Extreme Cold Truck Care

Hey, I recently moved to the Yukon and my truck is not happy with me. It's been around -35°C for weeks and we got as low as -51 this past weekend. There's still a lot of winter left, so I'm looking for advice to keep my truck happy.

I have a block heater and a battery blanket (the battery blanket is a new addition and seems to be helping). Anything else I can or should get for her?

 

I grew up in North Dakota, so I have been dealing with cold like that the entire time I have been driving. Honestly the biggest thing is to make sure you have a good battery, so that it starts reliabily.

It will make horrible noises when it starts, but it will take the cold just fine. The block heater is the biggest thing to help. It will make starting in the morning a lot easier. Definitely get into the habit of starting it first before putting on seatbelt, scraping windows etc. This gives the fluids a bit if time to warm up. Go ahead and start driving right away, but take it easy ( no hard throttle etc) until after the temp neadle starts moving.

 

Careful about the block heater
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-block-heater-recall.665044/

 

I experience similar weather where I live, the advice above is bang on.

 

Put her in a heated garage.

 

Block heater, Battery Blanket , good battery ( I have a North-star AGM ) and a trickle charger / tender. Cold batteries loose so much cold cranking amps so keeping charged and warm is huge. My truck still makes a nice squealing sound at first start and for a few minutes but usually only -30 C and colder.
Stock Toyota batteries don't last but will definitely last a lot longer with the above mods. My wife's highlander is set up with a trickle charge and it plugs in with the block heater as her commute isn't very far and this helps keep her battery fully charged. It was -50c the other morning and both vehicles started no problem and both spend there life outside. Synthetic fluids make things easier on all moving parts.

 

Parking inside is biggest and best thing you can do. Beyond that I’ve never needed anything more than a good battery and scraper. What issues are you having?

 

Curious of the issues too. I'm going through the first real blast of cold (-30) with the truck and other than the clutch being slow and sticky, and the HVAC screen not working until it's warm I've had no issues.

I either plug in while outside (if it's below -20c) or park in the (+5c) garage.

 

Carry a (fully charged) booster pack.

I'm in my 5th year on the stock Battery, I suspect it could die this winter.

 

An oil pan heater helps a lot as well. I used a block heater, battery blanket and oil pan heater in those temps all plugged into a 3 to 1 extension cord that stuck out the bottom of the grille. Having it plugged in for about three hours prior to starting makes a huge difference.

Below -30C start up and let the engine warm up for about five minutes or so before driving and the truck will be happier with you. A timer for your plug in and an auto start makes all of this pretty easy.

 

Weather Front to block some of the direct cold air intake at the radiator when you are at speed.

 

I think my issue is mainly the battery. Just really rough starts, and the battery is only a year old.

A garage isn't an option, unfortunately my garage is filled with a water tank.

Thanks for all the advice! I think a new battery will be coming sooner than I'd like.

 

That is why you buy batteries based on CCA.

 

I was just home in Saskatchewan and had issues on my Drive back to BC.
Im thinking maybe bad fuel that had some water in it causing issues.
I would say some gas line antifreeze every now and then wouldn't hurt.
Other then that everything listed about its perfet!
Stay warm!

 

True , its -52 C here this am which I"m sure its colder than what they test them at to rate. , that's why I take other measures to ensure I'm able to start.

 

Engine and transmission oil pan heaters, battery blanket, small cabin heater.

 

Fortunately wind chill has nothing to do with batteries. So your "-52" isn't as bad as you may think.

CCA are measured at 0F or -18C though. So yes...you are below what they are tested to. So whatever the CCA is on the battery you can assume, for most of Canada, you'll have less than that for much of the winter.

 

Ya its only -40 before the wind , not that bad.

 

Rest assured that all other vehicles are going through the same thing up there. Warm it up good, it'll thank you.