subzero temps, block heaters, etc

[treed2 at wsu.edu (T. Reed)]

This message is mainly for the canadian and 'cold winter' crowd..

I've been watching the weather at my residence from afar (I'm on vacation)
and recently the temps have dropped from the 'usual' teens and twenties
(-1 C to -12 C roughly) to as cold as -20 F (-29 C). When I moved there
it was 100 F outside and I didn't expect it to get this cold.

This has me a little concerned because at those kind of temperatures I
don't want to be out and about on foot unless absolutely necessary. Fixing
my car outdoors is now completely out of the question!

I usually take the bus every day for my 'commute' but the bus stop is
about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. I thought I was cold before
when it was 20 degrees and windy. I have a feeling its gonna be a lot
worse now! Any 'staying warm' suggestions would be appreciated.. I bought
new gloves and am shopping for a warmer jacket.

Anyway, the main problems I've had with my car so far due to the cold
temps have been related to getting the motor started. I replaced the
battery and in the just-below-freezing temps where I currently am the
electrical system seems a lot healthier -- maybe that was the whole
problem, I hope so. But I'm starting to wonder what else goes wrong when
things get this cold. I'm running 10w30 dino oil; which I think is good
down to -20 or -30 F. My antifreeze mix is about 50/50.

Note that I don't drive my car every day; I use it primarily to buy food
and run occasional errands. But I want it to be somewhat reliable.. I
have electric heat so if I lose power in my apt it's my only source of
heat. It's important that I can drive away within a couple of minutes
without monkeying around too much (I don't want to be pulling the battery
and heating it up inside or any crap like that).

I have a window of opportunity in the next few days as I have access to a
garage and 3 or 4 days before I return home. I am already planning on
fixing my thermostat problem so I can have HOT (not lukewarm) heat again.

What problems should I expect at these temps? Should I get a block
heater? I found a place that sells the freeze plug style block heaters
for 4-cyl vws for $14. Seems like it would be a pain to get at the freeze
plugs with the motor in the car, though. I should have put one in when I
did my 2.0 16v swap; if only I knew..

-Toby