| AWD Rookie |
I live in pretty mild weather; but we are heading somewhere really cold this weekend. The forcast calls for -22F at night and -4 as a high during the day. Don't really know what to expect.
I have a 2008 outback limited, all stock; the car was maintained and battery is good.
Would the car have trouble with this temperature?
If so, what should I do?
How cold has it got for you and your subie?
Thanks. |
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| nurse-gadget |
| parked outdoors for about 4 hours....around 17 degrees....my TPMS light comes on....being a girl, I just ignore it....(I actually got out of the car and made sure no tire was flat....everything looked great...light went out after a night parked back in the garage)....have fun on your trip :) |
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| nipper |
Go to an autoparts store and get a hygrometer. It is really cheap, looks like a small turkey baster with a hose on it (tell them you want to check your antifreeze) and that will tell you what your antifreeze is good for.
Also check your tire pressure in the cold ( i know it sucks brrrrrrrrrr) but you can loose 1psi for every ten degree temp change.
Also make sure you have proper winterized windshield washer fluid.
And do dress for the cold, as you never know if a car is going to break down or not. You dont want to be unprepared.
Have fun
nipper |
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| xcgates |
| Well, I realized it got pretty cold when the shifter got quite stiff. I then checked the temps online, and it said it was -6 deg F. :eek: Caught me by suprise, I last thought it was low 20's :D . |
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| orion747 |
It got as low as -26F here this last weekend. I needed the garage to do some renos so the Subie got kicked out for a 24 hour cold soak. It was not happy let me tell you, but to it's credit it did start up, even if it did make some seriously godawful squealing noises afterwards.
Block heater wasn't plugged in I might add. I do recommend you plug that in though. Doesn't help that my stupid OEM remote starter doesn't work right now - something kills it a split second after it cranks and fires up. |
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| bheinz57 |
Here in Nebraska lately it has been quite cold. As low as -8*F and a high of 4*F is forecasted for this coming Sunday.
That is about it for cold lows around here. The car starts fine, but the piston slap is to be heard for a couple seconds after startup in those temps.
Brian |
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| tranks |
| we had weather like that a couple days ago. didn't get above 0* all day. mine sat out on the street all night long and most of the morning. started a little slow (just replaced the factory battery today) and let it warm up for a couple mins. no problems. |
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| rockhopjohn |
| Mine has been through plenty of -30 deg F nights in MT with no issues. The one thing you may notice is that the Transmission will hold shifts longer (i.e. higher revs) to get the transmission warmed up, so don't be worried about this if it happens. |
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| ETC |
35 degrees here at night brrrrrrrr ;]
actually that is pretty cold for us.
i've had mine in -10 maybe a bit worse and didn't have any problems. seats feel like rock when you get in, that's about it.
nipper covered it pretty well, most people forget about the washer fluid. i have and only realized it when my windshield was covered in road sludge and i had to pull off the highway to clean it by hand. make sure once you change it out, you run enough through the lines to clear out the summer stuff or it'll freeze in the lines and defeat putting it in the res. |
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| knibby |
| The temp here is currently -33c which the google temp converter tells me is -28f. It has been this way for a couple of weeks now. The subey has been fine, just pluger in at night. Hopefully this cold, snaps, we need some snow, I should have had a couple of weeks of quality skiing already. |
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| xcgates |
I don't know about winter washer fluid, I've always just used the blue stuff year round, it says its good to -20F, and it normally doesn't get below -10F up here in Northern NY. So that depends on where you are. I just buy several gallons of the blue stuff when I'm in WallyWorld, then stash it for when I need it.
Try it, and use what you prefer. |
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| cougar |
| I don't have a garage so the kids sleep with the sled dogs. My OB came from Fairbanks so it has seen less than -40F. My L was local so it has seen down to -40F. So far we hit -12, and the cold months are yet to come. I do plug the car in the night before just in case. I also use a remote start. It sucks getting into a cold car and have the windshield freeze on your first breath. |
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| Subhuman |
The past week we've been getting subfreezing weather and with 40 to 90 kph winds the temp gets pushed down somewhere around -20 C. That said I haven't had any issues starting up in the mornings but I usually let the engine warm up 5 to 10 min before I leave.
I recommend what nipper suggested. You can also look into an engine block heater which just plugs into your engine and then into an extension cord to an outlet. There are also battery heaters which also plug into an extension cord and outlet. These might be a little overkill for your limited time in the cold but might be added insurance that you wont have any trouble. After all these are all part of the cold weather package that Subaru sells anyhow. |
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| AWD Rookie |
Just came back from winter land; survived -26F-ish nights; no problems.
Driven on icy highway with the beloved craptenzas on this trip also. Some sections of the highway was very icy, although they've been sanded. Any slight breaking action would trigger the ABS; eeeextra distance was required between us and the car in front of us. At highway speed (50 mph+) on these icy sections, the car felt quite "floaty"; this is the best I can discribe it. No "ghost walking" on this trip.
It looks like I'll be replacing these tires before my next trip to winter land next year. |
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| SigEpKazz37 |
| Well it was -25*F here last week and the Subie wasn't too happy in that weather. At least the engine warms up fast with the Amsoil Synthetic oil. :8: |
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| 07OregonOutback |
| The lowest I've seen my temp drop to on my display was 17F here in Oregon this winter.. Never had a problem! We've had a bunch of customers coming in with blown washer fuses and broken wipers because they were trying to clear their windshields with the washer fluid, which was frozen so they just kept on running the washer motor til the fuse popped. :rolleyes: |
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| dvl |
Ottawa can get cold. The 2001 Subaru Legacy I have (at least until Monday I have it) regularly experienced -20C (-4F) with no problems starting. You could tell the engine was cold, but it started.
It has a block heater, which I used when I knew it was going down to -30C or lower (--31F). Again, it never failed to start. |
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| hunterlord |
| -50 up in the woods on the big black river. here at my place in southern maine the lowest has been -18 in the morning. the 05 battery did start but with some light dimming. my old 98 outback loved the cold,having no coolant air was all that worked. |
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| AKBURU |
| -60 degrees F is the coldest i've seen it since we bought the subaru. Maybe the coldest Ive ever seen it around here now that i think about it. |
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| CaptEditor |
In Wyoming the winter temperatures ranged from lows down to -30F and highs of about 25F. Often, however, the highs would not get above 5F. The subaru makes a lot more noise when it starts cold. I did not have a block heater. Occasionally it stayed below 0F all day. Apparently it was a mild winter, too. :-P I loved Wyoming and the crazy weather, but boy is my home state of California nice and warm!
-Kevin |
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| littlekicker |
| I've spent days/weeks at 20 to -20F and no problems. I like it, keeps things nice and dry! |
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| Gasar-Magnus |
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