thick it would prevent the engine from even cranking over.....

That's what I thought too.

[cdowns]

theres nothing to do with your oil

things to check are proper operation of your choke, condition and gap on sparkplugs, condition of air filter and gas filters. as well as timing and also voltage to the distrivbutor are important starting

[mrein3]

I disagree with a lot of the above posters. If you are running anything heavier than 10w-30 oil you WILL have issues on cold starts on a 4 degree fahrenheit morning.

Did the truck crank and not start or did it crank too slow?

When I had to park outside and had to start in the morning - back when my 72 Chevelle was my daily driver - I had an inline heater in the heater hose. That could be a quick, cheap, easy fix. You could pick a heater up tonight, splice it in, burp the antifreeze and plug it in. In addition to making it easier to start you'll have heat coming out of the defroster vents and floor vent right away.

Then next summer buy and install a block heater. That works even better than the hose heater.

I've been known to plug my block heaters in on my daily drivers while they are in my attached garage. I love that instant heat coming out of the heater when it is -20 out. My next daily driver is going to have a factory or dealer installed block heater AND heated seats.

[dodo]

Could be your gas line is frozen. Water in the fuel freezes and blocks the lines. Put gas line antifreeze in your tank and then wait for it to work through and unblock it.

[travisfraughton]

well this morning i went out an hour and a half early and plugged in the magnetic block heater to the bottom of my oil pan. there was a noticeable difference in how easily it cranked later. Still didn't want to start but that's partly because i switched it over to regular unleaded instead of CNG, because I hadn't run it on Regular in a while. the lines therefore had to get fuel running through them which isn't ideal on a cold start, so with a little help from some starting fluid she started right up this morning. I will likely swap down to 10w40 and continue to use the magnetic block heater, which by the way I think is a genius idea and recommend it.

[whitesswj]

I'm from Northern Missouri and drive a bus for a living.
We had mornings with temps in the -10's and I never had an issue with my 68. I've got a stout 350 in it and running 10w30 in mine.
No need for a block heater. Just a piece of Cardboard in the grill. TEEHEE

[BP68]

CNG will not start one in cold weather.

[travisfraughton]

@bp68 and why do you say that?

[tim21391]

good old ether could do the trick

[bigsnookmaster]

Originally Posted by travisfraughton

well I'm running pretty heavy oil, might switch it down a step.
the starter, cables and everything are stock and have worked fine for at least 2 months with no issues.
I went to autozone and found a magnetized heater (says it'll heat a block) and I'm going to try that for tomorrow as I am not changing the oil out in the cold tonight.
it was about 4 degrees this morning. I would say that i want to move to florida or arizona or something, but I had too much fun riding snowmobiles all over god's beautiful mountains today so I think I'll stay.

I hear ya, but I also have had a blast going offshore grouper fishing this month! Man, are they chewin!