Thawing a motor

my father , RIP, used to throw a blanket over the engine and put a shop/trouble light (regular incandescent light bulb ) under the engine and let it sit a few hours - Later in life I used the same solution with positive results in sub zero weather

Ran it till the cool fluid warning light went out, wife got home took it on the drive.

probably covered 30 miles and was probably 20 miles before it was blowing air my body registered as warm.

So far so good, test will be in the AM when its time to take the kid to school, I am cautiously optimistic since the temp is supposed to stay pretty close to the high for the day.

If not then well I already told my boss if the car has issues in the am im getting with the dealer and will be in when/if I can.

a reply to: Irishhaf

Tow it down to Georgia and see if it will start.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
have a 2022 subaru forester, its has the full winterization package, it was plugged in ran fine all week but didnt move for 36 hours while plugged in and went to drive it today and it wouldnt start battery level is fine so I suspect its forzen.

all week it had been -35F to -43 F till yesterday where the high was -40 low -51, should have started it life just got in the way.

luckily, we do have a second vehicle that started fine (we keep it in the barn), wife is out right now and if she can find it going to grab a space heater and some moving blankets to drape over the front of the car and run the heater under them.

Question; anyone here every tried this method and if so have any suggestions?

Also; battery level is fine its not that this time.

I hit the light switch for the rear light in the cargo area of our 20 forester and the battery went dead in about three days, it was hit about a week earlier...the light was on for about six days but did not get dead till we let the car sit for about three days without going anywhere. That switch location sucks, putting stuff in the back or taking it out can turn that cargo light on. If it happened in the winter, our battery probably would have froze, but it was in the summer time so the battery is ok.

Check that light if it is on, that cargo light has three settings, on with interior lights, on all the time, or off all the time. I got a little piece of tape on it now so it doesn't happen again...but it was not duct tape, I should check if it is still on there. We hauled stuff from the granddaughters apartment and some big stuff must have hit it. We do lots of short trips so the battery slowly went down then that three days of non use, killed the battery. That switch is one of the bad things on our Subaru, we like the car except all the crap like lane centering and traction control and when pulling up to the snowbank, if the wheels spin, the car slams on the brakes in the winter because it thinks it is a stopped car in front...we only disable that when we need to park by a snowbank...I do like the emergency braking system. But coming up our drive in snow, the traction control will set the brakes on each tire that spins, soon the car won't move since all the brakes are on. Those switches are on the left side of the dash down low, one turns off traction control, the other turns off the function that stops the car at stop lights or when trying to park the car in the parking lot at the grocery store.

a reply to: Irishhaf

A mixture of Aluminium Oxide and Iron Oxide (Thermite mix), with shavings of Magnesium to act as a fuse, and placed in a mound centrally on the hood of a car, and ignited, will raise the temperature of the engine quite rapidly.

However, if your intention is for the engine to run after being warmed up, then I'd avoid this method of doing so.

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: Irishhaf

A mixture of Aluminium Oxide and Iron Oxide (Thermite mix), with shavings of Magnesium to act as a fuse, and placed in a mound centrally on the hood of a car, and ignited, will raise the temperature of the engine quite rapidly.

However, if your intention is for the engine to run after being warmed up, then I'd avoid this method of doing so.

LOL , Sounds like you might Need a New Paint job too...........

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: Irishhaf

In Siberia they Jack Up their Trucks and Build Fires Under them to Thaw them Out ....Geez , Crazy Ivan's , eh ?

Why is this so easy to picture?🤣

SPAM!

a reply to: EvolutionJoyClub

Nobody here wants your garbage. why don't you do everybody a favor and go away?

At -40f it’s best to also heat the battery, they make battery heating pads that sits under the battery. Also make sure the ground to the battery cable is good, a lot of times that’s the culprit, remove the ground cable at battery and clean it up and tighten it.

It’s also best to have a high rating CCA (cold cranking amp) battery. The number that’s on the battery, usually the higher the cca the more expensive the battery, so don’t skimp out on price.

At least it’s not -60f.

Used to have a radio show, car talk I think on NPR until one of the brothers died. Woulda been perfect for them!

a reply to: Irishhaf
Years ago my daughters radiator froze up. I had a plug in oil heater, looks like a dipstick. I plugged it in and shoved it into the radiator. Then I backed my pickup right in front of it. Then I took an old blue tarp I had laying around and draped over the motor of my daughters car and the back end of my pickup. Ran the pick up to build up the heat under there.
It took a while but it eventually thawed and the car worked fine after.
Told my daughter to not do that again!
I also told her two words-anti freeze!!!
Good Luck!!!

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: Irishhaf

A mixture of Aluminium Oxide and Iron Oxide (Thermite mix), with shavings of Magnesium to act as a fuse, and placed in a mound centrally on the hood of a car, and ignited, will raise the temperature of the engine quite rapidly.

However, if your intention is for the engine to run after being warmed up, then I'd avoid this method of doing so.

LOL , Sounds like you might Need a New Paint job too...........

And a new driveway underneath...

apparently, we did the right thing by only trying it twice before going this aint right so we minimized flooding the engine with fuel, running theory is the battery blanket failed under the extended cold and once the ambient go up into the -20s with some extra blankets added allowed it to thaw enough to turn over and then run normal.

I do have an appointment on the 1st for the dealership to give it the once over along with fluid checks and oil change. Still under warranty so why now.

a reply to: Irishhaf

In 97 the petrol froze in my Saab as I was driving it , it was minus 55 c with the windchill , when the breakdown came in the morning he laughed when I put the key I the ignition and it started first time it was his 3rd Saab call out that morning , Like a idiot I walked 15 miles home at 2 am it nearly killed me .

I remember seeing a news segment from Canada where they lost a 1/3 Rd of their trees and the metal hydro towers were collapsing with the cold .

Get a old gazibo cover and turn it upside down and drive your car over it ,rap it up tight , blanket on the windscreen then use a hairdryer inserted in a opening in the morning , i used to throw a electric heater in the van for 10 minutes in the morning , I could never figure out all those people who seemed to love scraping snow or ice of their vehicles .

SPAM

a reply to: Zanti Misfit
You beat me to it. During WW2 the Nazis invading Russia during operation Barbarossa, had the same problem with their panzers. 2 ways to deal with it,1. roll the motor over every 30 minutes, or 2. light a fire under the engine compartment. Either way if your actual life depended on it you would quickly learn what to do.

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: Zanti Misfit
You beat me to it. During WW2 the Nazis invading Russia during operation Barbarossa, had the same problem with their panzers. 2 ways to deal with it,1. roll the motor over every 30 minutes, or 2. light a fire under the engine compartment. Either way if your actual life depended on it you would quickly learn what to do.

They were actually cutting lumps of meat of the horses back then as they were walking and as long as they never cut through any vital organs the animal would not feel it in the cold , I remember being horrified at the above comments when I heard them as a kid in school who wanted to be a veterinary surgeon .

It is seeing a steaming mug of tea or coffee made in front of you and then taken through a door thrown up in the air and falling as ice that impressed me as a young kid , and wondering where this freezer was outside the adults were talking about , it was a 3 foot brick lined hole in the ground with a flat brick top that kept food cold for 3 or more months .

Last time we had a winter like that was 2010 -2011 it had stayed minus 30 centigrade until April of 2011 .

a reply to: stonerwilliam

standard up here is you put your freezer outside on the porch, or in a barn/shed and when it hits a certain point in the winter you just unplug it and save a little money on the electric bill.