6 ms·

I've seen the wrong side of -40, when I was flying to work in Ft McMurray, Alberta for a consulting job. One time, I drew the short straw and had to go pick up

I've seen the wrong side of -40, when I was flying to work in Ft McMurray, Alberta for a consulting job. One time, I drew the short straw and had to go pick up our SUVs at the parking lot upon landing. They were outside, plugged in. The car started with the saddest sound I ever heard a mechanical thing make. I put it in reverse, hit the gas, and pulled out of the spot. Then I put it in drive and hit the gas- and the car moved backwards. Every gear except for Park and Neutral did the same thing: reverse. I reversed around the airport parking lot to the terminal and walked into the Hertz. When I explained the problem, they had clearly heard it before. "Don't worry about it. Just leave it on for a few minutes and you'll be fine. Transmission fluid's frozen."

Pyrodogg 13y ago
At least your power steering system was ok or you would have only been able to reverse in a straight line without the significant effort of wrenching on the wheel.
caiob 13y ago
I'm from Yellowknife, about 1000mi north of Ft McMurray. More often than not, we hit -45C with a windchill of ~ -60c. The coldest it's ever been up here was -52c in 1947, if I'm not mistaken..
- hluska 13y ago
  I'm from Regina, Saskatchewan and for the first time in my life, I can honestly say that our mere -45 windchills don't sound so bad. :) Stay warm!!
  - flud43 13y ago
    Grew up in Saskatchewan as well (Prince Albert). So, so glad I live in Vancouver now. The people were great but the weather in PA was absolutely soul crushing throughout the winter. Vancouver rarely drops into the minus and we get maybe 1-2 snowfalls a year (which usually melt as it falls). Feel like it's the tropics over here whenever I get back from visiting family/friends in PA.
  - jcd748 13y ago
    I'm originally from Saskatoon, and remember a day around 2004 or 2005 where it was in the -40s, -62 with the windchill. Once was enough - I can't imagine "more often than not"!
- brc 13y ago
  You must love the cold. I cannot fathom living in an area like that.
  - caiob 13y ago
    yeah, but it's a dry cold. Besides I don't mind the cold as much as I hate the darkness during the winter months.
grecy 13y ago
You didn't let it warm up? In the Yukon, it's critical you let your car warm up. A block heater, battery blanket and oil pan heater are all needed, but they're only heating the actual engine block. Think about how cold the oil in the transmission and diffs are.. let alone everything else. You also want to drive extremely smoothly and slowly for the first ~5 mins to let everything circulate and slowly warm up to running temp - sudden moves or turns tears apart CV joints, and destroys other rubber seals.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  These are aspects to driving vehicles most people do not even begin to need to think about.
  - atwebb 13y ago
    Especially nowadays, I know that my 72 Chevy had a instructions for cold start (<32 I believe) on the back of the driver's visor which included idling for a few minutes. I've noticed people tend to turn their car on after getting situated but I still have a habit of turning it over as soon as I get in to let it warm up even though that car is, sadly, gone for now.
    - maxerickson 13y ago
      All the geegaws on a modern engine make it less important.
      - grecy 13y ago
        Hahaha. Have you seen what engine oil looks like past -35C? Butter. Same color, same consistency. You can cut and spread it with a knife. Those geegaws aren't helping there. Also, there is a hell of a lot more in a vehicle that's sensitive to extreme cold than an engine.
        maxerickson 13y ago
Mikeb85 13y ago
You need to warm a car for at least 15 minutes when it's that cold...
Sharlin 13y ago
Even in Finland, with comparatively mild winters, cars have preheaters with timers, and most residential parking lots have an electric socket on each space for plugging cars in.
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
I visited Changchun and Harbin one winter, as I was on the bus from the former to the latter, I watched the thermometer (ya, all these buses prominently displayed the outside temperature) drop from about -25 to -40...suffice it to say, my digital camera stopped working after about 5 minutes. When I got back to beijing, it was only -10, I felt like I could wear shorts.

Pyrodogg 13y ago

At least your power steering system was ok or you would have only been able to reverse in a straight line without the significant effort of wrenching on the wheel.

caiob 13y ago

I'm from Yellowknife, about 1000mi north of Ft McMurray. More often than not, we hit -45C with a windchill of ~ -60c. The coldest it's ever been up here was -52c in 1947, if I'm not mistaken..

hluska 13y ago
I'm from Regina, Saskatchewan and for the first time in my life, I can honestly say that our mere -45 windchills don't sound so bad. :) Stay warm!!
- flud43 13y ago
  Grew up in Saskatchewan as well (Prince Albert). So, so glad I live in Vancouver now. The people were great but the weather in PA was absolutely soul crushing throughout the winter. Vancouver rarely drops into the minus and we get maybe 1-2 snowfalls a year (which usually melt as it falls). Feel like it's the tropics over here whenever I get back from visiting family/friends in PA.
- jcd748 13y ago
  I'm originally from Saskatoon, and remember a day around 2004 or 2005 where it was in the -40s, -62 with the windchill. Once was enough - I can't imagine "more often than not"!
brc 13y ago
You must love the cold. I cannot fathom living in an area like that.
- caiob 13y ago
  yeah, but it's a dry cold. Besides I don't mind the cold as much as I hate the darkness during the winter months.

grecy 13y ago

You didn't let it warm up? In the Yukon, it's critical you let your car warm up. A block heater, battery blanket and oil pan heater are all needed, but they're only heating the actual engine block. Think about how cold the oil in the transmission and diffs are.. let alone everything else. You also want to drive extremely smoothly and slowly for the first ~5 mins to let everything circulate and slowly warm up to running temp - sudden moves or turns tears apart CV joints, and destroys other rubber seals.

sliverstorm 13y ago
These are aspects to driving vehicles most people do not even begin to need to think about.
- atwebb 13y ago
  Especially nowadays, I know that my 72 Chevy had a instructions for cold start (<32 I believe) on the back of the driver's visor which included idling for a few minutes. I've noticed people tend to turn their car on after getting situated but I still have a habit of turning it over as soon as I get in to let it warm up even though that car is, sadly, gone for now.
  - maxerickson 13y ago
    All the geegaws on a modern engine make it less important.
    - grecy 13y ago
      Hahaha. Have you seen what engine oil looks like past -35C? Butter. Same color, same consistency. You can cut and spread it with a knife. Those geegaws aren't helping there. Also, there is a hell of a lot more in a vehicle that's sensitive to extreme cold than an engine.
      - maxerickson 13y ago

Mikeb85 13y ago

You need to warm a car for at least 15 minutes when it's that cold...

Sharlin 13y ago

Even in Finland, with comparatively mild winters, cars have preheaters with timers, and most residential parking lots have an electric socket on each space for plugging cars in.

seanmcdirmid 13y ago

I visited Changchun and Harbin one winter, as I was on the bus from the former to the latter, I watched the thermometer (ya, all these buses prominently displayed the outside temperature) drop from about -25 to -40...suffice it to say, my digital camera stopped working after about 5 minutes. When I got back to beijing, it was only -10, I felt like I could wear shorts.