Starting Below 0°

[Ex-Calif]

I am aware of block heaters and so on and a thought occurred to me.

If OP has access to 120V what about an electric blanket draped over the engine at night or on a timer to come on in the early hours to worm things up under the hood.

My dad had a Wilga airplane of Polish design. It used a high pressure pneumatic air manifold for starting. In really cold operations the engine oil could be drained and kept indoors at night.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Another aircraft technique before the days of multi viscosity oil was to add a bit of fuel to the oil sump before shutting the engines down so that when cold the oil wasn't as thick. Once the engine started the fuel would vaporize away. Seems like a plausible idea, though not eminently practical for RV's.

I recall reading about Byrd's expeditions to the south pole and seeing how upon landing the first thing they did was drain the oil out of the airplane engines while it was hot, or there'd be no restarting them cold.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[ennored]

It was sort of mentioned, but not really...

Same gas in it since you got it in October? Probably filled with summer fuel. Winter fuel vaporizes at a lower temp to help cold starts. May not be your whole issue, but certainly not helping.

 

[Kirk]

Winter fuel vaporizes at a lower temp to help cold starts.

Is gasoline different in winter?

In winter, gasoline blends have a higher Reid vapor pressure, meaning they evaporate more easily and allow gasoline to ignite more easily to start your car in cold temperatures. This blend is cheaper to produce, which results in lower gas prices at the pumps from late September through late April.