Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Battery, oil, temps

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Battery, oil, temps

    I have discovered that the powersports battery in my Festiva B6 does not crank the motor over quite fast enough to start the car, at 20 degrees F and with 10W30 oil. The battery is only ~6 months old; CCA is listed at 325. At 30 deg F it cranks the motor over fine, and the car starts instantly. Today I changed the oil to 5W30. Tomorrow morning it will be 20 deg again; I will go out and crank it over, and let you know what happens. Next fall I will switch to full synth 0W30, to make sure the motor will spin fast enough in the winter.

    My Aspire B3 is also running 10W30, but I have a skinny Honda car battery in there, also fairly new. CCA is listed as 650 @ 32 deg F, 500 @ 0 Deg F. It spins over pretty well at 20 deg; seemed to struggle a little. I will change it to 5W30 at next winter's oil change.
    Last edited by TominMO; 01-22-2016, 06:32 PM.
    90 Festy (Larry)--B6M (Matt D. modified B6 head), header, 5-speed, Capri XR2 front brakes, many other little mods
    09 Kia Rondo--a Festy on steroids!

    You can avoid reality, but you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality--Ayn Rand

    Disaster preparedness

    Tragedy and Hope.....Infowars.com.....The Drudge Report.....Founding Fathers.info

    Think for yourself.....question all authority.....re-evaluate everything you think you know. Red-pill yourself!


  • #2
    Yes, 325 cca is not much. Basically a lawn mower battery. The 400 cca batteries that honda's come with dont last very long here. But lighter oil makes a big difference. My dad has a 1995 f-350 with the 7.3L and 2 batteries. With 15w40 and not plugging the truck in it wouldnt start around +5c. He switched to 0w40 and itl start down to -10 now without plugging it in but it cranks over way way faster at any lower temperature. Glow plugs dont work which is why the no-start problem.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Comment


    • #3
      Yep, that's a pretty low amp battery. +20F is not really that cold. You should have a big enough Battery to spin a stock compression B3 or B6 with 10W-30 at that temp. I bought a new battery for my Festy 2 years ago. It was the proper group size to fit and the cheapest one that Autozone carries (I don't remember the CCA....maybe 425?). Before I could install it in the Festy, the battery in my wife's V8 Mountaineer went bad. I was short on money, so I just stuck it in her Mountaineer. That was 2 years ago, and it still starts her truck just fine (5.0L H.O. running 5w-30).....Last week it got down to -12F several nights with no cranking issues.
      Brian

      93L - 5SP, FMS springs, 323 alloys, 1st gen B6, ported head & intake, FMS cam, ported exhaust manifold w/2-1/4" head pipe.
      04 Mustang GT, 5SP, CAI, TFS plenum, 70mm TB, catted X, Pypes 304SS cat-back, Hurst Billet+ shifter, SCT/Bama tuned....4.10's & cams coming soon
      62 Galaxie 2D sedan project- 428, 3x2V, 4SP, 3.89TLOC

      1 wife, 2 kids, 9 dogs, 4 cats......
      Not enough time or money for any of them

      Comment


      • #4
        Didn't get as cold as I'd hoped. 25 F/-4 C. Went out and started the Festiva up. Took about a second or less of cranking, then fired up with the 5W30.

        Edit: Found this battery at Advance Auto, 385 CCA. With 0W30 synthetic, I would be confident this would do the job down to maybe 0 deg F/-32 deg C. Or close to it anyway. In a few years, I will replace my 325 CCA battery with this one.
        Last edited by TominMO; 01-23-2016, 10:13 AM.
        90 Festy (Larry)--B6M (Matt D. modified B6 head), header, 5-speed, Capri XR2 front brakes, many other little mods
        09 Kia Rondo--a Festy on steroids!

        You can avoid reality, but you can't avoid the consequences of avoiding reality--Ayn Rand

        Disaster preparedness

        Tragedy and Hope.....Infowars.com.....The Drudge Report.....Founding Fathers.info

        Think for yourself.....question all authority.....re-evaluate everything you think you know. Red-pill yourself!

        Comment

        Working...
        X