My Fit is sleeping soundly with the gentle pur of her own 1500watt oscillating electric heater tower. Absurdly wasteful, inefficient, and ineffective. But hey, it's a frickin free country and my Fit really hates the cold too!

 

Don't forget us Alaskans =P

 

ya my car also has been slow to crank over.

I think alot of it has to do with the battery. The smaller ones can take a big hit in the cold to the amount of cold-cranking-amps they can output. I'm sure there are battery options out there for you for things that are more suited to bitter cold if you are worried about it... it definitely helps if you have as many of the accessories off when you try starting the car (hvac fan, defroster, radio, headlights, etc).

 

It's colder up here in Wisconsin and I have no problem. The synthetic I''m using doesn't hurt either.

 

I use a timer to turn on the block heater at 3 am so it's usually on about 4 hrs before I leave for work. No problems starting. I leave it running for 5-10 mins or so while I scrape the ice off the windows and then go. Even after a 10 min warmup, the Cold light may still be on and it drives very sluggish for the first few minutes . . . I can't imagine driving it away after 30 seconds warmup like some suggest, if it doesn't stall then it'll at least be sluggish for a long time.

Anyway, back to the block heater. Once I forgot to plug in at -25C (-13F) and I had to crank several times to get it to turn over. I wouldn't recommend that.

 

And if you're lucky enough to have a garage, it makes a tremendous difference on startup.

 

Here in Kentucky, it's been single digits in AM for most of the week. Car started up without problem every day. Cold temp light went off within 1.5 miles, and heater was spitting out warm air as well. Car is outside all the time, with warm-up about 1-3 minutes to get fluid circulating. Car seems just fine in cold weather so far. Hate getting salt all over the car from the snowy roads though. Have to wait 3-4 days for temps to get above freezing to wash car.

 

Since I started this thread I'll just jump in and say that over the past few weeks it seems my Fit doesn't hate the cold. It's operating perfectly. Maybe it was just the very day it went from warm temps to very cold that made it's ass pucker, I don't know. It sure did mine! But overall, it starts fine, runs fine, and handles the roads well. It's my Fit's first of many winters with me- may they all go as smoothly as this one is going. The car, that is. The winter has been a bad one thus far.

 

I had a band gig last night. The car sat out in 0 degree F weather until 3:00 AM. It started after a bit longer than normal crank. The clutch was stiff as all get out most of the way home, though. Even the seat foam was hard as a rock.

The car warmed up fine, though. At least until I hit the deer halfway home.

 

?!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have seen more wild hogs than deer recently and I would hate to hit either.... I know that you guys up north have much colder weather than I am seeing but it has been 90 degrees colder than our summer highs..... It takes about 12 miles of driving for the tires to quieten down and the suspension to begin to work and everything else that has been noted in this thread is applicable to what I am experiencing..... I have noticed that my dash is rattling for the first time since I have owned my car.

 

You know, those 4 legged varmints, or as we call them up here "antler rats". I saw the first deer cross the road and hit my brakes hard, anticipating one following (where there's one deer, there's often two). Sure enough, the second popped up out of the ditch along the road about 20 feet in front of me and I nailed him dead center with the car. I was probably going about 20 MPH. The deer cartwheeled end over end while I stopped and got out to assess the damage. The hood is ruined, but the car remained drivable. Good thing, as cold as it was, I might have frozen to death before help would come out there in the middle of nowhere. The Fit is one tough little car.

Oh, yeah, to the truck driver behind me who saw me hit the deer and didn't bother to stop to see if I needed help, thanks for nothing!

 

I posted in a another thread that I left my hatch slightly ajar for several days while my Fit was in the garage. When I tried to start it, I was greeted by a rapid clicking noise instead of the car starting. So I did a slow recharge and ever since, it turns over like a jet engine every time. I've left it for days un-started with pretty cold temps and the result is always the same; when I turn the key, I am greeted with a quick and reliable start. No complaints at all. I'm in Southern New England, not as cold as some of where you guys are but it's not SoCal either. So for my money, this battery does it's job and then some.

Just adding this as another data point to the conversation.

 

Man UG, that completely sucks! Sorry to hear about that. I deal with deer here too and you are so right- there's always more than one deer. It's usually the second one that causes the biggest trouble. They are the STUPIDEST animals. This is a big reason why I drive with my fogs on full time at night too. It helps to see all the little shits at the curb just aching to run out in front of you. I hope you get your Fit back in shape soon.

Dan

 

What happened to the deer? Was it injured or what?

 

Don't know and don't really care. Last I saw, the deer hit the ground running after a mid-air flip and was headed in the general direction of Oxford. I assume he was pretty sore the next day.

I have little sympathy for deer. A very good friend of mine was nearly killed after hitting one on his motorcycle. We're overrun with the darn things down here.

 

We park our Fit on the street without a block heater. Weather has dipped to -15 F or so on a few occasions and never a single issue with cold starts with ours. In fact, stiffness is even less a factor than it is with my 4x4 ranger, so it is an easy cold weather car for the quick little errand. Cold temp light goes out within 3 blocks away every time.

 

Here is some fun facts from a Canadian to make fun of you :

- 14F to -4F almost every day during fair wheaters in winter. Cold days are between -4F to -40 F.

- 39 inches to 78 inches ( currently ) height of snow pushed on the snowdrift in front of residential houses.

- Expect all road to be on snow with sometimes ice in front of your driveway up to main roads.

- You need to shovel the snow to get your car out about 2-4 times a week.

- You usually spend 5 min removing the snow on car and ice on wiper and windsheild before taking off.

- Winter tires are required by law.

- 3-4inch of snow is not a blizzard but a regular day. Blizzards brings 5.9 inch to 17 inch.

- Sometimes weather warm up above 32 F which bring loads of joy with a mix of icy rains and snow changing during the day.

- If your like me and live downtown, you must watch the town snow operation and parking to make sure they dont tow your car few streets away at your expanses.

- You most of the time dont even see the lanes on the road.

I could continue that list for a long times
Im sure Alaska folks could break some sugar on my back too

 

I find that turning the key to "on" for several seconds to let the fuel pump cycle before starting may result in a quicker cold start, though I've never had any problems either way down to the teens F (not extreme cold, of course).

There's really no reason to let the car idle in temperatures like this. Drive it gently for 10 minutes or so, but getting it up to temp more quickly (driving it) is arguably better than letting it run cold for an extended period of time.

 

it looks like "it's pronounced iVTEC" gets the prize for coldest at -50c (fort st.john, BC)

the coldest temperature ever recorded in north america was -63c (-81f) so he is getting down there. if the fit can perform in -50, it speaks very well for the little thing.

i wonder how the diesels up there were handling that cold spell...