Cars from 1972 don’t like starting when it’s cold. If you'd like to see more of this car in action, here's another video of it: • 1972 Ford LTD daily dr... A lot of commenters have asked about the battery: www.walmart.co...
I'm assuming he could have used starting fluid but that would have taken all the fun out. I'm also assuming this car is carbureted which would make it much more difficult to start than any kind of EFI.
@@justacinnamonbun8658 He probably could have preheated the engine and tank. Either using fire or some kind of heater. This way his oil wouldn't be like pudding, his piston rings scratching the hell out of the cylinder walls without propper lubrification. And by doing this, the gas would ignite easily.
I am surprised he even locked that door. It's not like anyone is going to take that car. And if they tried, you have an extra 2 mins to catch them before it starts,,,
Dont need to constantly press pedal to the floor and back, just hold it in one position where it starts start. Hello from siberia. Also you can add oil in cylinders, not much for add compression if it wont start and she stood motionless for a long time. This helps to start the motors in -50C
oil? how do you expect him to do that, down the carburetor throat? i don't think that's a good idea. oil shouldn't be in the cylinders anyway. did yo umean gasoline? if so, maybe adding some to the carb float chamber could be beneficial, as it would probably be empty after being left for a long time. Could make the process a little faster
@@patryknowicki4536 it seems the person who typed it used Google translate, I know because the comment sounds like my family trying to text me some shit they translated as if they know english
@@patryknowicki4536 through the spark plug holes. Like he said, just enough to boost compression, but won't completely foul the plugs...however it's still a good idea to change the plugs afterwards. Its just an old mechanics trick to help start an engines that's sat for a long time, or too worn to start in super cold weather (poor compression). There are obviously much better ways to get an engine started...its more of a "use what you got" thing. Gasoline is a detergent, and would wash the film of oil off the cylinder walls, that's why oil is preferred.
@@ElectricSwordfish oil used for that never heard but for motors that has sat long time, people put some oil there to get the piston rings off, i mean if they are stuck... it will help on that of course
American guy: started Ford at 17 degrees Viewers: WOW, it amazing Russians: cool, warm morning, but now i need start my Lada at -30 and go to work as usual
Dan, I drove those cars at those temperatures back in the day.....when you pump the throttle to the floor you engage the choke unloader....if you squeeze the throttle to the floor once before cranking and then crank with half or two thirds throttle it should fire faster. You are using the accelerator pump to force fuel in, but if you let it pull fuel through the carb with the choke shut, it is an emulsion and is better vaporized.
@l o l they are finicky....I used to convert them to a cable operated setup. Kits were once readily available to do this. To check yours, remove the air cleaner lid and look at the front two barrels of the carb. Do this cold. The choke plate on top should be wide open. Then depress the accelerator three quarters to the floor once gently and look again. The choke plate should now be closed. You want that plate to open a little after the engine fires, then fully when it is warm. It opens two ways, by flooring the accelerator, or by heat. The heat comes either from a tube that transfers engine heat to a small round housing on the outside of the carb at the choke plate shaft, or by an electric heating element in that same small housing. If you remove the lid and look again after the engine is fully warmed up, you should see that plate fully open. Also worth a look is the vacuum motor in the air horn that diverts the intake air, drawing it from a small heat stove on the exhaust manifold. Helps warm it up faster. If you flood it and it won’t start, you have to hold the pedal down while cranking, no pumping. Lots of complications before they put fuel injection in these things!
I've gotten a lot of good tips like this on this video and I actually use them on my current carb'd '75 in winter conditions and you guys are right. I just had no idea back then.
My question is do you think today’s plastic intake manifolds, valve covers or even any plastic would survive these kind of long term low temperatures like that? I am not necessarily referring to Police vehicles since their engines stay at a fairly warm temperature for a fairly consistent time frame.
I'm impressed that it even started. From what I know, carbureted engines get flooded when the gas pedal is pumped like that. Normally cars don't start after that.
@@mikecoffee7548 If you're properly tuned, you're starting almost as quick as EFI. Only difference is you gotta take extra time to let it warm up a bit after she's started.
I've been living in the northern part of Sweden (Luleå) for about 10 years. I was forced to start the engine in my car, doing that activity literally every single day! The temperature was -36 degree in january and february. I was the owner of SAAB 9000 and then Saab 9-5 (engine: B235e). I've never had any kind of the problems with ignition of my cars. But one thing is true: sometimes I was forced to take away car battery from the vehicle and bring it straight to my apartment and recharge it during the night. You're truly lucky guy, if there is a lift in your flat house! :-)
In the north central US we used "tank heaters" in farm tractors and cars. There are a number of tricks to use when it gets below -20F. Deep in Alaska where it really gets cold (not by the coast) aircraft have the oil drained after landing. Oil is stored inside the cabin all night. Our diesel tractors on the farm used 30w oil which required heater magnets on the crankcase or else the oil was not going to move. We have a heavy population of Scandinavian descendants in the region so cold is just part of life. :)
I'm surprised it wasn't hopelessly flooded. I've had cars that if you pump the gas one too many times it would take an hour of sitting before you would get anything out of it.
This is a true fact...HERE IS WHY. Stomping up and down on the pedal, especially cold weather, WHILE CRANKING, will just induce problems.. like flooding it out. (saturating the plugs with raw, un-atomized gas) Stepping on the pedal ONCE and releasing the pedal will close (and set) the choke. That's how it works. NOW, TO PRIME A COLD ENGINE, Without Cranking It, you can step on the pedal several times so that the Accelerator pump can inject a few extra squirts into the VENTURY, (the airway or throat of the carb) incase you didn't know. Now release the pedal (Quit stomping on it) and allow the choke to remain closed and to do it's job. Crank several seconds and repeat until it starts. Then feather the gas to keep it running if necessary.
@john jones An electric choke is an element that operates by warming up and allowing the choke to open ,and high idle to come off when you tap the accelerator after engine has run a minute or 2 , it has a power wire to it , the unit is also adjustable Some Older versions without a power wire were heated by a hot air tube to the choke housing fool proof was the manual choke , a simple cable and no headaches
WRONG. I had a '72 LTD, like this one. I had to pump it 15-20 times to get it to start in cold weather. Maybe a characteristic of this engine/carb combo on this car...and I think this guy knows how to start his own car.
@john jones I converted a Quadrajet to a manual choke and it worked Perfect , always starts within a few spins , even if not run for a few weeks in winter, 5 seconds of spin , it lights and that is with a tuned points system not best for performance , good , old , and reliable though all in a 66 gmc 1/2 ton with a 350/ turbo 400 , Back in the day .....
Yeah same in Estonia, -28 celcius old diesel no webasto no garage not even seat heaters. You just take your battery inside when you done driving and dump it back in when you go 😆
Funny thing is nobody up here keeps their car in it. -26f when I was in Fairbanks a couple weeks ago. -60 windchill. 99 Subaru cranked and fired like a champ
meanwhile in finland: 70's Lada, 3 weeks sitting in -20 - -32 celsius. and when i start it at -29C after 3 weeks, it starts like nothing :) of course oil is a bit janky but it starts on first spin of the motor :D
Its so satisfying when you start so long and with every sec it gets closer to wake up and when it starts up in the end the sound is the best music for a car guy like me.
I had a 1966 Ford F100 that I bought for $100. That truck started immediately with a bump of the key every single time. Even under zero degrees and buried in snow. I would see much newer cars failing to start when I didn't even have to warm it up. I just started it, put it in gear and drove off. I drove that truck to my construction job every day for around a year and other than a leaky rear main seal that needed around two quarts of oil a week (I drove 250-300 miles a week) that truck never failed. Well actually one day when I got to work I noticed antifreeze coming out of a pinhole in the radiator. Stopped at a 7-11 on my way home and got several packets of pepper and poured the pepper in the radiator. It wasn't leaking when I got home and it never leaked again. That one was Built Ford Tough.
Love those old gas pedals that were longer than a size 12 men’s. Also the brake pedal with the “Disc Brakes” emblem smack dab in the middle. Seem to recall GM doing that too, right through the ‘80s.
Not only that, but Fords, GM cars, and Chrysler cars all had a distinctive sound when you started them up. Fords sounded lower, GM cars sounded higher, and Chrysler cars sounded like they were dying, LOL. I remember it all, Chevrolets had that bent gearshift with a rubber thing on top, Ford’s had that same gearshift from about 1969 to 1976 before making it plastic, Ford cars had a rectangular dome light and GM cars had a round one with a star in the middle unless you were fancy and got map lights.
@@jondstewart that Chrysler sound your referring to is the gear reduction they used in their starters ford and gm didn't use gear reduction that's why their starters motors were gigantic. nowadays all starters have it, that allows them to use much smaller starter motors motors
I think I watched this video before I PCSed to Elmendorf. Looking back on this video it essentially sums up my experience with the Alaskan winter. I had a great three years in Alaska.
You can flood your spark plugs with gas smashing the throttle like this)) Just pump some fuel by your gas pedal, wait 40 seconds 'till it evaporates and it should start)) Greetings from cold Russia, my friend🤝
I actually miss those days. Fingers frozen to the ignition. Pumping the gas, praying with each revolution of the engine it would fire and save the starter and battery before they died. Your heart would skip a beat everytime the engine caught a little and you wondered if it would finally catch!!! Now it's just so easy. Press a button on a remote and everything starts up. Shit, even my 7.3 in Wisconsin's -15 degree weather starts. It sounds like a cement mixer, but it starts. 😆
I was stationed there at Ft. Richardson 2003 to 2007. The state installed a block heater and battery warmer for free for newly assigned military personnel. That was so cool. My 89 fox body mustang gt always started whenever the temperature dipped near or below 0*....
Truth........ By the way can you imagine a tesla..... That was 50 Years old..... sitting in 0° weather..... for weeks And then getting in it starting it and trying to go somewhere😲🤣🤣🤣 Never going to happen
I had a transam with a truck 305/350 (idk) and it was so clapped it only ran right on propane and maxed out at 50/60kmh, my dad would give up starting it if he got to it first, but I could start it right up both before or after, so what you say is really true
@@brandoncallahan9289 very call batteries don’t hold much of a charge sure it would go somewhere but not very far Range dropping as much as 80% in extreme cold temperatures So that’s about 25 miles Or so.......not much
@@charlieb2176 it was a joke. Actually I did that few months ago and now it starts with half-dead starter. Gonna get to that soon. Anyway I don't get why petrol car starts even worse than diesel of same age with dead glow plugs.
If you consider this a cold start when he pumps more gas into the engine than he would down a drag strip and floods the carb then i have no idea what you talkin about
Loved seeing the '67, I grew up in Michigan and had a '64 Galaxie 500. As I recall, cold weather starting was to press the gas pedal to the floor to "set the choke, " release and then press the 'gas' down about halfway while starting. Then turn on the heater and defroster and go back inside for a cup of coffee. So glad for electronic ignition.
This really makes me feel like Jonathan in "Stranger Things" starting the same car in the series. Ahh i love winter, it's so cold and scary, but magical at the same time! : D
@@trainsbangsandautomobiles824 That car has a carburetor. After pumping the pedal many times while cranking, he had released the automatic choke (if it ever was set) and brought the engine to near flood condition, so at that point holding the throttle wide open would have cleared the excess gasoline and it probably have started much sooner.
I'm surprised this thing is still running to be honest. My family has owned ford's from basically every decade going all the way back to the 1930s all the way until the late 2010s. From our experience, the quality and reliability of Ford's products were at their lowest point in the 70s and 80s. Goes to show that even during one of ford's worst periods for quality, their cars were still relatively decent.
You're killin me!! My '72 LTD sits for 6 months, from November until May. When I start it in the spring, I get in, pump the pedal once, hold it half way down and crank. If it doesn't start in 10-15 seconds, I pump it a couple more times, turn the key and it usually starts. Continually pumping while cranking does nothing to help a carbureted car.
@@DanielLoveReel ya man, with a properly set carb, you only need to pump once and turn the ignition. Pumping once sets the fast idle cam in place and primes the circuit. When you start, the choke is just partially open to get a craploada fuel into the carb (rich mixture)..then as it warms up, the choke will slowly open on its own to lean out the mixture. Pumping it a million times is still not going to give enough fuel for a proper start and with your choke opening and closing, you're really just pissing in the wind. Also, never crank your starter longer than 15 seconds... or you will burn it up.
Road salt makes the roads and sidewalks white, your car white (or just nasty grey, and only on the bottom half), and also your shoes ugly and grey and white! XD
That car has a hell of a battery in it. Cold temps are battery killers. And this one wasn't going to give up. Nor was the motor If you live in these temps, as I do, you get it.
Nice! I had a used 1973 LTD 400 CID also. Had to change tires every few months from all the rubber I left on the asphalt. The best of times with the best cars.
@@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingFor you can tell from the thumping noise. Pushing in the pedal, then letting it return fast makes a thump noise. I dont think it would snap a cable, but you really should just hold the pedal in one spot, not constantly pump it
I had a 1972 6cyl Nova. That was exactly how I *had* to start it in much colder temperatures than -17C. It was a great car, just needed to be coaxed to life on cold, cold mornings. All you experts with your advice of one slow pump to floor, set the choke, fill the bowl...etc would never have made it to work in my car. In the old days, cars were finicky with individual characteristics.
My '66 Nova with the 194 6 would start on days my mom's '78 Fairmont wagon with the 200 6 wouldn't. Ford specified a small battery for the Fairmont, so we started taking it inside on extremely cold nights so it would start the next day. The automatic choke on that car was a bit finicky as well, so you better let it warm up. The Nova, pump it twice and breathe on the key and it would go.
I had a four door 72 nova with a 307 that would start up pretty quickly after pumping the gas peddle a couple times in a 0 degree morning. That engine was nearly magical with +200k miles on it and I had the carb and stuff tuned perfectly. Also I replaced the points ignition with an upgraded HEI setup so that might of helped too. The real easy mode was when I swapped in a 350 with a new subframe. With that engine I could floor the pedal a couple times to set the choke before cranking and it'd start right up on those 0 f days. Always made sure to give both engines plenty of time to warm up before going anywhere as they were not generally happy in that weather before warming up. @Tony Bright I had forgotten about breathing on the key before using it.
@@ToolofSociety I didn't mean literally breathe on the key, just that it needed a light touch. I don't miss having to allow long periods of warmup these days. Somewhere I have the video of my 1999 Grand Marquis starting using a 4 year old Wal*Mart Value ($49, one year warranty) battery in below zero temps in my collection of RU-vid videos.
Where i'm at in Iowa it frequently gets as cold as Alaska for weeks on end, because we are nowhere near the ocean. You learn how to really appreciate a car that will start at all when it's well below 0° Fahrenheit. People who use Celsius don't realize just how cold 0, or 20 below zero is. Celsius scale finally catches up with Fahrenheit at minus 45°.
Grandpa left me knowledge back in the old days, you want that car to start in the morning start it the night before let it heat maximum, always worked for me on the older cars with carbs.
Love that car. My parents had one of those when I was young. Had a400 mall block. Drove like a boat. It would go as fast as you had the nerve to take it. Thx for the flashback.
Чувак с ютуба: заводит маслкар в минус 17, все комментаторы в восторге Девятка которая заводится каждый день в -30 потому что надо ехать на завод: подержи моё пиво
@@user-ox5ny2ye2m у меня пятерка заводилась меньше чем за минуту, прошлой зимой в -25, если сцепу выжать. Если отпустить, то густое масло в коробке останавливало двигатель. Но если дать поработать выжатой сцепой пару минут, потом мотор выходил на около рабочие обороты и все, можно чистить снег.
To start a carbed V8 with auto choke: 1. Press accel to floor once and release to seat choke. 2. pump accel a number of times. 3. foot off accellerator 4. Crank Repeat step 2-4 til it starts. Don’t pump while you crank, then the choke doesn’t work.
I disconnected the linkage between the throttle and choke, and ran a choke cable to the dash. Pull the choke closed, don't touch the throttle, and it'll start within 2 seconds in any weather.
Engine : uggh this tard has got me drunk on gasoline Starter : hey alternator! If you think I’ve got it rough , wait till I get this thing started. Alternator : Fack!!!
The reason you don's see these cars anymore isn't because of engine or trans problems. Cars of this era all dissolved into a pile of rust after a few winters of road salt. Have no idea how this car survived.
@@MrSloika I mean you're not wrong, but the thing with rust is it can be prevented with good regular undercoating and undercarriage washing. You just have to give a shit about your car.
My dad had one in the 80's (his dad handed it down to him) and it was cool to see the same interior/dash in this video. I remember riding in it with my dad when the tie rod broke on it. Luckily, it was on a road with little traffic so we didn't crash into anything. That was the end of the LTD. I'm sure the minimal upkeep, salt, rust, potholes in OH led to its demise.
-17C is about average here in Sweden, sometimes it goes down to -30 in january, february, thats when you start your car the first thing in the morning then go in and get ready for work with the car running on the driveway :D
I recognized that car instantly from the thumbnail. My first car was a blue '72 LTD. It had a bad universal joint, wouldn't shift out of second until you hit 55 mph, and when you pulled the knob for high beams, all the lights went out. I can't believe I survived it.
That poor starter! To start a carbureted engine when COLD, you depress the accelerator to the floor to set the choke. This allows less air and more fuel to start easier. In the extreme cold like this however, a can of starting fluid helps immensely. Dragging the starter like this is a definite no-no. Once a carbureted engine is warmed up, a simple twist of the key is all that’s needed.
I'm guessing nobody showed him how to start a Ford carburetor v8. Press the pedal to the floor to set the choke. Then flutter the gas pedal with your foot as you crank the starter. Count 3 seconds and if the engine doesn't start let off the key. Count to 3 and try again. It should start by the 3rd try. At least that's how it worked on the family 79 Lincoln Continental and 79 Ford E-150 cargo van here in Wisconsin. He shouldn't have to keep pressing the pedal to the floor when cranking.And that's way too long cranking the engine before letting off the key.
If all is well and set right that should do it, but not always that easy. Gotta remember, it's not a high pressure fuel system, some of those old mechanical fuel pumps drained back, and what was left in the bowl of a carb wasn't enough to keep it going till the pump pressure came back up. This is one reason why fuel injection took over.
@@garyr7027 “If all is well and set right”, i.e. in a good state of tune (distributor cap and rotor, points, spark plugs and wires, dialed in carburetor, coolant), correct?
My first hand me down car was a 71 Ford LTD convertible. Speedometer that bounced around. If hit 40 on the low end and 80 on the high end you were going about 55 60. About 75 degrees of steering wheel slop. Changing lanes was like making a turn in normal cars. MASSIVE engine but you could still get inside the engine bay, close the hood and still work on it.(bring a light) Hit a bump on the freeway and you might be stable again by the time you get off the freeway. When you bottomed out you didn't bounce as much as the world moved down for you...
