So It Isn't A Miata But It Is Interesting

> Having said that, I don't think I'd want an oil-powered Miata/MX
> 5/Roadster as the heavier engine would screw up the balance of the car.

Plus, aren't they harder to start in cold temps? My world is 48 hour chunks
of below zero seperated by small blizzards.

miker

"miker" > wrote:

> My world is 48 hour chunks of below zero seperated by small
> blizzards.

I'm gonna make a guess you don't live in Phoenix, Arizona? <GD&R>

Today it's going to get up to 73F but that's still way too cold for
me.... I will have the top down, though.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, MIKER! (you get to laugh when it's 115F here and I
have the top up and the AC running!)


--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://improve-usenet.org

miker > wrote:

> > Having said that, I don't think I'd want an oil-powered Miata/MX
> > 5/Roadster as the heavier engine would screw up the balance of the car.
>
> Plus, aren't they harder to start in cold temps? My world is 48 hour chunks
> of below zero seperated by small blizzards.
>
> miker

Shouldn't be - the oil companies change the formulation in winter to add
stuff to prevent it from coagulating in sub-zero temps. In Europe I
believe that diesel is OK to at least -20C in winter.

I had a diesel Citroen BX some years ago and never had any problems, but
there again during the couple of years I had it temperatures rarely went
below -10 C in the winter here in the UK.

As long as you have a strong battery (high compression ratio is a
feature of diesel engines) starting a diesel in winter is no worse than
in summer. The engines have 'glow plugs' that pre-heat the compression
chambers for a few seconds before you start the car. Ignition on, wait
for the glow plug light on the dash to go out, then fire up the engine.
In very cold weather the dash light may be on for 10+ secs, in the
summer, maybe 2 or 3 seconds.
--
Rob - Shropshire
So many cats,
So few recipes...

XS11E wrote:

> Today it's going to get up to 73F but that's still way too cold for
> me.... I will have the top down, though.

I have had several opportunities to move north and have never done it. I
think that the ice and snow are what keep me in the "deep" south.

> EAT YOUR HEART OUT, MIKER! (you get to laugh when it's 115F here and I
> have the top up and the AC running!)

I don't think that we hit quite that high last summer, but I was driving
with the top-up, 3 windows open and no A/C.
That was a good time to laugh at me as I suffered borderline heatstroke
during heavy traffic on an especially humid day.

Seriously, most trips were almost always planned for early morning or at
night, long after the sun has gone down.
Those are still great times to drive with the top down in Texas even
during the hottest part of summer.

All I have to do to get a laugh is to hear about people in cold climates
shoveling their driveways or shoveling their car out from underneath
many feet of snow.
That is something that I have never done and hope to keep it that way.

I like to look at snow, but would not like to live with it occurring
regularly.

Being able to buy sticky performance tires without switching over to
snow tires in the winter is nice.
Simply not driving on snow and ice at all is something that I consider a
big plus, and there no need to "winter-store" the Miata to achieve this
here.

Different strokes for different folks. I would be happy with a
temperature range of 65 to 95 degrees.
That monotony in weather would drive some other people crazy.

Pat

On 2009-01-13, Rob > wrote:
> miker > wrote:
>
>> > Having said that, I don't think I'd want an oil-powered Miata/MX
>> > 5/Roadster as the heavier engine would screw up the balance of the car.
>>
>> Plus, aren't they harder to start in cold temps? My world is 48 hour chunks
>> of below zero seperated by small blizzards.
>>
>> miker
>
> Shouldn't be - the oil companies change the formulation in winter to add
> stuff to prevent it from coagulating in sub-zero temps. In Europe I
> believe that diesel is OK to at least -20C in winter.

It was -25C this morning. In the northern part of the state it
was a little below -30C. Up there block heaters are probably a
bit more common...

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! I'm encased in the
at lining of a pure pork
visi.com sausage!!

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:06:40 -0600, "miker" >
wrote:

>> Having said that, I don't think I'd want an oil-powered Miata/MX
>> 5/Roadster as the heavier engine would screw up the balance of the car.
>
>Plus, aren't they harder to start in cold temps? My world is 48 hour chunks
>of below zero seperated by small blizzards.
>
>miker
>

Nope, as long as they have winter diesel and working glow plugs
starting is not a problem in even sub zero temps




OzOne of the three twins

I welcome you to Crackerbox Palace.

miker wrote:
>> Having said that, I don't think I'd want an oil-powered Miata/MX
>> 5/Roadster as the heavier engine would screw up the balance of the car.
>
> Plus, aren't they harder to start in cold temps? My world is 48 hour chunks
> of below zero seperated by small blizzards.
>
> miker
>
>

Well, a diesel can be difficult in low temps. But there are many ways to
alleviate problems -- the first is to switch over to the "winter" fuel (AKA
#1 fuel oil, or "dewaxed") before the really cold weather hits you. Once
you've done that everything else becomes much easier. A block heater helps
a diesel as it does a gasoline engine in the cold. A heater pad under the
battery (always kept in tip-top shape!) can help a lot.

I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for a long time and for ten years drove a VW
diesel rabbit (a pickup truck version if you can believe it). The truck was
parked outside and probably failed to start twice, usually when I didn't
get the tank filled with #1 fuel in time. At home the block and battery
heater were plugged in. But on occasion I went out of town for a week or
more and left the truck parked at the airport without benefit of a plugin
and it invariably started even in sub-zero (Fahrenheit) weather when I got
back to it.

Diesels have come a _long_ way since then and I don't doubt that
trouble-free service could be had from one even in frigid climates and with
less effort than I expended.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

John McGaw wrote:
>
> Well, a diesel can be difficult in low temps. But there are
> many ways to alleviate problems...

Among others, VW could avoid the trouble of getting a new engine
certified by the EPA, and also avoid the US car-buyers bias against (30%
more expensive) diesel, by making a US market version of this car with
one of the gasoline engines they put in US market Golfs and Jettas into
it, such as the 1.8T. If I were marketing this imaginary car for
Porsche/VW, I'd call it the 914-1.8T.

yrs jp

"John McGaw" > wrote in message
...
> miker wrote:
>>> Having said that, I don't think I'd want an oil-powered Miata/MX
>>> 5/Roadster as the heavier engine would screw up the balance of the car.
>>
>> Plus, aren't they harder to start in cold temps? My world is 48 hour
>> chunks of below zero seperated by small blizzards.
>>
>> miker
>>
>>
>
> Well, a diesel can be difficult in low temps. But there are many ways to
> alleviate problems -- the first is to switch over to the "winter" fuel
> (AKA #1 fuel oil, or "dewaxed") before the really cold weather hits you.
> Once you've done that everything else becomes much easier. A block heater
> helps a diesel as it does a gasoline engine in the cold. A heater pad
> under the battery (always kept in tip-top shape!) can help a lot.
>
> I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for a long time and for ten years drove a VW
> diesel rabbit (a pickup truck version if you can believe it). The truck
> was parked outside and probably failed to start twice, usually when I
> didn't get the tank filled with #1 fuel in time. At home the block and
> battery heater were plugged in. But on occasion I went out of town for a
> week or more and left the truck parked at the airport without benefit of a
> plugin and it invariably started even in sub-zero (Fahrenheit) weather
> when I got back to it.
>
> Diesels have come a _long_ way since then and I don't doubt that
> trouble-free service could be had from one even in frigid climates and
> with less effort than I expended.
>
> --
> John McGaw
> [Knoxville, TN, USA]
> http://johnmcgaw.com
In winter, #2 diesel is formulated for better starting. Using #1 diesel is
more expensive, it gives less power and has less lubricity.

http://www.exxon.com/USA-English/GFM..._Fuels_FAQ.asp



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Chas Hurst wrote:
> "John McGaw" > wrote in message
> ...
snip...

> In winter, #2 diesel is formulated for better starting. Using #1 diesel is
> more expensive, it gives less power and has less lubricity.
>
> http://www.exxon.com/USA-English/GFM..._Fuels_FAQ.asp
>
>
>
> --
> Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service
> ------->>>>>>http://www.NewsDemon.com<<<<<<------
> Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access

I'll stick with #1 in a frigid climate. Quoting your FAQ:

"What should I do in the winter to adjust for the cold temperatures?
We recommend that you purchase a diesel fuel that has been winterized for
your area by mixing it with Diesel Fuel No. 1 or low-temperature fluidity
improver additives. Non-winterized diesel fuel will not generally cause
problems as long as temperatures are at or above 10°F. The addition of
about 15% to 20% Diesel Fuel No. 1 to Diesel Fuel No. 2 will reduce the
cloud point of the fuel by about 5°F. "

So their winterized fuel should be good to 5°F if everything else is
working perfectly and if the winterization was carried out properly. That
temperature might be good in some climates but it certainly wouldn't cut it
in large swaths of the Northern Hemisphere. Even switching over to pure #1
in Alaska can be problematic if it is done too late and there is an excess
of #2 already in the tank. The latter is what caught me off guard when I
had "failure-to-launch" with my diesel. Adding a bit of (gasp!) regular
gasoline to the tank and then heating fuel line, filter, pump, and
distributor with a heat gun always got things going again although it
certainly could be a PITA at -10°F. That is how I wound up with frostbitten
fingers which plague me to this day when it gets cold.

No doubt that #1 has less energy content and is more expensive and it may
well have less lubricity but there is a good reason that diesel users in
really cold climates switch over to it -- it works.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com