Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, December 31, 2003 at 11:50AM :
In Reply to: How Cold Can It Go??? posted by James Fuller on Tuesday, December 30, 2003 at 11:29PM :
I have an old TM somewhere called "Operation of Ordnance Materiel in Extreme Cold", which is quite detailed about what one has to do to keep vehicles operating at various cold temperatures. The good thing about it is rather than just speculating (use thinner oil, heat the block, use ether, etc) it lists specific things that need to be done at specific temperatures. Much of the info is based on tests the army did in the Canadian arctic. I don't have the TM handy. It seems to be an early 1950s vintage so is probably applicable to our trucks. Their ultimate conclusion is that vehicles can be made to run in temperatures down to -65 deg, but it takes a lot of work. I don't remember what their tests showed as far as the limit for reliably starting gas engines without using any kind of pre-heat, but I think it was somewhere around -20. The TM also has a lot to say about lubes for low temperatures.
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