Why is it difficult to jump start car in winter?

Experienced drivers know that, because of the low temperature, cars are more difficult to start in winter. How to solve this problem?

There are several reasons:

1.     The battery is frozen and effective capacity reduced a lot.

(1)  Car battery’s ability to discharge current decreased in cold weather.  At low temperatures, the volume of the electrolyte in the battery becomes larger, the electrolyte concentration increases, and the electrochemical polarization of the battery intensifies, which leads to an increase in internal resistance and a decrease on the discharge current.

(2) The battery capacity level drops. As the viscosity of the electrolyte increases, it is more difficult for the electrolyte to penetrate into the plates to participate in the chemical reaction. Then, the electrolyte participating in the reaction becomes less, the battery capacity will decrease, and  the battery voltage will be down.

(3) The battery is damaged. If the temperature drops below minus 20 degrees, the electrolyte may solidify and expand, resulting in deformation of the battery plates and damage the battery tank.

Question, how to jump start the vehicles in winter correctly?

When jump starting, each cranking should not exceed 5 seconds. If the first action failure, must wait at least 2 minutes before the second action to let the battery have enough time to restore. Otherwise, the service life of the battery will be greatly reduced If the jump start time is over 5 seconds, and rest period in between is less than 2 minutes, Therefore, when jump starting a cold car in winter, it is best to warm the engine  first to reduce the start times.

2.     The high oil viscosity increases the running resistance of the engine.

In cold weather, the viscosity of engine oil increases, and with poor fluidity, leads the frictional resistance becomes larger. It needs higher ignition energy, from the car battery, to run the spark plugs

Therefore, in addition to the battery factor, adopting the oil with better fluidity in winter can help to jump start in winter.

3. Carbon deposits.

Fuel injectors, spark plugs, throttles and other parts will be blocked with carbon deposits, reducing the effect of gasoline atomization, and increasing the difficulty of cold-starting.

How to prevent carbon deposits? Don't turn off the engine too quickly. For those who have been driving for a long time, as long as they arrive the destination, will stop and turn off the engine directly. But, when the car is stopped, there is part of the fuel that haven’t been burned out, it  will deposit after cool down. If it continues, the carbon deposit will increase. Therefore, the correct approach is to wait for 1 minute or 30 seconds after parking the vehicle, then turning off the engine.

However, timely maintenance  is also very important, it can help you prevent many troubles.

All in all, whether it is a gasoline car or a diesel car, higher electricity level is needed to jump start the car in winter. It is best to have a car jump starter to prevent problems, it can start the car, provide emergency lighting and charge the mobile phones. It is not only powerful, but also for multi-purpose.