That should have been -18C.
Sorry
Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Wolz [mailto:wolzphoto@q.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 3, 2016 1:32 PM
To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Warming the oil in cold weather?

I think your math is off, since o
0C = 32F, or freezing.

Karl Wolz
Sent from my electronic umbilicus

> On Jan 3, 2016, at 10:54 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
wrote:
>
> If I did the math right 18C is about 0F. That choice of oil is OK but the
slow cranking-ignition is a sign of something not quite right. I would check
the battery voltage while cranking and if possible the starter current draw.

>
> As for that lamp affecting your electric bill even on Long Island we pay
>$.20 per kilowatt hour. I'm sure your rate is somewhat less. 500W is .5kwh
so even at our rates that is $.10 per hour.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of Robert Fisher
> Sent: Sunday, January 3, 2016 11:09 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Warming the oil in cold weather?
>
> Now that I live in eastern Canada, I run the 5W50 (used to run 20W50 in
the Cali desert). I've started my '87 GL (2.1; auto) several times in as low
as -16C and haven't had any issues other than the expected slow cranking /
slow ignition - and that with the cold start valve disconnected. I try not
to drive the van in winter due to the salt, etc., but I haven't done
anything special to the engine or battery (other than topping off the charge
now and again), and it's performed normally under those conditions.
> YMMV.
>
> My Canadian Chevy daily driver has the obligatory block heater with a -18C
thermostat/cutoff in it; that -18C seems to be the standard point of
concern, if you will, for these parts. I haven't, and wouldn't, attempt to
start either vehicle at or below those temps without some sort of heat
intervention first.
>
> FWIW, I used to put a 500W Halogen lamp, pointed up, under my diesel-fired
pressure washer in the hour before I needed to use it on those odd nights
when the temps were low enough to cause me concern. It worked a peach, even
if it was a little hard on the electric bill.
>
> Robert
>
>> On Sun, Jan 3, 2016 at 4:43 AM, Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@q.com> wrote:
>>
>> Had a teacher way back in high school tell the class to never buy a
>> truck from "up on the Rez", because they commonly would park their
>> trucks against the house and run it all night with the heater going
>> full blast to provide warmth inside the house.
>>
>> Karl Wolz
>> Sent from my electronic umbilicus
>>
>>>> On Jan 2, 2016, at 11:59 PM, Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Last but not least and used for decades in some parts of Alaska and
>>> other cold climates best left to creatures other than human you can
>>> always get
>> it
>>> started and leave it running until Spring arrives.  i don't
>>> recommend
>> this
>>> option especially with a Vanagon but it does work.  It is also why
>>> used trucks from the North Slope are a bad investment, way too much
>>> idling for their low mileage.  Years ago I worked in the Parts Dept
>>> of a Ford dealership and we sold reman. engines like they were
>>> popcorn to the
>> Slope.
>>>
>>> Mark in AK
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 2, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Rocket J Squirrel <
>> camping.elliott@gmail.com
>>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 01/02/2016 02:35 PM, Richard Smith wrote:
>>>>
>>>> All of our vehicles had block heaters. The vws had a circular thing
>>>>> under the centre of the crankcase. They also had a "battery blanket"
>>>>> to keep the battery warm. Vanagons have no space for those, but
>>>>> they were essential back in the day.
>>>>
>>>> Seems like there'd be enough space for something like this:
>>>>
>>>> <
>> http://www.autozone.com/1/products/18125-battery-pad-heater-22400-kat
>> s
>> -heaters-22400.html
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>>>> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
>>>> Bend, Ore.
>
>
>
> --
> Cya,
> Robert
>
> '87 2.1/Auto GL