How To Reduce Winter Time Engine No-Starts

“It just isn’t That cold!”

“It ran fine just two days ago!”

“For sure the last driver left something on!”

All these things may be true. But, they may not. What really matters is that the engine won’t turn over and if you’re lucky your own mechanic will get in the mobile unit and go boost the truck. If you’re not lucky, you have to bust out the yellow pages or 411 and try to find a local company to come and charge you three hours labor to do a 10-minute job. And then not turn your truck off for how many hours because you’re afraid it won’t start again.

What I find so striking is how a driver can sit in the same truck for hours every day all summer long with lights on, radio on, CB radio on, fan on, etc. on and then one Monday morning in December, turn the key to no avail, and declare the truck to be a big rolling (formerly rolling) pile of garbage. It amazes me every time because the real reason is not only staring him in the face, but it’s clearly his own doing. But to see the problem that is just staring you in the face, you need to have a clue what it is you’re looking at.

How Good Batteries Go Bad

A battery is the simplest, yet still complexe component on a truck and it is wildly misunderstood. A modern battery can and should last the entire life of a vehicle. I have to repeat this: a modern battery can and should last the entire life of a vehicle. A battery is a pretty tough piece of kit. It’s also a relatively simple thing. A battery is little more (for the owner’s purposes) than a series of metal plates and separators, soaking in some acid. It doesn’t need to be greased or torqued or adjusted or anything of the sort. No, you probably won’t ever have to “top off the water” if you treat it right.

All a battery really needs is to be kept at a full charge. But it really does need it. Now, I know, if a vehicle doesn’t run for 3 months, the battery will die. I’m talking about a normal working vehicle. Now, where the entire misunderstanding about the charging and starting system comes from is this one mistake that I have to clarify: the alternator is not a charger. It is designed to maintain a voltage and supply a certain amperage for use, but it is not designed to charge batteries.

Here’s the deal, if you deprive a battery of a full charge, then the acid and metal plates will begin to “sulfate”. What this chemical reaction amounts to, for our purposes, is a decrease in capacity. Every time that a battery is being taxed by accessories such as the radio, lights, cab fan, etc. the battery is being deprived of having a full charge, and the capacity is being reduced. It’s really that simple. Want proof? Look at your parking habits, and look at the results. Is anyone talking about “parking habits”?

The Solution: All is not in vain. There truly is a simple fix. And anyone can do it!

To improve your odds of a good engine start: Shut down better!

That is it, and that is all! Now, what does that mean? I’m going to work here under the assumption that the driver knows where he will be parking. That is, that arriving at the loading dock will not be a sudden surprise.

Step one:

Two minutes from the dock, turn off the radio and any electric accessory that is not essential. I in no way mean your lights when at night or in adverse conditions. Donèt turn off your wipers either, if you need them. Safety is always, absolutely always, the number one priority.

Step two:

Park the truck where it will be staying for the foreseeable future (i.e. the dock), and turn off the lights and the other accessories that you now no longer need.

Step three:

Be patient, use the 30 seconds that you need to gather your papers or belongings to wait and then finally, turn off the engine.

Simply lower the demand on your battery and alternator to allow the best chance possible to stay fully charged. It’s that simple. No magic, no tools, no special training required. The secret behind the madness is this: you are allowing the batteries a chance to maintain the full, healthy load that it needs to maintain the same capacity it had on day one.

Don’t believe me? We’ll talk when it’s 30 below outside!

Drive safe,

Kevin Gauthier