Starting Your Car In Cold Weather: Why It Is So Difficult, How To Start A Car In Cold Temperatures

Cold Weather is A Challenge In Starting Your Car

As colder temperatures come to Salt Lake City and Utah, starting your car in the cold becomes a challenge for engines. In this video, courtesy of Rick Courtney, an eHow presenter, starting your car in colder weather takes a little more care and effort. Why? Here are 3 reasons why cold temperatures create hard starting for cars in the Utah winters:

Reason 1 - Gasoline, like any other liquid, evaporates less when it is cold.
You have seen this: If you pour water onto a hot sidewalk it will evaporate a lot faster than it will from a cooler place like a shady sidewalk. When it gets really cold, gasoline evaporates slowly, so it is harder to burn it (the gasoline must be vaporized to burn). Sometimes you will see people spray ether into their engines in cold weather to help them start -- ether evaporates better than gasoline in cold weather.
Reason 2 - Oil gets a lot thicker in cold weather.
You probably know that cold pancake syrup or honey from the refrigerator is a lot thicker than hot syrup or honey. Oil gets thicker in cold weather, and does the same thing. So when you try to start a cold engine, the engine has to push around the cold, gooey oil, and that makes it harder for the engine to spin. In really cold places people must use synthetic motor oils because these oils stay liquid in cold temperatures.
Re­ason 3 - Batteries have problems in cold weather, too.
A car battery is a can full of chemicals that produce electrons. The chemical reactions inside of batteries take place more slowly when the battery is cold, so the battery produces fewer electrons. The starter motor therefore has less energy to work with when it tries to start the engine, and this causes the engine to crank slowly.

With this information, you can see what steps you can take to make starting your car a little easier in the winter cold temperatures.

• First, change your oil for the winter season. New oil means fresh viscosity (oil flow), and all the protectants and oil additives are fresh, and not burned off through heat, time, wear and tear. Give your oil the best chance to flow and lubricate your engine freely in the winter months.
  

• Check and charge your car battery, to make sure it is fully charged.  A good charged battery has enough cranking power to turn the engine over.
  

• Fill up your gas tank when it gets to 1/4 tank, instead of empty. Your fuel pump works harder to pump that last bit of gas in your tank. Starting your car on an almost empty tank puts undue strain on your fuel pump. Combine that with the cold gasoline, and you could harm your fuel pump sooner than normal wear. A full gas tank allows the weight of the gas to help push the fuel through the system-from the gas tank to the engine.
• Warm up your engine just a little bit, before you drive off. That oil has been sitting at the bottom of your oil pan over night, since the last time you drove. You want to let the engine run about one minute, to let the oil circulate through the system. to get everything nice and lubricated, and ready to go. The worst thing you do is just fire it up and jump in and put it in gear and take off. Just like you want to warm the interior a little bit, warm up your engine too!

The whole "starting your car in cold weather" thing can be a big problem for Salt Lake City and Utah drivers. So get your charging system checked-for FREE- at one of our 5 locations. Whether you are in Midvale, West Jordan, Riverton, South Jordan, Sandy, Draper, West Valley City, Murray, or Salt Lake City, we have a location close to you. We check your car charging system: car battery, starter, alternator and regulator, for FREE at any of our 5 locations.

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Hillside Tire is an Authorized Goodyear Tire and Michelin Tire Dealer In Utah. We offer FREE alignments with any set of 4 new tires purchased at our stores. At Hillside Tire and Service, we are yourtire brand experts for all makes and models, as well as complete auto repair in Salt Lake City. Come in to any of our 5 Salt Lake Valley tire stores: Salt Lake City (Cottonwood Heights), West Valley City, West Jordan, Sandy or Draper, and get to know us, likeBill Gephardt does,  through our auto repair service specials (see coupons).

We also check your Braking System-at no charge! See us for tires (we have tire discounts from manufacturer factory rebate specials going on right now), alignments, oil changes, inspections, emissions, and complete auto repair services.