Dnepr seized up

 

Hi everyone, my other puter (with the news client) broke down
so I set up a Google news account... if you're reading this it worked.

Anyway my Dnepr sat in the driveway since Remembrance Day (Nov 11)
in rain and cold weather (but under bike covers) and when I went out
there
today to fire it up the motor wouldn't turn over. It was like trying
to kickstart
the battleship _Potemkin_.

Wtf? It was only -2.2 degrees C ... I never read that temperatures
colder than that
in WW2 held up the Red Army and their bikes. Anyway I got out a hot
air
blower and sprayed a few BTU's on the jugs... The carbs were also a
bit sticky
so I warmed them as well.

After a few minutes the motor freed up enough so that I could kick it
over.
Does that make any sense? Anyway, so then... full choke... tickle the
carbs...
a few dozen kicks... finally the thing coughs and sputters into life,
just in time
to save General Voroshilov's Bryansk Front from encirclement by Heinz
Guderian's
2nd Panzer Group.

There's snow forecast in a few days... won't be long before I can
check out
how it handles in the white stuff.

SQ
'06 Zook S40 / '85 Dnepr MT-11 / various basket cases

 

Sean_Q wrote:

FWIW, I am told that the Red Army used to shoot anybody who turned off an
engine in the winter.

Are you using synthetic oil?  If not, start.

 




Yes, if the kickstarter actually has to turn the gearbox with its
heavier oil, kicking
it over will be very sluggish at first.

One time I convinced myself that I should be using a heavier weight
gear oil in the transmission of a two-stroke Yamaha race bike instead
of 30 weight motor oil.

When I entered the bike in a European hare scrambles in the Mojave
desert on a cold winter morning, I quickly learned why that didn't
work.

ESH races begin with every engine off and the participants must then
kick start their machine when the green flag drops.

I could hardly kick start the engine and the weather was barely 0
degrees C...

 


Oh my Lord! What a droll all these cold weather threads have become.
With 25year in the SFBA and 24 more in the PHX metro and only my 1st
15 years in the cold climate of Omaha Ne I guess I've become spoiled
with year round riding and lows in the 30 degree range in DEC/JAN and
an occasional mid 20s morning during those months. My winter electric
bills seldom run over $70-:)

Bob Nixon..

 


People will sometimes use ordinary incandescent
light bulbs to keep stuff warm. If it's under a cover
and you can avoid shorting or burning a hole in
the cover, that might do it.

Or a for real block heater, like Keith suggests.