This morning, I was recalling a story my father once told me. When he was a kid on the farm, his father used to light a small fire under the engine of their pickup, in the coldest days of winter, when they needed to use it and it was frozen beyond hope of starting. It apparently worked, but dad mused that it was a wonder they didn't burn it up.
Has me wondering about alternate methods of getting a vehicle going, when the temperatures is -40 and the auto club isn't ready with a boost. Do you think it's important to try and warm the whole engine, or would getting the battery temperature up be enough? As an alternate to my grandfather's method, I wondered if burning a tray of charcoal briquettes, with perhaps a tarp over the hood (or at least something to block the wind), might work well, be a tad less dangerous. I also wonder if the new aluminum engine blocks, plastic components under the hood, might react poorly to such a heat source, though.
It's -40, no way to feed the electric block heater, and you need the vehicle. How do you start it?
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I have seen it done but they put a metal pipe under it and then put the heat source at the front and therefor it spread the heat around and prevented any of the flame from coming in contact with parts.. it worked..
Having lived in Nunavut, the answer I would give is, when its that cold, you do not want to be out in that weather either.. but otherwise, I look forward to hearing what folks come up with.. 🙂
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I know of bush pilots draining the oil while still warm and pulling the battery out. Bring both in for the night and put "room temperature " oil and battery und the hood before they start another day. Easier done on a plane than car though.
Not sure about a fire, but a camping stove and a tarp, indirect heat for 30 mins might do the trick.
If you have a manual transmission and the manpower or a hill to roll down bump starting may do the trick.