FSJ Cold Weather Test

[threepiece]

It was -11 with a -37 wind chill here in the Detroit area this morning. I drove the J20 to work today because the Cherokee wouldn't make it down to the road with the 31x10.5 All Terrains.

It took a good deal of effort to move the Dana shifter into 4-HI and I heard a snapping sound in the process. I suspect it was the rubber boot that broke from being so brittle.

It took a few seconds for the bearings in the blower motor to hush up after I turned it on.

The heavy gear oil in the four gear cases handled the deceleration duty for the entire seven mile trip to work.

Tell us about any other cold weather quirks or mishaps with your FSJ.

[dkmcgowan]

It's pretty cold here for Georgia, it was 7 degrees this morning. The Wagon cranked right up, pressed pedal 3 times, fired up instantly. She idled pretty bad for a couple of minutes.

I pulled out of my neighborhood onto a pretty busy road and she stalled on me. I threw it in neutral and it cranked right back up. It struggled to get up to the first light. The light was red for a couple of minutes, by the time it was green she was running good and took me to work just fine.

[FSJunkie]

Sat under a car cover at my uncle's house for a month.

Single digit temperature morning. Pumped the gas once and cranked for 3 seconds, no start. Pumped again and cranked again. Fired up, slowly came up to RPM and let it run for a few minutes before tapping it down to 1500 RPM. Engine was already almost to 160 degrees.

Locking hubs were hard to turn, despite using the widest temperature grade grease I could get. Thick 75W90 in the gear cases sucked power all the hour long drive home.

[tgreening]

My poor waggy has sat outside for awhile now, and unstarted for about 3 weeks. It was -11 here this morning. I turned the key on and could tell from the gauge the battery wasn't loving the inattention, but after about 4 secs of crank she fired right up and settled into high idle. Love that howell fuel injection.

In the waggies defense, my oil burner sounded like a garbage can full of gravel on an industrial sized paint shaker when it fired up, and it's been plugged in.

[Kenall]

Well it was forty degrees here in CA as I piled on the sunscreen b4 switching the waggys AC on hi.
then it was off to the bike trailhead with the group to pedal to the Starbucks 6KM away.

When we got there all the outside tables were taken so we had to sit inside

Dang..winter in CA is tough.

[FSJ-Earl]

Mine 89 started right up. My 2002 F350 diesel has been plugged in for three days. Started to just to make sure it would start and when it did it sounded like my grandfather jiggling the coins and pocket knife around in his pocket! Took it for a 20 minute run to get it up to operating temp. The GW idled and warmed up with no problems at all.

[draglink]

Mine is so freakin spoiled, she lives in a heated/AC-ed 60* garage! I got in her this morn, opened the garage door, she shivered at the +17*(yeah I know its not that cold, but near coldest I have ever seen) but started up carried me to work with no issues. I'm sure she's pissed at me sitting in the cold parking lot right now though....

[thechier86]

I don't have my fsj anymore, so this week when I drove my ragtop baby jeep an hour one way to work, I froze my butt off. Now I am on the hunt for another waggy. It will stay stock and be my daily driver, while the tj will be the sunny weather/wheelin rig.

[DanHS]

My choke has been all weird for a long time, no matter what adjustments I make and parts replaced it always functions the same. In this cold the GW consistently starts right up with one pump, idles up, then dies. Second start either does the same thing or tries to idle up over 2000, even though I've adjusted the high idle level down. Then once I kick it down it either idles at 1500 or wants to go down to 800, so I need to hold the gas. Put it in gear and it usually stalls. Start it again in gear (I have the relay bypassing the nss), idles strong in gear and goes, just takes the whole drive to warm up. It's been around 0 degrees here in the morning and evening.

[FSJunkie]

My choke has been all weird for a long time, no matter what adjustments I make and parts replaced it always functions the same. In this cold the GW consistently starts right up with one pump, idles up, then dies. Second start either does the same thing or tries to idle up over 2000, even though I've adjusted the high idle level down. Then once I kick it down it either idles at 1500 or wants to go down to 800, so I need to hold the gas. Put it in gear and it usually stalls. Start it again in gear (I have the relay bypassing the nss), idles strong in gear and goes, just takes the whole drive to warm up. It's been around 0 degrees here in the morning and evening.

Have you messed with the pull-off adjustment?

[DanHS]

I actually just replaced the pull off because the diaphragm was bad, made no difference, haven't tried adjusting it yet. I think I'll either get a new choke coil and sit there and try dialing everything in to spec, or just put on a manual choke cable.

[itselliot]

-2 to -14

The J20 has been put into emergency service this winter.

The front cardan joint is squeeling and the blower motor screams till it only growls. But it has faithfully responded to the turn of a key each and every time I asked it to.

200 mile round trips hauling a 22' car hauler full of my belongings, about once every other week.

I am hoping to begin the restoration this summer........but ,..........if any of you fellow Michiganders know of a truly trustworthy, full service shop,................I am all ears!!