Cold weather prep for my cars?
 

Ok, two things first. I'm putting this here because it will get the most looks and second, if your from a cold weather state please don't laugh at me for my question.

It is going to get very cold where I live, down into the teens with some sleet predicted. Should I add more antifreeze to both my FD and 8? Would laying blankets or something on them help stop any potenial problems? No, I don't have a garage but they are both under car ports. Im not sure how the 7 was mixed and I was going to flush the system anyways but haven't had time. Should I drain it and then just flush and refill? The 8 has whatever the factory put into it. Im worried about my babies. Your help is appreciated and once again don't laugh at me please lol.

They're just cars, dude. As long as you have a reasonable mix of anti-freeze (more than 10%), you shouldn't have any problems. Why does everyone think these cars are such fragile temperamental things? I drove my 79 GS through 5 Indiana winters (below zero) with no problems except the one time that the gas froze in the lines. I just bought dry-gas after that during the winter.

Cause I'm not a cold weather person, I like to take good care of things and I worry, dude. :)

Is the freezing point of gas pretty low?

You don't have to worry about the gas freezing...it's actually when moisture gets in the lines and freezes up. This shouldn't really be an issue with fuel-injected cars.

Cars are tested to operate well below zero, temps in the teens are nothing...(I'm originally from Michigan, so don't let the Cali location fool you!). :)

The only thing to be careful about if you are not used to cold weather is that tire grip will be quite a bit less than in warmer weather and that the FD will pull hard as stink in the cold temps. :)

Now I do feel foolish, I meant to say I thought the freezing point of gas was low like -50 or something a lot lower.

I am worried about boost spike or creep (don't yet know the correct term for it)with this cold weather becasue I don't have a controller yet. Just gotta stay off the gas to be safe.

Thanks for the help Rynberg.

Put some gas line antifreeze and you won't have to worry about frozen anything in the gas.

Up your antifreeze, flush your rad.

Get a nice battery warmer/blanket. Plug in coolant heater and a in car heater and you're set for -40 degree weather. :)

Get some nice winter tires, keep a can of 'inflate a tire' handy.

Get a nice battery with tons of cold cranking amps.

Acutally, the car itself doesn't need much to be 'winter ready.'

boost creep??? in the cold
 

first, dont be too worried about boost creep in the cold...unless you have a straight through exhaust and even then you have to worry about it in the summer. second, the boost controller will not control your boost if you have a straight through exhaust, for that you need a better wastegate.

What i think is the funniest part is that you say you are in a cold area....I guess I never knew san antonio texas got that cold

Exactly what i was thinking, i mean right now where i live in Alberta it's about -25 degrees Celcuislast week it was -30ish and that is starting to get realy cold, and i do nothing to get my car ready for a "Real" winter, as long as you don't plan on driving it up to the artic you would be fine with leaving it the way it is, if you are really concerned about it, one of the best thing for Rotaries is getting an "Engine Oil pan heater" similar to a block heater but this keeps the oil warm instead of the antifreeze, much more usefull. now just take it easy when it is cooler down there or you will have a broken car to worry bout not getting it ready for winter.


Prôdigy

-25 Degrees C???????

Are you sure that's not Fahrenheit??


I didn't know it got that cold that far south. But I was curious, in my parts it's not that unusual to maybe hit about -10 degrees F around Jan. 1. It seems to me that I can't really tell the difference between -1 and -10 when it comes to enduring prolonged periods outside. I was wondering if it was the same at that temperature. Can you tell the difference between -10 and -25 degrees?

I knew the jokes were coming when I started this lol

I said it was going to GET cold, not that I live in a cold area. Around here it gets cold for a couple days and then pops back up to 60 or higher.

about changing boost levels, as stated I don't know shit yet. I do however know(at least I think I know) not to have a strait exhaust w/o ported turbos, restrictor plate or some other measure. I've been searching/reading/searching in my spare time to find out more. I thought the car would have the potential to get higher boost levels with the much lower temps and if potential turned into reality it could cause bad things. < Its highly possible that I'm not knowing what I'm talking about.

Yes he means C (Celsius). Here where I live in Jan-Feb it is pretty much constantly in the -30's degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) add in the windshield and it can easily drop into the -40's. This is warmer compared to where I use to live.

Buzzardsluck in your location just make sure you have a good coolant mixture like Rynberg suggested and you should be fine.

Texas? That's year round SUMMER weather.

If you want to see/feel cold, come up to Edmonton/Ft. Mac during winter. It's always -20 and can easily hit -30. (But it doesn't get to -40 like it used to when I was a kid).

AUM: I think you mean 'wind chill' not windshield :)


CELCIUS :)

Hell last winter Alberta was getting minus 30 regularly then with the windchill it was dipping into the -40's everyonce in a while, I was born in the Province that AUM lives in and there was one winter that a huge blizzard came about, grater got stuck trying to plow the street, got it on our old Video cam too, it was nasty cold out too, and even two days ago was about -25 to -30ish with windchill factored in, ya it gets cold up but you tend to get used to it after a while, but i still like warmer weather, and clear roads all year long, get less then 1/2 an inch of snow and other drivers think all hell has broken loose driving 40 in a 60 zone, i mean it's bean plowed move outta the way, people need to learn how to drive or have their licenes revoked, too many stupid drivers, and over cautious ones too.......




Prôdigy

here we go with the coldest weather compitition hahaha

I guess I should pay more attention when using the spell checker :)

Can't you spell Celcius either way (celcius or celsius)? I believe "celsius" is the UK version.

Edmonton can get pretty cold, very similar weather to Winnipeg. A winter in Texas would be nice.

Dude your in Texas just like I am. Don't even worry about the low temps. I've never had any cold weather related problems with any of the 4 Rx7's (2 Fb's, 1 Fc and the Fd) that i've owned. I drove them just like any normal car.