Will a higher octane gasoline help cold weather start
No, it will not.
IIRC, premium gas combusts at a higher temperature than āregularā gas, so it is possible that switching to higher octane gasāin a vehicle that does not require itācould be counterproductive.
I suspect that your truck has some type of mechanicalā¦ issuesā¦ and the octane of the gas that you put into the tank cannot overcome mechanical issues.
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It starts, I was just curious. Thank you
You can buy āstarter fluidā (ether) in a spray can for starts on cold (say 0Ā° or colder) days.
I donāt even like using ether on diesel let alone gas.
They become addicted.
I had a junk battery. It got to -20 and the battery froze.
I used to put a bottle of gas line antifreeze in the tankā¦that was 30 years ago.In your case, get a new battery and it will start right- up.
I do
It did
You must be psychic
Octane rating has nothing to do with a fuelās flash point. Flash point is the lowest temperature at which ignitable vapors exist above a pool of liquid. For gasoline, thatās around minus 40 F. Butane is often blended into gasoline during the winter months in order to lower the flash point and make cold weather starting easier.
Alcohol and nitro has a high flash point, thatās why you see people squirting a shot of gasoline into the injectors at the drag strip while they are cranking an alcohol or fuel car. I used to use lighter fluid to get my model airplane engines to start in cold weather. Just a drop or two into the intake and it would light right off with a flip of the prop. Without lighter fluid, getting it to start in cold weather was an exercise in frustration, with me often just borrowing someone elseāe electric starter to spin the engine up. I was too pig headed to get an electric starter and the car battery needed to run it.
Ahh, very good! Thank you
I agree with the crowd here. Premium wonāt help with cold starts, and likely wonāt do anything else better than regular fuel in that vehicle either. Hereās why I say so, if interested. If the cold is severe, a block heater or battery heater is a common thing in the Norther New England area.
Thatās it? Because a block heater is common?
A modern car in any shape at all should start in sub-zero weather. My 1971 Ford Maverick and my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass sat outside and I started both cars when the temperature was -22 F (22 degrees below zero). That was in the days of the carburetors. I did nothing special-- just made sure the spark plugs were in good shape, the battery tested out o.k. and I kept the gas tank at least half full. I did add a can of gasoline antifreeze (Heet) to prevent fuel line freezing. The Maverick had the old distributor point ignition. With todayās gasoline, there probably isnāt a need for gas line antifreeze. The electronic ignition and fuel injection should make todayās engines easy to start in sub-zero weather.
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My 19 year old Corolla started right up this morning at -20 as it always did. 10 year old battery and no block heater.
It started at -20 with a new battery. I was just curious about the gas thing.
Itās TBI it didnāt want to fire right up. If I remember right, with fuel injection you can give it just a little throttle in those -20 conditions???
The first second after start-up is when engine wear happens.The oil at the bottom of the sump needs time to lubricate the engine in extreme cold weather. This is why people use block heaters
I am Aware
+1
However, that presupposes that the vehicle in question has been properly maintained and that it has a reasonably-strong battery. You and I would take those precautions, but not everyone seems to be pro-active, unfortunately.
No throttle on startup with EFI! Confuses the little brain in the computer. Maybe flooded procedure might work but EFI systems usually work better without the old style start combinations left over from the carburetor days. Like it has been said, if it does not pop right off it means something is not quite right. Usually low voltage while cranking in cold weather.
Karl
Im sure I read somewhere you can give it just a little throttle
And yes, it could use a tune-up