Is your car, truck or SUV up to the job?

Don't just assume your car, truck or SUV will start with winter coming to Richmond; have it checked out so you know it will start.

Have you ever noticed that more people have trouble starting their cars, trucks or SUVs in Richmond when winter rolls into town? The same cars, trucks or SUVs started just fine all through the summer. Autumn arrived and they still started every time the owner engaged the ignition. What is it about winter that convinces some vehicles not to start?

The problem is inside the engine – the oil. The oil thickens when the temperature falls. And, as we all know, the temperature in Richmond during winter can fall precipitously. 

When you turn the ignition key, or press the ‘Start’ button on your car, truck or SUV, the solenoid calls for electricity from the battery and feeds it to the starter. The starter has a small gear that engages with the teeth on the outside of the flywheel. 

Turning the flywheel begins the motion of the pistons going up and down in the cylinders. In the process, the pistons pull a mixture of air and fuel into the cylinder where the sparkplug ignites the fuel. The controlled explosion in the cylinders takes over from the starter and, presumably, keeps the engine spinning.

The starter contains an electric motor with a Bendix gear designed to disengage from the flywheel once you stop holding the ignition key in the start position, or pressing the start button. That electric motor is a mighty little motor and it has to be.

The starter motor has to turn the flywheel. A flywheel on most cars, trucks and SUVs can weigh from 10 to 40 pounds. The flywheel is connected to the crankshaft. A crankshaft could weigh another 50 pounds. And that is connected to connecting rods that are connected to pistons. You are likely to have 4, 6 or 8 pistons in your vehicle’s engine.

The pistons are tightly fit into cylinders, with spring-loaded piston rings. As the starter turns the flywheel, which turns the crankshaft, which causes the connecting rods to push the pistons up and down in the cylinders, some of the cylinders are coming down with an intake valve that is open so the air and fuel mixture will be pulled into the cylinder.

Other pistons are pushing up with the exhaust valve open to, presumably, push the exhaust fumes out of the cylinder. But other cylinders have their valves closed. In these cylinders, as the piston moves up, it is compressing their air and fuel mixture inside.

Have you ever used a bicycle tire pump? If you hold it up in the air and pump it, no problem, right? It slides easily. But what if you block the hole at the other end? It can be almost impossible to press the pump in when there’s nowhere for the air to go. This is a bit of what the starter is dealing with when starting the engine.

Once the engine starts, the 4-cycle system takes over. But, while the starter is working to get the engine started, the starter has to work hard. If the oil in the bottom of the engine is cold and thick, it makes the starter work that much harder.

If there is a weakness in the starting and charging system, that cold, thick oil is liable to find it. If the starter requires too many amps to operate, if the solenoid is bad, if the battery is bad, if the alternator isn’t charging the battery properly – all these problems could leave you stranded in your car, truck or SUV with another Richmond winter outside.