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Comment by tambourine_man | Hacker News Reader

Yes, because combustion engines are also great at starting in freezing temperatures.

If you manage to get it going, it's fine after a few minutes. But the cold start is a pain.

Motor oil does not provide lubricity until it starts flowing into the engine. One of the worst things you can do to an ICE is consistently start it at negative temperatures.

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/37320/is-it-tr...

I don't know, I live in eastern Canada, modern cars don't seem to have much of an issue on the handful of -20 to -25 Celsius mornings we get every year, as long as the battery is in good shape.

Even the 2007 Yaris we had up to 2018 never had an issue (after I replaced the dying battery).

Now the -40 C weather they've been having in the prairies recently is a different issue, one I can happily say I don't have any experience with.

Even if you get them started, diesel fuel can gel and clog your fuel filter. I had to stop plowing early Saturday because my tractor was no longer able to make power. (with some anti-gel in the tank and yesterday being warmer I was able to finish the job)

I think it depends on how cold is cold. They likely have different min temps before you start seeing issues.

Though engine block heaters are also standard in cars where it gets cold so at some temperatures this is a “nowhere to plug the car in” problem for both kinds.

Not hard to add if your car doesn't have one. I've never needed a block heater in a car but I installed them on two tractors that we use to plow the driveway. My current tractor is this (particular) Diesel

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Holland_TC30_HST...

but before that I struggled to get one of these

https://www.pinterest.com/marshallwoodyar/john-deere-tractor...

to start in the winter (even with the block heater) and probably killed it by switching it to a multi-viscosity oil when the straight 20 oil specified for it became almost impossible to get and could well be blamed for the hard starting.

Modern cars have no trouble starting down to -20C. My 10 year old car was parked outside all of last winter and never had trouble starting even on the coldest days

It’s been 15 years since I had a car, so things must have improved a lot, according to the replies in this thread.

Unless you have a weak battery, -10 isn't too cold for ICE cars. Even -20 is doable.

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