Freezing Cold Issues
 

It has been freezing cold here; in the low teens with about a foot of snow in the past 24 hours.
When I started my truck this morning(after prying open the frozen shut doors), the engine started up with typical cold temp RPMs, then started loping until it reached operating temp, then it was OK.
Not sure what's causing this. I think my thermostat may have been frozen or stuck, can that be the cause? I'll have to change the thermostat and increase the percentage of antifreeze in my system.
Does the thermostat thing sound like it might be the cause of the loping idle, or maybe something else?
Brrrrrrrrrr!

I doubt it, what engine do you have?

cold start injector maybe.

If your antifreeze percentage it too low you will have a whole lot more to worry about that a rough idle when cold. get a tester from the auto parts store. They're about $5.00.

That was going to be my first guess too. Or maybe you got some water frozen in the fuel line or filter.

I didn't have any thermostat issues before, I think it does have something to do with the antifreeze. I put about a half gallon of Prestone in the 3VZE, I thought that would be enough.
Probably check out the cold start injector as well.

Whoa... you say you only have 1/2 gallon of coolant in your system, and the rest is water? That's about a 20% coolant mix, which will start freezing at approx 13-15 degrees F. If that's actually the case, you best look at refilling that system with the correct mix before it does freeze on you. Where do you live? What is the coldest temperature you expect to see this winter?

Here's an idea of what percentage of coolant (ethylene glycol type) you need for protection from cold:

0 % protects down to 32 deg F
20 % protects down to 16 deg F
30 % protects down to 5 deg F
40 % protects down to -11 deg F
50 % protects down to -35 deg F
60 % protects down to -62 deg F
70 % protects down to -78 deg F

Yep, I think I may be a little short on antifreeze. Usually, it doesn't get that cold around here, kind of snuck up on me.
If I put too much coolant in my 22RE, it never comes up to operating temp, guess the 3.0 is a little different.
Definitely will fill up on Prestone before the 9* night we have coming.

the cold start injection system only operates while the engine is cranking to start. once the key is released to 'run' the CSI turns off.

what is 'normal cold temp' rpms? should be somewhere between 1100-1500.
if it's not idling that high it could be the auxilary air valve is stuck. a faulting throttle position sensor or coolant temp sensor would be the next things I'd check.

and antifreeze does more than just protect you from freezing. it contains additives to prevent electrolysis among other things.

as far as I know, especially with Prestone because thats what I use, You're supposed to mix AT LEAST 50/50 anti-freeze/water, respectively. Like Abe said, it also protects against electrolysis, and corrosion, but also raises the boiling point of the water. say 50/50 protects down to -35*F and protects up to 200*F ( not actual, just guess), well if you put 60/40 (anti-freeze/water) then it will protect down to like -45*F and up to maybe 218*F. It should say this all on the Prestone jug.
what do you mean by loping?...idle surging? or like its not getting enough fuel?

We have snow coming too.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...2=-122.227&e=0

Had to put a coat on at work today while working outside, it was frigid, around 21 degrees most of the day.

this seems alittle backwards to me cause the reason we mix glycol and water is becasue water has better heat transfer properties than the glycol. strait glycol wont cool as efficiently as strait water.

So personally if i was you, knowing the gorge area gets really warm in the summer i would not mix above 50-60% glycol (antifreeze) otherwise you may not get adequate cooling when it hits 100 in the summer.

You think that is frigid i went out to start my motor swap yesturday and the sign said -7 when i was driving out, after the sun came up!!!

21 is tropical!!!!

I run with no water at all, Evan's waterless coolant.:D

http://www.custommachiningusa.com/Evans_NPG+.html

I always run 50/50 when its warm and 60/40 when its cold to keep from freezing. Also just to make sure when I change the coolant i run a bottle of prestone super flush thru. Better safe than sorry. My dad is a diesil mechanic and that is something he ALWAYS taught me when I was younger.

Awesome ryantowry I think your the first person I've seen on here also from AK. Yeah, it's been but cold, and today my heater switch (hi--lo selector) crapped out. I had no heat while driving home from anchor town. The metal switch popped off and grounded out my hi and melted it into the plastic so that it doesn't contact anymore. I have the same loping problems once it gets below about 15, and these last few days my heater hasn't gotten very warm. Tonight I replaced my T-stat. I had a 195 and found that it wasn't working so I put in a 180 again. Hopefully this will help. My mixture is 50/50. Since I have owned the car the rear heater hasn't worked at all. When I purchased the vehicle the rear was bypassed so I cleaned out the hoses and made sure the core was clear and hooked it up. It still doesn't work. The front heater never gets very hot. I think the only thing I haven't done is to replace the core. I've checked everything else I can think of. One more thing. I find that when it's surging, usually at 1500-2000 rpm if I step on the brake, it will drop down and surge at 1000-1500 rpm. This makes me think it is some kind of vacuum problem on mine. Still another oddity is in the summer, it will run fine, but if it sits for about a half hour the idle will be so low it won't stay running. Once it's been run, it runs fine.

/me is also from the 907...

I've seen another guy in fairbanks on here..

It was the coolant that was the cause of my problems. Don't know, must of had a brain fade. I flushed the cooling system a number of times really well over a period of about a week getting ready for winter and I must have spaced on how much coolant I put into it.
Drained and refilled it last night using the correct amount of Prestone. Good thing too; 5* this morning when I fired up the truck, supposed to be colder tonight.

I'll trade any of you guys above for your temperatures!

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/camb0244

edit: yesterday morning was -37 BEFORE the wind chill if I rememeber right. Ol' girl was tough to start, and the fast idle surged for a while from 1500 to 2000 rpm, but went away after it warmed up. Guess what I'm saying is at -37 degrees (pretty close to the same F or C), if someone stuffed a key in my column and fired me up first thing in the morning when it's cold, I'd be acting a bit funny too!

Yeah, but I'm wearing shorts.

Yah im over in the portland area and i got to wake up to my radiator being completely frozen and my hoses. Apparently the guy before me didnt like the right mixture of antifreeze in the truck, but i know shame on me for not checking it. But i dumped about %70 of a jug of antifreeze in mine after draining a bunch of it.. Im making sure my 3vz aint freezing again.

I have been running 50/50 mix for a while now and have had no problems with the engine overheating because of coolant mix. Also haven't had any cold problems either. It was about 17 degrees in northern seattle today and i had no problems with start up or anything. Normally, the high idle on my truck is around 1500, but when it's cold out, it will go to around 1800. Of course my idle is a tad high at about 1000 rpm. I think i need to adjust the TPS.