Well dangit, this sucks

I've been off work since Thursday afternoon. I've been working around the house and whatnot. I've driven my wive's minivan to Home Depot a lot. That means I haven't driven my Golf TDI since Thursday afternoon. I have to go somewhere today and decided to start it this morning before my wife leaves for the day, so I can use her van to jump it if needed.
Well, the engine barely turned over, and would not start. Then I go to pop the hood and the hood release cable (or handle) snapped. The temp is -19F right now. This is fairly sucktacular.

Ouch, that does suck. Good luck getting it fixed.

Oh man, good cable snaps are the worst.

Good luck!

That's like seeing a $20 bill sticking out of a pile of leaves and reaching down to grab it only to realize it's fake at the same moment a mouse trap snaps down on your fingers and somebody runs up behind you and punts your dangly bits.

In reply to The_Jed:

Spoken from experience, eh?

Push Start? Also, you might want to check the forums for this. This happened to my TDI as well and I was able to get the hood open by inserting needle nose pliers through the grill.

In reply to The_Jed:

Truly spoken from the heart it seems.

But to the OP, that sucks. idk how hard it would be to push start in -19 weather so I would go with the needlenose idea if its just the handle that snapped.

Well, I got the hood open. The cable didn't break like I thought. The handle inside did. Hmmm, brittle VW plastics? Never heard that before (roll eyes). Anyway, I got it open so I could try to jump start it. I was getting the cables out of the hatch area and the hatch fell on my head. Rung my bell pretty good. Dang that hurt. I tried jumping it with the minivan, no dice. It would crank real nice for about 10-15 seconds with the minivan at 2,000 RPM. Then after a few tries, the minivan battery light came on. Enough of that. The battery is now in the house thawing out. Tomorrow is supposed to be about 50 degrees warmer tomorrow, but still below freezing I'll try then.

Probably best to just call it a day at this point! Luckily, we have the cars we're planning to drive in the garage overnight, which is probably +10 or so. -15 this morning for me, fortunately both cars have new coolant and new batteries.

In reply to DrBoost:

Fuel is probably too cold. Try putting a regular drop light under the car to help raise the temp slightly.

turboswede wrote: In reply to DrBoost: Fuel is probably too cold. Try putting a regular drop light under the car to help raise the temp slightly.

I have a drop light on the fuel lines. It has a Diesel Geek skid plate, no wah to get heat under the hood from underneath. I have a heater I can use, but I was just too stinkin cold.

In reply to petegossett:

Football season.

In reply to DrBoost: I feel your pain. SWMBO's e34 had another flat this morning, I managed to get the gas powered air compressor in my work truck to start (yeah Honda small engines!), but after I pumped it back up the engine refused to start. It turned over just fine, but wouldn't light up, even with starting fluid it would only cough a bit.

The temperature was 1*f, kid stuff compared to Michigan.

All this makes me wonder, how do they deal with this kind of cold regularly in Canada, etc? I know you can do some things like block/battery heaters, but are there special low temp PS fluid and ATF? Even the little Civic had really stiff steering for most of my drive in today.

XLR99 wrote: All this makes me wonder, how do they deal with this kind of cold regularly in Canada, etc? I know you can do some things like block/battery heaters, but are there special low temp PS fluid and ATF? Even the little Civic had really stiff steering for most of my drive in today.

Probably because you have moisture in the fluid.

Coldest I've ever dealt with was downtown Edmonton, Alberta 5 years ago. It was something silly like -47*C in the open air parkade at my downtown apartment.

My Civic did start eventually. Manual transmission was like rowing through glue. Most fluids are fine (atf, brake fluid, ps fluid). The main concern is battery freezing and coolant freezing. If fluids are replaced as the manufacturer suggests, there should never be enough moisture to affect the other fluids. Manufacturers recommend specific oil weights for different weather for a reason (or nowadays, they run thin enough oil at all temps it doesn't matter).

I don't know if I have ever had a fuel injected car in maintained mechanical condition NOT start on me, and I've owned some E36 M3ty cars haha. I will say that there isn't much they can do about shock fluid at those temps though, the cars ride like a chuck wagon until you've been driving for a bit.

One of the DUMBEST features I've ever had to deal with is my Audi URS4. Would crank and crank and crank but not start due to a weak battery. Some shiny happy person german genius decided that the motor had to crank over at a rate of 13rpm before the coils would fire. That is berkeleyING retarded! What possible perceived benefit could that serve???!

I've replaced the battery on my zx3 twice this winter due to no start issues when it was sub-0 Fahrenheit. Once warmed up, the battery has been fine. Never had this issue before.

FWIW, my '97 F-150 started right up yesterday (overnight -1°F) and Mom's '12 Fit started right up yesterday and this morning (last night 0°F and in all three cases ~ 10° when started) …yeah I know it sounds like I'm bragging

I need to replace the PS fluid on the scooby as it moans something gawdawful when its cold out.

Miata has been a trooper, but battery obviously isnt happy starting it and the trans feels like glue despite a ~2yo redline change. Oh, and the oil pressure gauge doesnt work until the car warms up, but no valve clatter, so it has oil pressure. Been doing that a few years and across two engines, so its something with the sensor.

HiTempguy wrote:

XLR99 wrote: All this makes me wonder, how do they deal with this kind of cold regularly in Canada, etc? I know you can do some things like block/battery heaters, but are there special low temp PS fluid and ATF? Even the little Civic had really stiff steering for most of my drive in today.

Probably because you have moisture in the fluid. Coldest I've ever dealt with was downtown Edmonton, Alberta 5 years ago. It was something silly like -47*C in the open air parkade at my downtown apartment. My Civic did start eventually. Manual transmission was like rowing through glue. Most fluids are fine (atf, brake fluid, ps fluid). The main concern is battery freezing and coolant freezing. If fluids are replaced as the manufacturer suggests, there should never be enough moisture to affect the other fluids. Manufacturers recommend specific oil weights for different weather for a reason (or nowadays, they run thin enough oil at all temps it doesn't matter). I don't know if I have ever had a fuel injected car in maintained mechanical condition NOT start on me, and I've owned some E36 M3ty cars haha. I will say that there isn't much they can do about shock fluid at those temps though, the cars ride like a chuck wagon until you've been driving for a bit. One of the DUMBEST features I've ever had to deal with is my Audi URS4. Would crank and crank and crank but not start due to a weak battery. Some shiny happy person german genius decided that the motor had to crank over at a rate of 13rpm before the coils would fire. That is berkeleyING retarded! What possible perceived benefit could that serve???!

I've never had a gas engine not start. Diesels are a little different though. This battery is a serious battery. It'll crank, and crank, and crank like I've never experienced before. But the car has sat for a week, and the temps have only gotten to double digits a few times, and only for a few hours.
The TDI doesn't have a block heater or anything else. I guess the Germans didn't know it gets cold on some parts of this planet, like MOST OF IT, INCLUDING THE COUNTRY YOU LIVE IN!!!!! (Yelling at German engineers)
I'm better now.

A guy in AK posted a pic of his outdoor thermometer. -47F. It was >110 degrees warmer in AR that day. He said he was staying home.

TECH TIP: He also said old timers told him that when it is that cold, if you are out hunting, clean all the grease and oil off your gun and use graphite for lube.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

Yep, or diesel fuel as lube....basically how the Soviets kept their weapons functioning when the German stuff wouldn't.

-3 this morning. Truck wouldnt start, killed battery trying. Which doesnt take long when its that cold.

Dragged out the booster, plugged it in, and watched it go up in a cloud of smoke.

Tried starting the miata, it gave one lurch.

Playing with little chargers all morning. Both vehicles will nearly start, but not quite.

Decided to finish taxes, managed to reduce my return by about $700 so far.

Sigh, maybe i shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning.

Yesterday morning it was pretty toasty at -10 F and I noticed that the Passat was a bit sluggish getting started, was sluggish again at 4:30 when we got out of work. I checked and the battery was original (2007) so it seemed the wise thing to get a new one. Auto Z had one, at the other store, but wouldn't install it for me because "German and trunk mounted". So I shivered my bards through the install in their parking lot and have a new platinum AGM battery in the car. Started this morning like a CHAMP!

Here's to prior planning preventing.....

A guy I know works at a Chrysler/Fiat dealership. He said they had to move some of the cars around in the cold. All the Chrysler cars started right up while the Italian-mobiles were a pain in the butt. Something or other about spark plugs.

DrBoost wrote: I've never had a gas engine not start. Diesels are a little different though.

Oh, I completely agree. I was just commenting at the quoted poster, not at your specific situation :) Diesels are a bitch in the winter, the only reason they are so popular in Alberta is because of friesel (from the sites/rigs).