Nattydread
Extreme
thanks for all the replies, guess I wont worry 
hondo
VIP Member
No need to worry at all. 
The motors are the best part of the machine!
The motors are the best part of the machine!
Not that it is very common or anything but I have seen -80C with the wind.
Len Todd
TY 4 Stroke God
Wind chill only affects skin. Not applicable to machinery.
Using the 5W - 30W non-synthetic oil, my 04 Rx-1 starts at -40. But, you have to choke and crank the heck out of it. I suspect that the 0W synthetic oil may help. However, ...
After that first trip with it to Canada, I installed the Coolant Heater. It is located about 4" below the Thermostat Housing. 10 Minutes of warming and thing thing starts very quickly. Once it does start, it gets cold fairly quickly again as it gets the coolant from the rest of the system.
If you have the VAC to run it, the heaters work like a champ. They do however get fairly hot. I lined the plastic components in that area with adhesive aluminum foil.
Using the 5W - 30W non-synthetic oil, my 04 Rx-1 starts at -40. But, you have to choke and crank the heck out of it. I suspect that the 0W synthetic oil may help. However, ...
After that first trip with it to Canada, I installed the Coolant Heater. It is located about 4" below the Thermostat Housing. 10 Minutes of warming and thing thing starts very quickly. Once it does start, it gets cold fairly quickly again as it gets the coolant from the rest of the system.
If you have the VAC to run it, the heaters work like a champ. They do however get fairly hot. I lined the plastic components in that area with adhesive aluminum foil.
Grunter
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Cold weather starting!
Hey listen guys! I live in the north, been to Timmins, White River etc. and these places get a lot of -40 to -45 Celsius. If you want your sled to start - put the heater on it - trust me!
I've been in a group of RX-1's,Apex's etc. (8-9 sleds) where none have started except the ones with a block heater! I've had my lesson I'll tell ya.Some Apex's even had their starter solenoids freeze(tip: you can exchange it with the light solenoid to get you going!)
With the heater it's starts(Vroom!) - and I'm 50 miles or more down the trail compared to the ones without!
We can all brag about cars & trucks starting - without plugging them in - I'm on the road all th time and never plug a car or truck and never had problems either - but think about reserve capacity - these sleds don't have much! The RX's all started first before the Apex's(EFI takes more juice)
The heater installs in 10-15 minutes, if you forget to plug yourself and it don't start - plug it and 15 minutes later your on your way!
Or boil some water and pour it on the motor and carbs - but make sure you run your sled all day after to assure you evaporate all the water around the carbs or throttle bodies as this could cause you grief the next day or be dangerous the same day - let it warm well before you leave - test your throttle. Be safe - have fun!
Hey listen guys! I live in the north, been to Timmins, White River etc. and these places get a lot of -40 to -45 Celsius. If you want your sled to start - put the heater on it - trust me!
I've been in a group of RX-1's,Apex's etc. (8-9 sleds) where none have started except the ones with a block heater! I've had my lesson I'll tell ya.Some Apex's even had their starter solenoids freeze(tip: you can exchange it with the light solenoid to get you going!)
With the heater it's starts(Vroom!) - and I'm 50 miles or more down the trail compared to the ones without!
We can all brag about cars & trucks starting - without plugging them in - I'm on the road all th time and never plug a car or truck and never had problems either - but think about reserve capacity - these sleds don't have much! The RX's all started first before the Apex's(EFI takes more juice)
The heater installs in 10-15 minutes, if you forget to plug yourself and it don't start - plug it and 15 minutes later your on your way!
Or boil some water and pour it on the motor and carbs - but make sure you run your sled all day after to assure you evaporate all the water around the carbs or throttle bodies as this could cause you grief the next day or be dangerous the same day - let it warm well before you leave - test your throttle. Be safe - have fun!
LazyBastard
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If you want a guaranteed start no matter what, get a stock 03 battery - they're about big enough to start a bulldozer at -50. Every year newer, the batteries seem to get smaller and smaller.
For the original post; 4-strokes start EASIER than 2-strokes when its real cold, electric or no. This is because 2-strokes don't make any power until they're wound right out - totally gutless at idle speeds, whereas a 4-stroke, as soon as it starts to fire, has enough torque to keep itself going. I have lots of memories of such cold temperatures that 2-strokes would FIRE twice for every revolution (thrice for a triple), but still wouldn't start. You know why? Before the piston reaches the very bottom (particularly for twins and not so much for triples and quads), the EXHAUST PORT opens, which dumps all that pressure out before the other piston gets high enough for it to fire.
For the original post; 4-strokes start EASIER than 2-strokes when its real cold, electric or no. This is because 2-strokes don't make any power until they're wound right out - totally gutless at idle speeds, whereas a 4-stroke, as soon as it starts to fire, has enough torque to keep itself going. I have lots of memories of such cold temperatures that 2-strokes would FIRE twice for every revolution (thrice for a triple), but still wouldn't start. You know why? Before the piston reaches the very bottom (particularly for twins and not so much for triples and quads), the EXHAUST PORT opens, which dumps all that pressure out before the other piston gets high enough for it to fire.
BlgsRX-1mtn
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Boy I sure wish my sled started as easy as some of you say. I can start the wife's 900 RMK on the third pull at -30F. My RX-1 will crank and crank but doesn't build enoigh heat to fire up. I even used one of those fancy booster packs. There were also several Apexes that wouldn't fire. This was at 7900' elevations too BTW. Usually these sleds sit for 8+ hrs though
While the Apex guys dicked with the Hair driers; I ran water through a drip coffeee maker (just to heat the water). While that was running through; I started pouring water over the engine and Intercooler (super charged here) while adding more hot water each time to slowly heat the entire engine and intercooler.
Once the coffee maker finished heating the water I poured through it; I poured it over the engine/intercooler and bam it fired in the first two seconds. The race fuel was so cold that I couldn't move the sled even after the engine warmed up, it would lean pop and the A/F meter was way high. So I let the engine heat to 150F shut the sled down and got to ride biotch on the wife's 900 RMK to breakfast. The heat from the engine slowly brought the fuel temp up while we ate and all was good to go once done. This also made sure I didn't have an iceburg in the bottom of the engine compartment.
I'm thinking the next time I see extremely cold forcasted temps at high altitudes like that; I'll be getting up every two hrs to start the sled just so the fuel retains some heat.
Jim
While the Apex guys dicked with the Hair driers; I ran water through a drip coffeee maker (just to heat the water). While that was running through; I started pouring water over the engine and Intercooler (super charged here) while adding more hot water each time to slowly heat the entire engine and intercooler.
Once the coffee maker finished heating the water I poured through it; I poured it over the engine/intercooler and bam it fired in the first two seconds. The race fuel was so cold that I couldn't move the sled even after the engine warmed up, it would lean pop and the A/F meter was way high. So I let the engine heat to 150F shut the sled down and got to ride biotch on the wife's 900 RMK to breakfast. The heat from the engine slowly brought the fuel temp up while we ate and all was good to go once done. This also made sure I didn't have an iceburg in the bottom of the engine compartment.
I'm thinking the next time I see extremely cold forcasted temps at high altitudes like that; I'll be getting up every two hrs to start the sled just so the fuel retains some heat.
Jim
Crewchief47
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BlgsRX-1mtn said:
Some remote car starters have that 2 hour start feature!?!?! At the same time, I've seen an rx-1 start fine at -40.
culvert
Expert
another way to heat things up is a battery blanket. I had a spare one and wrapped up the cyl and carbs as much as I could and left it plugged in for awhile and sled fired up.
BlgsRX-1mtn said:
Slightly off topic, but some of the Arctic Cat 660's actually had this feature built in. Cat's been offering remote starter as a dealer option since around 2003. And I think around 2005 and later they came with some sort of feature where the sled would start itself as soon as the temp of the engine dropped to a certain level (-5F?). It would run for like 15 minutes, then shut down until the engine temp got down to that level again, then it would restart. Had some sort of security that it couldn't be driven when in this mode. I don't remember the exact details.
Rode with a couple one day last year that had that feature installed on their T660s...was pretty funky but kinda cool.
Too bad they were Cats.
BlgsRX-1mtn
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Crewchief47 said:
Yeah mine used to start no prob in temps that cold at home (elev. 3750') but for some reason they just don't like the cold at high altitude (especially if the race fuel gets that cold).
I thought about a remote start but I doubt that the carbed sled would start without being choked. I thought about leaving the choke on but then it would die after the engine started to warm up.
The same theory would apply to the AC feature craze1cars is talking about. Works good if you have FI but, the RX-1s like the choke when it's 20F until warm (neverminf -5F). If your not by it's side to shut the choke off you're re placing plugs before too long.
I'm a dirty filthy smoker so starting the sled would give me a good excuse to have a cig while the sled is heating up.
Jim
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Race fuel requires higher temperatures / pressures to ignite, and air density at high altitude is lower than most people get. Ever try to ignite diesel fuel with a match? Its a little more difficult than starting gas.
BlgsRX-1mtn
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LazyBastard said:
LB at that altitude; even the Apexes with 87 octane unleaded don't like to fire with -40 deg fuel. The RX-1s struggle some but do fire. More than likely due to the extra FI electronics on the Apex increasing draw on the battery at start up vs the RX-1s is the difference maker in those circumstances.
That's another difference on my sled is the electric fuel pump for the Super Charger. It's a tripple negative when you add the race fuel and the belt driven by the crank to the equation.
Yup I know about how fuels burn (it's my job
). You ever see what happens when a guy labels a gasoline sample as diesel and the lab tester runs a open cup flash on it? You get a big fire as soon as the temp hits 70 and the glowing red probe hits the fuel. 
Jim
Yep, I guess should clarify...Cat's been offering a remote starter option on all their battery equipped EFI sleds since about 2003. The system could only work with EFI...not a carb'd sled with manual choke.
06rsvectorer
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My Vector Started at -40 with no problem, You could tell it was cold because it turned over alittle bit slower but she fired up with in 2 seconds. Old problem I had was the headlight and taillights would not turn on, I had to hit the highbeam switch a couple times for them to turn on.
