He plugged it in so the block heater could warm the coolant. Cummins pickup engines have grid heaters and no glow plugs.
There’s absolutely no reason a maintained gasoline vehicle shouldn’t start at -14F. Shit, we don’t even plug our vehicles in until -25F.
I have a fleet of personal and business vehicles. No reasons to spend the money on an AGM either. Wet cell does just fine, even when left to sit for weeks as long as you don’t have a weird voltage draw.
I like the AGM for other reasons too. I’ve never had terminal corrosion for example, nor leaking, or sloshing from off road driving.
It is miserable when your boogers freeze.
Ah, my 2004 Acura TL that I used for work 2015-2019 never even paused more than a moment in Bismarck and Fargo and Minneapolis when temps were -8° - 14°. I put in a new Autozone battery early on in that time frame. Sounds like maybe a battery problem.
I dunno, I probably wouldn’t have paid him, but that just sounds like capitalism to me. Unless he was going to his employees to offer that, which would make him a d*ck rather than a scheister.
Oh believe me, that was one of the most honest things the dude did.
Coldest I’ve been was -55° in Tok AK. Drove the ALCAN to Fort Richardson AK for my last duty station.
I did not have a block heater nor did I have chock blocks. So I left my Ranger running all night, with the E brake on. Learned the next morning how stupid leaving the E brake on was in those extreme temps.
OK, thanks for the clarification. My knowledge of engines–any engines–begins and ends in knowing they are under the hood, which is up front.
It was 30 below a few times last year, about two weeks ago it was about 20 below with winds, not sure what the windchills were.
A few years ago we got down to 60 below once during a cold spell that was well below zero for over a week.
6 years ago it was far below zero for around two weeks straight, that was when my youngest was born. That sucked! It was so cold, my heater wasn’t working worth a shit in the Buick…and I had to drive with the windshield fogging up, freezing for 25 miles, with a woman in labor…
I ran in to that same problem in AK. Minus the woman in labor. Damn truck wouldn’t get up to temp while driving because it was so cold.
My wife and I had our son coming up on 10 years ago, once all of our family left the right after new years the high was -20, and the dog wouldn’t go out and just pee on the tile in foyer of our old house, by the time I cleaned it up it had ice crystals formed on top, the pipes froze in the downstairs bathroom and kitchen and we just had to use the main floor bathroom for hot water, it was horrible, but we laugh about it now. I think every couple needs those trials and tribulations every once and awhile, it builds a stronger bond for sure.
I don’t see how y’all live up there in the frozen tundra. Call me a wimp, I like it here down below the Mason Dixon line.
Man, I lived in FL for over a decade. Believe me, when I tell you…it isn’t near as easy as it used to be.
Did you try putting cardboard in front of the radiator like we did back in the '80s? I haven’t had to do that in years but it sure seemed to help.
I tell you, you haven’t experienced life, until you walk out the door in subzero temps with wet hair, and your hair instantly freezes on your head!
Just don’t touch it. We did that to a buddy in school at the bus stop. His frozen frozen hair broke off. Dude looked like Riff Raff from Rocky horror. 
No I didn’t. I thought about it but never did it. I always saw semis with some type of cover over their grills.
When I was a kid we lived on the South Shore of Lake Michigan.
I remember my Dad coming home early and going out to get Cocoa my German Shorthair. I was maybe 8 and didn’t understand all the concern.
My Uncle John “Mutt” came out with a bulldozer and dug us out. The snow drifts had covered out one story house. I remember sleding down from the roof to the front yard.
Just an update that it’s going to be 45 degrees tomorrow in Madison Wi, it isn’t supposed to get back into freezing temps for the next 10 days
I have faint memories of, I think it was the blizzard of 78. I would have been almost 4. I remember dad opening the door, and digging us out of the house, and I sort of remember snow drifts almost to the top of the light poles. It was something, that’s for sure.
This picture is from that storm.
