Cars do not mix with truly cold weather. They do well enough when the temperatures are moderateógetting above zero degrees Fahrenheit, at least once a day. But when things get cold or, worse, when things stay cold for an extended period, thatís when carsóeven the best of themóstart to fail.

Thatís when the driving had better be plug-to-plug.

One of the worst things you can do to any internal combustion engine is to start it up when it is really cold. At twenty or more degrees below zero, all the metal parts have contracted so much they can hardly be said to fit together any more. Brittle gaskets are squeezed beyond their tolerance or, perhaps, left trying to fill an enlarged and impossible gap. Engine oilóor the jelly that once was engine oilórests at the bottom of the block, and can hardly be disturbed from its slumber. The battery is just as numb as your fingers.

Along comes the innocent driver.

The seat is hard as a wooden bench. The steering wheel communicates its chill through the thickest gloves you own, as you wrestle through layers of fabric and leather to get the key into position.

The cranking of the starter is an anemic grinding, a cruel parody of the sound a car should make when it starts. Mercifully, the brutal scraping lasts only a second or two, then fades as the battery realizes the enormity, the impossibility, of the task. Despite your desperate wrenching of the key, the whole process pathetically and literally grinds to a halt. You are left in cold, dark silence.

A block heater can save your car from this cruel fate. For these few days or weeks each winter, you had better learn to drive from plug to plug. Better yet, figure out a way to not drive at all!

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Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605