Operating in cold weather

A friend said he is not using his Series Land Rover due to the extreme low temperatures up North recently. Ok, it is a beautiful old Land Rover but is starting them in such cold temperatures really so bad for the engines, gearboxes etc? I thought they were built for harsh conditions.

He had a 2.25 Petrol... mid-sixties.

I use my serries 3 88" van all through the winter up on the high hills in the North of scotland and it copes very well - I think as long as all the fluids and oils are topped up and you let the engine temp come on to the scale before you put your boot down your ok.

They were designed as working vehicles and are well up to the cold once they are running - the cold does some times make starting 'fun' some mornings!

could be he might freeze inside it

What's the take on oils for the 2.25 petrols in this kind of weather?

We're hitting -10 regularly here, and just this morning I spotted that mine decided to vent some oil out the oil filter seal either during (sluggish) cranking or post-start. This all despite my best efforts to keep the revs as low as possible right after ignition. It had sat for 4 days with a small greenhouse paraffin heater directly under the sump too.

Life returned to normal after a couple of seconds, but enough for half a cupful to land on the drive. Would people recommend 5W40 for this weather, or mix that with 20W50?

cheers

Kyle

I'm not sure I'd want to take an old and much cherished vehicle out in this weather - the salt would eat it!

-16 in the west of ireland this morn, took my friend who stayed over 2 hrs to start his vivaro, with a heater going underneath!
my `72 diesel landy; 2 turns of the key and broom broom!
topped it up with a can of diesel today, it was thicker than washing up liquid, but still it started and drove fine!

Jamesbil said:

-16 in the west of ireland this morn, took my friend who stayed over 2 hrs to start his vivaro, with a heater going underneath!
my `72 diesel landy; 2 turns of the key and broom broom!
topped it up with a can of diesel today, it was thicker than washing up liquid, but still it started and drove fine!

Click to expand...

nice

I live in Norway and have no problems starting and running at -15 with mineral 10W40.

It's a SIII Norwegian exmod so the 24V system is a great advantage when cranking the engine over in the morning.
These vehicles were used as radio wagons up North (inland) where -30 is normal temperatures during the winter. For starting, the army used portable kerosene heaters for the coolant which connects to the cooling system in front.
A mil spec Webasto heater in the back keeps even an old Landy warm as a sauna during the winter .
In the front, a radiator blind helps keeping the engine temperature at optimum when driving at speed.

If it's good enough for the army, offroad at -30, it should be ok for most people ;-)

BR
Franco