MI_FamilyMan

Well lo and behold my strategy has backfired. I bought my 8 in late August thinking I would garage it over the winter, taking it out only sporadically to keep it "loose". The idea was to keep using my wife's old 1998 Ford Contour (w/ 86,000 miles) as my daily driver/winter car. With the coldest day of the year now upon us, I was disappointed to discover that the POS Ford wouldn't start. I didn't try too hard, knowing it was bloody cold and that I have had flooding issues with this car in the past (no 8 owners, you are not alone). My dilemma at this point is how to get this car started, and whether I should consider getting a different "beater". Funds aren't all that available right now, but it looks like keeping the Ford outside isn't going to cut it all winter. FYI, I have a 2-car garage, one spot for the 8 and one spot for my wife's MPV (and yes, her car must stay garaged). Any suggestions??? I really don't want to have to drive the 8 in the winter weather.

irish8

Block heater for Contour? Could you and your wide carpool? Whats public transportation like up there? Trade in the Contour for a POS. That's what I did for work purposes!! Not into leaving the 8 at the airport for extended periods of time.

- Irish

oi812

MI FamilyMan,

Your strategy is just like mine this year, wife's MPV stays in the garage next to the RX8. The RX8 is ready to go on not so salty dry road days or just in case the winter beater won't start. I got Dunlop Winter Sport M3's on the RX8 and it worked great all last winter, but man was it tough to see the salt hanging off my new toy.

I wanted to get a beater last winter, but the wife said she didn't want a 3rd car that had to be parked "in the yard" all the time. Both cars are out all summer long since the garage is taken over with mini bikes, skateboards, and general kids stuff, so her argument didn't hold water any more. I went out last month and got a 93 Chevy 2wd pickup with 202,000 miles, tuned it up and so far it's started every time since I got it home. It actually wouldn't start when it was on the lot, but got it for 50% of what he was asking when it wouldn't fire

There is no reason a Contour with only 86,000 shouldn't start if it's tuned up well. Put new spark plugs in, keep the gap a little on the tight side and make sure the cap, rotor, and wires are in great shape. If you can find them, go with one heat range hotter plugs to get them warmed up a little quicker and burn off the carbon that builds up when your letting the car idle to get warm. Thin oil (0w 30 or 5w 20) and clean battery connections also help. Good luck and don't give up on the beater yet, your RX8 will thank you for it.

MI_FamilyMan

Nah, nobody car pools in Detroit! Besides we work opposite directions and have daycare dropoffs to boot. We would have to get up at 3AM just to make it into work on time. Plus one of us would have to work like 12 hrs a day! And public transportation doesn't exist here either. If the Contour doesn't come around, I will probably have to look at used alternatives. I wonder what an old Integra would cost? Or got any good POS suggestions?

MI_FamilyMan

Wow, our situations are eerily similar. How do you like the MPV? Mine's cool except for the rough shift between 2nd & 3rd gears. Haven't asked the dealer to look at that yet. Anyways, driving the 8 is my last option, and I'm assuming that I will be able to get it started when the weather improves. I'll have to take the car and get it looked at. I'm sure the garage will take that opportunity to make a couple $$'s, but if they improve the situation, I suppose it will be worth it. I did have a "diagnostic" done a couple of months ago, and everything checked out ok.

MrH

Get an old Protege sedan. Cheap, reliable, and pretty fun. Makes the perfect winter beater.

Or get a block heater for the Contour. Tada. :D

JM1FE

OK, only you can can decide on whether the Contour is, in general, an acceptable thing to drive - assuming it starts in the cold. Since all I have to go on is the issue of non-starting in the cold, I'll advise on what you could do for that.

Someone else already suggested a heater. If you're going to do electic (plug-in) heat, I'd do multiple things at once. First, you need to heat the engine, so I'd get either a tank-type or (preferably) a freeze-plug-type heater to keep the block toasty. Then, I'd get one of the type of battery heaters that adheres to the side of the battery to keep it warm. Finally, if the block heater isn't cutting it, you can get a magnetic oil-pan heater to keep the oil from gooping up in extreme cold. A simpler solution for that would be to just run Mobil-1 0W30.

What I'd like for my car (if I had to deal with weather like that all the time) is a Webasto BlueHeat combustion heater, or something similar. This heater burns a small amount of gas from your fuel system to heat the engine coolant and circulate it through the engine. It's not dependant on being near an electrical outlet, and can be started remotely or by a timer. That way, your car can pre-heat itself an hour before you leave in the morning, and when you get in the car the engine (and therefore the interior heater) is warm. Also, if you ever get stuck in a blizzard on the highway for hours, it will keep you toasty without guzzling tons of gas idling.

Googleing on it shows references to it costing $800 - $2000 depending on options and installation complexity.

Speed-ER doc

Move to Texas. Then you can drive your 8 all year. :p

irish8

Amen...Tejas brother!!!

- Irish
(Not born or raised here...however, I got here as quick as I could!!)

oi812

My 03 MPV has been damn near flawless. That was a big reason that I bought the RX8. Good sales staff, good service staff, and fun vehicles have totally sold me on Mazda’s. I got excellent service form my dealer when the CEL came on in the MPV shortly after I got it (intermittent bad coil). Other than that, just normal service for 35,000 miles, but it needs tires soon. There is a TSB for the MPV’s on the rough shifting, but mine hasn’t done it yet. Check out the TSB’s on MPVclub.com if you haven’t yet.

3° F this morning and the beater made it to work no problems.

rx8cited

Forget the beater and invest in a set of snow tires.

Straight8

I spent TWO WINTERS in Muskegon MI. To this day I still measure my time in MI by winters. No way in hell that I'd slap a set of snow tires on my 8, or any other car that I cared about for that matter, just to get thru winter. The salt will eat your vehicle alive coating or no under-coating.

I was in the same predicament MI Family man. I had an MR2 and the wifes vehicle. Each winter I bought one of those $500 winter specials. Drove an Isuzu 4wd pickup the last winter up there. Truck actually looked/ran decent considering its $500 price...until half way through the winter, when the rust surfaced from underneath that brand new "cover the old rust up" paint job.

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

Come down to austin, we only have 2 seasons anyway and neither of them will keep you from driving the 8 :D

MI_FamilyMan

I wish that were an option. Never been to Texas, but I'm sure it's real nice.

MI_FamilyMan

They supposedly addressed the rough shifting TSB but we still experience the odd thunk between 3000-3500 rpm if you have the throttle just right. I will ask them to take another look at it when I am there next. Ours is a 2004 and my wife really enjoys it. BTW, the car started this morning now that it warmed up. Whaddaya know. Guess I'll have to check out the battery.

MI_FamilyMan

I agree with you, I treasure my 8 too much to put it through the winter. Besides the car started this morning (woohoo).