[sundiz]

Has anyone had any problems to start after preheating? I've noticed that few times I had to run the starter motor little bit longer than without preheating. This morning it was -24*C and I almost had to leave my car home. I have a oil pan heater and it was on almost 2 hours before going to work. It took 10 attempts to get the engine running. Luckily the battery had enough charge for all of those attempts.

I've heard that some other brand cars have suffered from preheating. The ECU gets mixed info from different temp sensors which leads to situation where the car does not start. I've never had this issue before with my car.

Did not have camera on in the morning, but here's a video when I left work. This is without any preheating. This is the way it should go...

Hyundai i30 -08 1.6crdi cold start - YouTube

[xiziz]

I have not had any trouble so far, did a cold start this morning at -25.5c, lcd was very sluggish but the engine started on first rotation. Normally I have an electric pre-heater plugged two hours prior to departure, no issues there either but not had to start it colder than -17c when pre-heated.

Never had trouble starting a pre-heated engine actually, though sometimes its taken a few tries, especially if the car has been unused for a few days.

Following with interest!

[eye30]

Do you/Are you able to pre heat say before you leave work or is it not required during the day?

[crayman]

Living in the tropics, I find it incredible these engine even run in such conditions, yet they do.
Was talking to a truck owner in Canada at -33.
Engine has a sump heater but that doesn't help gearbox, diffs, power steer and so on.
Get in, hit the starter and away she all goes, amazing.

[PhireSideZA]

Hey Sundiz,

I can't speak for your situation (our temps rarely drop below 0) but I would think that the glow plugs have to heat up quite a bit more to compensate for the freezing temps.

I had on older Mitsubishi L200 diesel before my current i30 and it too would struggle when the mercury was below 5*C. It still had a manual push button to heat up the glow plugs but even then my starter felt lazy and struggled to turn over the engine sometimes.

Maybe you could leave a battery charger on overnight on trickle charge to see if it makes a difference the next morning?

Another thing and slightly off topic - I see that as soon as your engine takes your headlights switch on. Did you do that or is it something your car does by itself? The reason I'm asking is because my headlights stay on if they are on and the key is in the ignition, but they do not extinguish when the engine is cranked. I would like to have that option if possible, so maybe your model is specced different to ours?

All the best!

[sundiz]

I have "electrical" park space at home, but not at work. So it is always a true cold start when I leave work. I have loaded the battery with external smart charger. The battery seems to be in really good condition.

My car has "light memory". I don't know what that is in english. Basicly my headlights turn on automaticly when the car starts. Only dfference with off and headlight on positions is that in the headlights on position the dash illuminates and the high beam switch stays on if pressed. Only way for me to shut down headlights is to switch the lights in to park position but then parks and dash are illuminated.

[Phil №❶]

Cranking the engine at -30 Deg C, I would be minimizing all unnecessary electrical loads.

[sundiz]

Now the car seemed to work much better. -25'C and the car started with second attempt. Now to the temperatures have risen to -15'C so I'll have to wait cold temps to continue the experiment :-).

For other arctic drivers I can highly recommend castrols multivehicle transmission oil. I changed them about 30 000km ago. This is the smoothest transmission I have driven in the cold temps. Usually the transmissions stiffens up when you go below -20'C, but i30 5speed manual has been a positive surprise with castrol. I can hardly feel any difference in the behaviour of the transmission in the cold.

[tohis]

I haven't had any starting problems regarding of preheating. The engine always starts like *tic-tic-wrooom*, however the idle speed will not be raised after preheating. At yesterday morning it was -28 and it still started good, albeit vibrating like mad because the engine mount rubbers are very stiff in extreme cold. Had to give a bit of throttle to raise idle over 1000 rpm to smooth it. After two minutes of idling, I then went driving, accelerating slowly and going first kilometer only 40 km/h to let the car warm up a bit before going faster.

The coldest temperature when I've ever started my i30 without preheating was about -12 and it fired up immediately. Usually I'm always preheating when under 0 degrees, not only to ensure getting it started, but also to minimize risk of various cold start damage. At these days our garages are busy, typical damages being failed battery, crankshaft end seal popped because of clogged and frozen breather pipe, partially frozen coolant preventing it circulating and then overheat damage such as burned heat gasket, etc.

To Sundiz: it's possible that after preheating there's no sufficient glowing because the ECU thinks the engine is warm enough. I have the traditional engine block heater from Calix, which is surely more powerful than those oil pan heaters you mentioned. You may also have your glow plugs on the way out.

PS. Some entertainment for all of you from a place even colder than Finland:
Subaru Winter start up -44c - YouTube

[Dazzler]

Wow! I thought defrosting your windscreen was a hardship (before we used a garage) Thanks for sharing that video! 

[PhireSideZA]

You know it's cold when your antifreeze freezes. I'd hate to sneeze in that weather. You might just inflict an injury upon someone with the icicles flying out of your nose