Myself and my buddy both bought MCS's and we were told by the sales lady that we didn't need a block heater. Anyone here been through real cold temps (-30C)? Anything we should know about? We both have the 16" run-flats.

 

that's like minus 22F. :smile:

Dave

 

My car started fime all last winter here in MN.


By the way, I was near San Diego last week, and the guys
were giving me a tour of the lab, and they were really impressed
by their -20 Degree F walk-in freezer for the lab samples until
I told them that in Minnesota, we build houses, and have
-20 Degree F walk OUT freezers!!!

The coldest I have ever been out in is a free-air temperature of
-37 degrees. (Doesn't matter much F or C since they cross at -40)

 

Thanks... finally started looking online to find answers about my mini... once I stopped driving :smile:

It doesn't stay that cold up here, but can be like that for a week or so during Jan/Feb. Usually it's around -15C to -25C Dec. to Feb, warmer near the beginning of Dec and end of Feb. It can go down to -40 in extreme cases , but not so good for cornering fun... I had to drive about an hour to where the topography changes to hills & curves.

 

I know a bit about EXTREME COLD. I had the pleasure of serving in the Air Force at Minot North Dakota. At the time, I owned a Volvo that had a block heater. That block heater was priceless on many cold nights.

If you have a garage, your MINI will probably start with no problems.

The more I think about Minot, the MORE I LOVE HAWAII

 

Yeah, North Dakota is our neighbor to the south. Grand Forks is a couple hours away. Needless to say, you have experienced pretty much what we go through.

My mini is in a garage, and don't expect problems on that end. My work parking is outdoors, and was wondering what it would be like in the cold for starting. The manual says to depress the accelorator half way before starting in extreme cold (-15C) HA! That's a pleasant winter's day around here.

I forgot to mention I'm having my shift cables replaced under warranty, as my shifter froze a couple weeks ago in only -6C. No kidding, I couldn't get it in gear! I started it and went to put it in gear, and it was like it was locked or something. Finally I jammed it in - yikes! - and took off. After motoring for a couple minutes it loosened up fine. I chalked it up to washing my car on a cold day, but it happened repeatedly for two days whenever I left it in the cold.

The mechanic at the dealer (a great guy) says he's never heard of it, and is replacing the cables. He thinks that moisture somehow got inside them. My buddies MCS works fine in the cold. Although he had a major computer meltdown in summer. They had to replace some major processor. The car would run fine but all instrumentation including speedo & tach were off line and all the engine lights were lit up like a christmas tree.

Getting the bugs out!

I've had them fix my window, cause the autoseal wasn't working (that little1/4" jump the window does when you open/close the door - my friends think that is sooo cool.) They've done a recall on a fan relay, and checked my ASC because I thought it was waaay to sensitive & almost got me killed as the power disappeared halfway across and intersection (they said it was fine but were sending the data to Mini). My horn went (the low note) and they're replacing it. Now the cable thing. Oh yeah, my sunroof screen came apart one summer day as I was flying down the highway. I tried to get it back together but it stretched the material, so they replaced it too.

I HOPE thats it :???:

Of course none of it matters when I turn the key & get to DRIVE!!!

 

hey, i got to experience some of that xtreme cold from'99-'01 when i was attending und at grand forks. in fact, i even got to visit winnipeg for a night of fun after finals before heading home to hawaii.

not too familiar with the big C temps. more with the big F temps. amazingly, that winter of '99 was actually quite warm from what i was expecting. didn't experience any snow until i came back from x-mas break in january. i don't even think there were any blizzards officially. winter '00 wasn't really much worse. winter '01 did get to -50 F wind chills a few times. raw temps i think was -10 to -20 F. now that was killer cold with the "wind chill advisory", where exposed body parts could be damaged permanently within a few minutes. ahhh...fond memories. amazingly, i actually hated the summers more than the winters, because of the tornado warnings and the unbelievable insects/mosquitoes that just make it absolutely horrible to be outside very long.

sorry, i know this was supposed to be about mini's in xtreme cold. but i do know a bit about those heater boards importance in dakota winters. only thing is it sure seemed like trucks and big cars were common over there with the assumption that some degree of damage was gonna inevitably happen sooner or later. don't know if i could bear driving my mini around in such weather and circumstances.

 

Ministrone,
Ah yes, the great frozen north country. Back in the late 70's I spent four winters in your area, two in Thief River Falls, MN, one in Fargo and the fourth in Minot. My personal record low temp was -43 F in TRF. At that time I had a rotary Mazda, no garage, and no block heater. It never failed to start.
Winters were long and cold up there, but the summers were sure nice. I've got many good memories of going racing in Gimli with my buddy and his formula ford. Thanks to your fine countrymen for introducing me to Labatt Blue and Molson.

Wings

 

Your Welcome!

Ahhh the cold... The days when you can't wash your car without risk of it freezing shut tight. I always had a problem with the electric windows on my van freezing closed after washing, and I expect the same with my MCS.

The car got a little creaky on our first cold snap (-15C). I wonder how it will be at -30C? I anticipate it being as stiff as a rock - and it's already got a stiff suspension - driving over rock hard pavement that the frost has heaved so you hit every joint with a bang.

I used to drive a Geo Metro that if you weren't moving on a cold -30C day with a windchill the car would get pretty cold. The engine had to be revving to keep me warm! I only had 3 cylinders though...


Good thing I have heated seats!

 

The arctic front just chased my nephew down from Calgary to Vancouver. -15F. He was glad to get home. Just kinda curious about extreme cold weather: has anyone's door lock froze? What to do? Tape over it while it is parked?

 

The arctic front just chased my nephew down from Calgary to Vancouver. -15F. He was glad to get home. Just kinda curious about extreme cold weather: has anyone's door lock froze? What to do? Tape over it while it is parked?

 

Nothing will freeze unless it gets wet - like when you wash your car. The lock won't freeze, but the keyhole will. So if you can't use your auto-unlock feature on your key for some reason, you'll need to have a bottle of lock de-icer on your person. (I believe it's just ethyl alcohol)

You'll have a larger problem of the door window freezing to the rubber gasket, effectivley sealing your car. Make sure you thoroughly dry any touching door parts. That goes for the boot too. It depends on how cold it is as to how fast and hard things freeze. If it's between 0C and -15C, you usually ok, but -20C and colder, things freeze fast and solid. I used to own a Geo Metro and had to climb through the hatchback after washing it and leaving it outside many times. Keyhole froze solid.

It doesn't help to have the lock de-icer in the glove box

 

Last night the temp fell down to the low 30's for the first time in ages! The high will only be the low 50's!!! Thats cold for us!

 

Nothing will freeze unless it gets wet - like when you wash your car. The lock won't freeze, but the keyhole will. So if you can't use your auto-unlock feature on your key for some reason, you'll need to have a bottle of lock de-icer on your person. (I believe it's just ethyl alcohol)

You'll have a larger problem of the door window freezing to the rubber gasket, effectivley sealing your car. Make sure you thoroughly dry any touching door parts. That goes for the boot too. It depends on how cold it is as to how fast and hard things freeze. If it's between 0C and -15C, you usually ok, but -20C and colder, things freeze fast and solid. I used to own a Geo Metro and had to climb through the hatchback after washing it and leaving it outside many times. Keyhole froze solid.

It doesn't help to have the lock de-icer in the glove box

 

Don't know how I posted twice??

Cold? We'd be sitting in shorts on a patio having a beer!

Actually it's all about aclimatizing. When it first starts to get cool here - around 0C, everyone says how cold it is... but after a winter of -20 to-30C, 0C seems balmy come springtime!

My mini goes for the shift cables to be replaced on Friday. Still have a frozen gearbox after 5 hours in -10C, until I drive for about 5 minutes. I let the wife try & she couldn't even force it into gear.

I'm getting some creaky noises from my dash now too, as everything contracts with the cold.

My MCS likes to warm up on the highway at about ohhhh 195kmh (shh don't tell my wife)