How To Start a Truck at 76F Below. Winter in Soviet Yakutia 

What you do is get the first one started, then drive it to the airport

I drove Diesel VWs for 30 years. When I lived in Alaska, a block heater worked most of the time. When I could not plug in. A large Cookie sheet , a bit of charcoal and a banket did the trick in Yukon. It took 20 min. Since I was working as a bush pilot at the time, keeping warm was always an issue. We stop flying when the outside temps dropped lower than -30 F, the aircraft would just cold soak.

I remember hearing that in such conditions, they would leave the engines idling overnight so that they don't cool down.

It's amazing the Soviets were as successful as they were at starting all the diesel engines of their tanks during WWII. The Kharkiv V2 diesels (38.8L) used in T-34 tanks took a lot of compression to get started. Batteries of course tend to fail in subzero temperatures. The Soviet solution to this was a manually pumped canister that was used to send forced air into the engine and make it roll. It often worked, but was a hell of a job for the driver who had to sit and pump enough air into the tank to attempt a start.

When I was much younger than now, I got lazy and did not drain the 20W50 oil from my car in time for winter. I tried to start the car.. it said "I don't wanna go". I told my dad, he compared me with something that wasn't a compliment and told me to get his blow torch to try (he called it a blow lamp, he was a Brit). Anyway, after I got that going and aimed at the oil sump, I had breakfast, dad had gone to work by then. After breakfast I tried to start the car again and she fired up with the first turn of the key, I drained the oil and replaced it with 5W30 that day.

Imagine being a mechanic out there and slipping and banging your knuckles when working on these things

My friend Tom Cooke came to work one morning to find his new truck /load/driver sitting due to a n early cold snap and failure to plug it in. Never a patient sort, Tom got a fire going underneath as shown. Unfortunately, the new truck had the first fiberglass oil pan. Bad day for Tom

I can't imagine living like this coming from southern Louisiana. I don't think I've ever experienced any negative Fahrenheit before. +30F is cold where I'm from, I can't imagine -76F! Their resilience is amazing

I'm watching this during a heatwave to help cool down .

I worked on Sakhalin Island, north of the Arctic Circle. We'd keep our trucks running all winter long. Drive them to the fuel point every morning. And if you forgot...oh boy.

I live in the UK and we don't get winters that cold, but in the early 80s I drove 4 wheel tippers for a demolition and plant hire company, one day we had a very cold snap and my job for the day was cancelled and the boss told me to take one of the Commer skip lorrys out, it started ok but when I moved off the front driver side wheel was frozen solid and it took 10 minutes with an acetylene torch to free it I eventually managed to leave the yard but about a mile down the road the engine ground to a halt because the desiel had frozen so I lost another hour waiting for the mechanic to come out with a van load of wood to build a fire under the fuel tank, happy days

I remember reading about what WW2 Germans had to do to get their tanks going in Russia. They'd start fires under them to get the running gear unfrozen For coolant, they drained it at night and kept it warm till morning. Start up a tank, cycle the coolant through , kill it, then drain and repeat on the rest. Probably only in depots, otherwise leave them running all night like we did most equipment on the Alaska Pipeline.

The flip side to all this is I had a friend from the USSR who was born in Azhabazhan, lived (I think) Crimea and worked at times in Soviet Central Asia. At the time I lived in San Diego and when I asked him what brought him to Southern California he said he liked the climate as it was what he was used to ba k in the USSR. He explained that along the coast of the Black Sea where he lived had a climate like Southern California. Moreover he said that he never even saw snow. Surprise.

Everyone has great memories of work hard or easy it was fun to be young and working.

Notice the horses don't stop working in the cold.

Reminds me of living in Fairbanks in the 1980s

Try doing this on a midern truck! You'd have a big blog of melted plastic on the ground in the morning, and it'd be towed straight to the wreckers!

This smooth jazz almost makes fire starting a truck in the arcticle circle look like a hipster activity.

Wow. We couldn't do that with today's vehicles, with all the plastic components. I'd imagine that we could use something like an old-fashioned bed warmer. It looks like a frying pan with a lid and long handle, and it could hold hot coals. I'm not sure what else would work.

My grandfather was in WW2, he had 3 guys sitting in a truck like this in Europe in fridgid conditions overnight gaurding equipment, he said to them what ever you do, don't fall asleep. He came out in the morning and they had fallen asleep and frozen to death💀

Now, let's see them try and start up a Tesla, in those conditions--haah!

The horse looked like he was ready too go to work.

North of 60' Lat, we leave our diesels running in the winter, until a preventive maintenance.

Thank for the time and effort You spend on these videos Sergei. Best Wishes to You and Your Family.

First TY to your editor. In the military we left the engines running. Or 30 minute start ups run for 15 minutes. But the easiest way in cold climates is just plug in water pump heaters, that circulate hot water all night long. But I forget, the USSR nor russia have electricity. 😅

Thanks for your contributions to popular Soviet history :)

Non electric block heaters 🔥 Just like my grandpa used to use.

I've warmed old 1920 or 30 tractors that way. Warm up the lube so she can actually move.....especially if condensation is frozen in the cases....

The music makes this video so comfy for some reason

I'm in Canada and we can get some pretty darned frosty weather here too by times though I don't recall it ever getting to -76. -56 is the lowest I've personally experienced though there may have been colder recordings. Spent a lot of time on everything from highways to work sites to oil and gas operations and in many cases, we'd just let the damned things run all night and turn up the idle a touch. kept everything charged, kept the fluids hot and most importantly, kept me warm as most of the times, I was in the bunk trying to sleep.

Sergei thank you for starting your RU-vid channel. Seems like were about the same age. One of the things I remember growing up were the testing of the warnings for nuclear strikes and the school tests when they would turn on the sirens and wed have to jump under our desks and hold the kiss your hiney good bye.. I always wondered if the kids in the Soviet Union had to go through the same things. Its nice to finally get to know what life was like for you during the same time. One of your 6%.

In Alaska apparently they do the same. So here goes our new prototype on test in winter conditions. With a plastic oil pan. The driver put his burner under it and went for coffee. The oil pan melted and the million-dollar prototype truck burned to the ground. True story!

Thank you for showing this great video. Years ago I came across a similar video of Black and White postwar trucks driving in extreme cold weather and they were heating the engines with fires even heating the tires with some gasoline tossed on them and Flames because otherwise the rubber would actually crack. They even had little wood stoves under the glove box on the passenger side. If you ever find that video please share it thanks!!!

I wonder when the Soviet Union got multi viscosity oils like 10W-30. The USA started getting them in the 1950s on commercially available automotive oils. I've seen that flaming oily rag on a stick trick at 0:17 on stationary water pumping diesel engines in Pakistan and India.

I remember back in the 70's when New England winters would get brutally cold, our cars often wouldn't start. You'd work a few hours to get her going again. Turn it over, charge the battery, turn it over repeat until it started. I'd never put a fire under the engine

as i have a car up north... 200hp 300hp * 500lbft Ford 4.6... idling when it is -84F the motor at nearly 300 cubic inch, cools down then nearly falls into a stalling loop of to cold to run, and only stays at it's 180F operational range when it is essentially floored burning 2mpg to 8mpg. ... get one truck going and pull start the other one's. batteries over the idea that... the bearing clearances on a summer engine are 15 thousandths inch, a winter engine bearings are specified between 45 and 65 thousandths. as so lots of cars and trucks made in china and mexico are not made for the cold air with the 15thou bearing clearances... they are locked mechanically at -20F. transmission oil goes in the engine radiator to preheat the oil... tho the cab heater does not work in -84F, so the lump on the exhaust pipe is a heater core... cab heater that uses the exhaust manifold and part of down pipe as a heat exchanger for heating the cab of the truck. like one of those aluminum heatsinks on a micro chip but bigger and made of iron similar to a catalytic converter inside tho can run engine coolant or air thru it's outer case? 2 foot of exhaust heat added to holding in thermal dynamics. do not accept being stuck... under load that does become a 250kwhr heater core, so driving with the windows open just feels good when its -84f.

That must have done wonders to the wire harnesses.

You'd think that they could just hire a night shift to start and shutdown the trucks hourly to keep them from freezing. and also a compression relief valve could come in handy for starting

In Finland oil away, water away and accu away for the night. All these in warm.

I couldn't even imagine. I live in New England. Coldest I've seen is -20F for a few hours right before the sun came up one January morning.

welcome to North Dakota in Jan- Feb . even if you use anti gel in your diesel it will still gel up .gotta keep it running

I like the music 🎶

Used to start skidders and harvesters like that only we Used a piece of stove pipe.

Just so you know, those other guy's started their horses the same way.

I enjoyed the thrill of hauling Milk from Farms in 1995, at -30 in Minnesota. That was pretty intense for an entire Month. We do seem to experience weather events of unusual terms lately.

They still have to use portable heaters to heat the engine blocks of cars in Siberia. People winterize cars with wool blanketing and such, also install engine block heaters that plug in over night to keep the engine warm. Engine block heaters are pretty common in Alaska and Canada but I think Siberia and Northern Russia have much colder conditions in the winter time and require extra accommodations in the colder regions

Very true. In the oil patch in northern Alberta Canada this is still done.

I like how they light a fire under the radiator hose lololol

Talk about a cold start!

The wind almost sounds like music, thats crazy

I’d have thought that the flames 🔥 would melt wires & rubber brake hoses etc.

That's not even cold......that's a nice spring day in Winnipeg

When you stop drain the oil. When you want to use the cat again heat up the oil and pour it into the engine and start the car.

Step One: Move to a warmer climate.

That would explain what happened to the Moskva. But I didn't know it was so cold in the Black Sea

These trucks are 1950s, primitive design but rugged. Wonder if modern truck could take that kind of beatings.

Ive done this with a propane heater and tarp in alberta canada

Remind me to start an up the bulldozers in the winter.

In modern times we have block heaters and press button ether injection.

I live in San Diego.

in milder winters like -10°C the drivers let the cars read some pravda newspaper...on fire. right into the intake. now when its all plastic on the trucks and cars its a challange not to melt something.

Apparently a blanket over the motor with charcoal underneath is too hard

I know some people who would benefit from this method to get them going in the morning!

Thank you for another interesting video John Wayne Cheeseburger!! 🍔

I take so for granted jumping in my car and pressing "start". 😅

In Canada that's how I get my cassette player going.

Seems reasonable and logical 🔥💥

Beautiful trucks ❤

Good old days when trucks were made of metal.

Extreme conditions , extreme solutions 🥶

Kind of difficult to understand how the 1st nation in space couldn't invent an engine block heater which essentially is 2 wires and a coat hanger!!

Damn 76 below zero is chilly!!!!!!! Were those gas or diesel trucks? Wouldn't it be easier to let the trucks idle overnight? My brother lives in northern Wisconsin and he drives a Semi. When the temperature was gonna drop to 20 or 30 below zero at night he'd let his Semi idle overnight. I asked him isn't that expensive. He said not as expensive as the Semi freezing up overnight and trying to start it for hours and missing your delivery. A lot of southern truckers drive up to the northern States in the winter. They have southern diesel fuel in their trucks that doesn't have anti gel additives in the diesel fuel. Their diesel fuel gels up and the truck quits running. I see them stuck and pulled on the shoulder all the time in the winter. My brothers friend made a living out of ungelling the diesel fuel in southern truckers trucks in the winter. He'd put a torpedo heater under the Semi and box in the Semi with cardboard. In a couple of hours the diesel fuel was warm enough to ungell. When the diesel was liquid he'd add an anti gelling additive to the fuel tanks. And the trucker went on way with his wallet $400 - $500 lighter. For two hours of work $400 - $500 wasn't bad pay. It was funny nobody liked the cold weather. But he used to pray for cold weather so he could make money.

You don't start a truck at those extreme low temperatures. Those trucks are left running 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Bad thing happens to those trucks If you run them and turn them off even the engine block heaters aren't going to help at 76 below zero.

Well, those engines were built like tanks, no wires got burned 🤔

"Sasha, did you remember to set truck on fire today? You must burn it down or it not go."

Peg from zip ties would be proud with these cold starts.

Literally burning the cars

Yeah so all you have to do is light the truck on fire and walk away; then get a reindeer and ride off

I think it crazy to live or work in a place like that. Move south

Never shit the engine off

Reminds me of driving Bedford TK's

Early '70, warming diesel engine block with torches for 20-30 minutes than ether then "wish" 😉

God in Heaven that looks fucking dangerous!

What year is this from?

What main video did this come from I have been trying to find it because I enjoy watching it but I can't find it again

tires at that temp are like glas...so slow first kilometers.

Сегодняшняя молодёжь, сегодняшнее поколение сможет ТАК?

Look at that horse. I wonder how did they start the horse.

Next time you think you have it rough, watch this video again.

I prefer external combustion

not a summer guy but i think this might be overdoing it a bit 4 me

The cold would cause the engine oil to turn solid. The fire under the sump would heat the engine oil & make it liquid again. Starting without heating would sieze the engine.

A barn would go a long way....

I've worked as cold as -45C. Sometimes doing exactly these things. Nobody with any sense works without face coverings. And gloves? Nope. Mitts. And even those are a maybe. At 76 below? I call bullshit.

How the Eskimo's start their trucks They set them on fire !! and drive them... Its where they got the idea for Ghost Rider

Bet these men where happy when Moscow issued new trucks with glow plugs

Just, Dont leave the house in December !!

Humans are not meant to live in such a cold and harsh climates. Imagine doing that warm up procedure every morning you need to start your car. It’s crazy. Move closer to the equator.

Cool, bit how did they warm up the horses to get those started? :p

PSA: DON'T DO THIS WITH AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE. Just putting that out there as I am sure some numpty will at some point