jack frost locked me out

[monka]

chris was that pic over on the island? we have had like no snow here in southampton, it hasnt even been wet/icy enough to go up to the good old beaulie aerodrome. lol. best place for drifting round here at the mo in the cold actually happens to be in the centre of southampton. lol

my locks were frozen most of the colds days recently, so after just getting back from dropping the miss's home i have coated the door locks and put the key in half a dozen times with spray grease.

[Chris_C]

No, Watford, I've been away for a few weeks. Soton always misses it, but normally 5 miles north is pretty good

Watford had a complete sheet of ice over it tonight, and couldn't see any of it. That was a fun trip home

[trabitom99]

All of you, get gun oil and use that to your locks and latches or whatever those bits were called, it is usually done here at autumn before cold weathers start. Gunoil stays liquid in very cold temperatures and keeps moisture off from lock...

In a recent classic car mag over here they recommended that too - particularly when cars are being laid up for the winter. "Ballistol" was the name of the stuff they used IIRC.

Cheers

Tom

[volvosneverdie]

Ok, Im having regular trouble with mine now. And as J-Fin advised, water is only working short term, and compounding the problem short term.
So, gun oil sounds cool and sensible, and im sure Ive still got some at the back of the the shed.

So, can I just squirt it through the keyhole (while its not iced) with the lock in situ?
Like, through the key slot?

Im not taking all the locks apart. No sir boy howdy.

[Chris_C]

Thaw it out first bud, then abuse with WD40 through the key slot to get rid of the water, then pour a load of oil in after than. WD *may* melt it for you, mine did.

The problem with taking the lock barrels out of a 300 is removing the door handle which has to be the single worst job on the damn car, it eats more knuckles than all the other jobs put together! I only had mine out this year as well... forgot to grease it though. Sounds like that was a good thing with new knowledge anyway

[volvosneverdie]

The problem with taking the lock barrels out of a 300 is removing the door handle which has to be the single worst job on the damn car, it eats more knuckles than all the other jobs put together!

Yeah, Ive heard its a stinker.
My locks are ok during the day, just icing up after the sun goes down (got stuck in morisons car park at 1900. Stupid Sun went down at 1600.)
I'll get busy with the WD and Boomstick oil while the suns still up.

Cheers everyone.

[Tom bailey]

with this cold weather i have had trouble starting it. is it just mine or is anyone elses doing it?

[Ian Mac]

Mine starts easily although I've found leaving the choke out overnight reduces the time it needs cranking on the starter.

[jtbo]

Cold starting 360:
Push accelerator twice, no more! (accelerator pump squirts some fuel, so that engine will start without much of cranking)
Pull choke to full out, start the car and don't touch accelerator when starting.

After few seconds you can hear motor to sound like blahblahblah (instead of healthy trrrrrrrrrrr), then push choke little amount in, gradually push choke in when engine warms up.

When driving, if car says boooooooo when pushing accelerator you have either too little or too much choke, probably too little as when you have too much it often just feels sluggish or sounds like blahblahblah, sorry for bad audio descriptions, our alphabeths and pronouncing differs so much from yours that it is hard to know which text would describe it best for you.

blahblahblah is like dog in extreme heat, boooooo is like moped in steep uphill, maybe those explain it a bit

Oh yes, check your battery too, when it gets colder battery loses some of it's capacity, you need battery that can keep motor turning long time at -2C.

I have started my 360 in around -36C and it was not very hard, however even engine mounts did feel solid at that temp

[Chris_C]

I have a gearbox'd starter from a kangoo diesal on my F7R.... it only just fits (had to use a universal fine adjustment tool) but normally my car registers about 4/500 rpm on the starter It's sounding like a normal car in this cold

[jtbo]

I have a gearbox'd starter from a kangoo diesal on my F7R.... it only just fits (had to use a universal fine adjustment tool) but normally my car registers about 4/500 rpm on the starter It's sounding like a normal car in this cold

Ah, bit of an overkill that starter, but all sport motors are so difficult to start when hot that it is maybe just good to have some extra there

My yank tank starter is fine when cold, but when I go to petrol station at hot summer day, it can just barely turn motor even it has a new battery, tight engine

[OapEM]

I had to do some cold starting last night lol. Ran out of juice in a snow covered industrial estate.
My bad, the speedo cable isn't seated in the hub correctly so it's not reading atm and I guess I just ignored the flashing light for too long.
Too busy filming slides with my mate.

She fires right up every time now since renewing the fuel pump and refurbishing the carb last winter.
I'm gonna break out the hair dryer soon and dry the locks out and then attack them with the WD.

[volvosneverdie]

I had to do some cold starting last night lol. Ran out of juice in a snow covered industrial estate.
My bad, the speedo cable isn't seated in the hub correctly so it's not reading atm and I guess I just ignored the flashing light for too long.
Too busy filming slides with my mate.

She fires right up every time now since renewing the fuel pump and refurbishing the carb last winter.
I'm gonna break out the hair dryer soon and dry the locks out and then attack them with the WD.

Had a FAIL this morning.
Hot water to de-ice the locks at home 0645 this morning.
Drove to gosforth, parked the car and got out to go to work.
Hmmmm, locks frozen again on the 8 minute drive, now i cant lock the car.
Bah.
Back to the nearest garage to buy de-icer.
Back to gosforth again, and parked up, locked up and off to work.


Left the de icer in the car.
Not sure how im gonna get back into it after work.

[jtbo]

de-icer to pocket, de-icer to pocket, de-icer to pocket, ... Damn can't find my de-icer Has happened few times to me

Just remember that wd40 is not a proper lubricant for locks.

I got that Wurth door seal reconditioner and managed to squirt white gel like stuff all over to door seals. Bottle had a crack at top, so made good use of duct tape again, keep that tape near, it often cames handy

Tomorrow heavy snow, decreasing temperatures and about million loonies on roads and I thought it would be good idea to go to see family, might be that I wait until day after, will be much more pleasant without need to worry about which of them loonies is next to skid to my lane

But I guess your weather has caused lot more issues with traffic as it is not so often such cold weather happends around there?

[volvosneverdie]

de-icer to pocket, de-icer to pocket, de-icer to pocket, ... Damn can't find my de-icer Has happened few times to me

But I guess your weather has caused lot more issues with traffic as it is not so often such cold weather happends around there?

The de-icer is about the size of a thermos flask!!
Id look like a chemical terrorist walking round with that!

....

Yeah, the whole country has pretty much come to a standstill because of 1.5 days of snow. Combined with a week of sub-zero temperatures.
For a counrty thats always cold, we dont handle the cold very well.