BRRRRR

[Joe Breaux]

How many of you got your Massimo to start this morning ? we are frozen in , roads closed, 40 mph winds.. expected windchill to be around ZERO DEGREES ... coldest its been here in 50 years.. To my astonishment, my MSU 500 CRANKED RIGHT UP!!!  It was a freaking cold ride tho.. BRRRRRRR  Hope everyones OK during this brutal blast of global warming... 

[Travis]

My Mule fired right up after about 3 seconds, i did have to adjust the pilot a little richer to idle though. about 5 minutes ago i put a Dr. Pepper outside covered in the snow, i just got it out. it's almost iced.

  we're at 19 right now... was down to 14. supposed to be 2° tonight. stay warm Joe.

[Travis]

Had a first today... my fuel pump froze up.

 It's a crankcase vacuum pump, so there is a line from the crankcase to the pump. and usually you get a little condensation in the tube, and it froze up right inside of where the tube connects to the pump, got some rubbing alcohol to dissolve the ice and that fixed it... probably have to do it again tomorrow. but soon enough the warm air from the crankcase will prevent it  for a little while after you kill it. it'd been about 5 hours since i had driven it....

 

[Joe Breaux]

Bourbon works better, and it warms you up too..... its just too damn cold .. weatherman says we will break a 100 yr old record for Feruary .. damn global warming is freezing our butts off.. I thought Al Gore said we would not see any more snow by 2015 ..he lied  .. I saw on TV its MINUS 50 degrees in Minnesota.. BRRRRRR  . how do they live in that?

[Travis]

i don't know how they do it either. All i know is i'm fine with this weather once every few decades.

It almost made me think about installing an electric fuel pump... i know other have done it on similar models, but then again, first time it's ever  frozen in 20 years, i think i'll be good.

 

 

[Joe Breaux]

mine is electric... fuel injection.. I was amazed how easily it started and ran perfectly .. its 15 degrees now

[Travis]

 we're at 10 now, got down to 8. Weatherman is saying more snow Wednesday. 1-4"

[Travis]

[Joe Breaux]

I see on the news,  all those shiny new Texas  Windfarm Turbines are frozen over and inoperative... I guess GREEN ENERGY means it only works on sunny summer days 

[Travis]

1 hour ago, Joe Breaux said:

I see on the news,  all those shiny new Texas  Windfarm Turbines are frozen over and inoperative... I guess GREEN ENERGY means it only works on sunny summer days 

and since those turbines supply nearly 30% of the power grid, people who don't need to be losing power are losing power. luckily we're on the power grid  from  LOUISIANA.

[Joe Breaux]

hahaha   no ugly windmills here... we burn natural gas to make power .. doesnt need warm sunny weather to actually work... Wind /solar/ battery are  fine to SUPPLEMENT ..........., not worth a nickel to rely on for main power ... as we clearly see today ...  ANYWHO ,  I digress ...... I am happy my Massimo actually started in this deep freeze .. I must admit I expected it to not start ..

[Travis]

Supplement is the correct word.

[cliffyk]

23 hours ago, Travis said:

Had a first today... my fuel pump froze up.

 It's a crankcase vacuum pump, so there is a line from the crankcase to the pump. and usually you get a little condensation in the tube, and it froze up right inside of where the tube connects to the pump, got some rubbing alcohol to dissolve the ice and that fixed it... probably have to do it again tomorrow. but soon enough the warm air from the crankcase will prevent it  for a little while after you kill it. it'd been about 5 hours since i had driven it....

 

I lived in New England for 45 years (been here in FL for 30)--that was an everyday occurrence in the winter, when I was in Maine it could happen while you were driving...

[Travis]

16 hours ago, cliffyk said:

I lived in New England for 45 years (been here in FL for 30)--that was an everyday occurrence in the winter, when I was in Maine it could happen while you were driving...

I'd say thats a good reason to move to Florida.

[Joe Breaux]

you know its funny..... we havent had a winter down south like this in 100 years. Biden gets elected and BAM!!!  HELL FROZE OVER !!!

[Travis]

11 minutes ago, Joe Breaux said:

you know its funny..... we havent had a winter down south like this in 100 years. Biden gets elected and BAM!!!  HELL FROZE OVER !!!

guess this was the dark winter he mentioned.

[cliffyk]

And we lost Rush--a damned cold day...

[Travis]

10 minutes ago, cliffyk said:

And we lost Rush--a damned cold day...

And it's sickening to see what some "famous" people are saying about his passing.

 

[cliffyk]

I damned near cried--and not ashamed to say so...

[Joe Breaux]

4 hours ago, Travis said:

And it's sickening to see what some "famous" people are saying about his passing.

 

apparently its ok to say anything, no matter how mean, degrading offensive or vulgar as long as theres a little D after your name ... 

[cliffyk]

17 minutes ago, Joe Breaux said:

apparently its ok to say anything, no matter how mean, degrading offensive or vulgar as long as theres a little D after your name ... 

Truth very  often is  offensive and/or vulgar; especially from the perspective of those seeking to be offended...

[T-boss 410]

Those beings (I refuse to refer to them as human) seem to have their own set of rules that only apply to them. Their days are numbered. 

[Joe Breaux]

I firmly believe in equality for all ... If I cant say it, then neither can they and if is OK for them then it should be OK for me.. that seems fair.But then I am a reasonable, itelligent person with no agenda to profit from ... Just my opinion.. MEANWHILE this dam MSU 500 is running great in this frigid weather. Takes awhile to warm up tho..I let it sit idling for about 10 minutes before using

[cliffyk]

Idling for 10 minutes after a cold start in the cold (or at all) is not good practice--it allows all sorts of nasty, corrosive, combustion by-products to build up in the crankcase. Instead start it, let it it stabilize foe 30 to 45 seconds, then drive it under light load 'til it's warmed up. It will actually warm up faster and be much better for the lower end bearings. rings, etc. If you do continue 10-minute idling to "warm" the engine considered it VERY SEVERE duty and change the oil every 40 to 50 hours of operation--or just kiss-off optimal engine life...

I often wonder about things like this when I see negative reports about how this , that, or the other "cheap Chinese engine" sucks because of oil consumption. knocking or bearing failure.

My step-son for instance performs absolutely zero, zilch, nada preventative maintenance on machines he owns and then gripes about "what pieces of crap" they were. He burned through a $14k Yamaha 1500 cc jet-ski in 6 months--no break-in, he just beat the crap out of it right from the box, and never changed the oil--then seemed surprised when in October it had no compression-- not even enough to start and run poorly...

[Travis]

2 hours ago, Joe Breaux said:

MEANWHILE this dam MSU 500 is running great in this frigid weather.

It must be about pull something on you      

[Travis]

when it's cold  outside i usually let the mule idle for about 2 minutes, that gives me time to load up the feed and whatnot. when i carry alot of feed or a heavy load i try to not to go too slow, since the engine is air cooled,  air cooled engines cool best at higher RPM and a heavier load will make it work harder heat up more.

i also quit using automotive oil in it and either use Kawasaki Engine division oil or Diesel engine oil.

[Joe Breaux]

2 hours ago, Travis said:

when it's cold  outside i usually let the mule idle for about 2 minutes, that gives me time to load up the feed and whatnot. when i carry alot of feed or a heavy load i try to not to go too slow, since the engine is air cooled,  air cooled engines cool best at higher RPM and a heavier load will make it work harder heat up more.

i also quit using automotive oil in it and either use Kawasaki Engine division oil or Diesel engine oil.

MSU is watercooled  and  with no thermostat.. temp controlled electric fan.. takes a few minutes at 15 degrees outside to warm up.. I wont load a cold engine. I have seen disasterous effects of that.. As for Oil, I change oil/filters every 500 miles, Use Castrol ACTIVO for wet clutch Motorcycles .. Its never dark or dirty, but I feel better changing it . I know others using 15/40 Delo with good results 

[Travis]

i use Rotella, supposedly has more zinc than delo, delo around 1200 PPM and rotella at 1300 ppm. at least thats what i read.