Post:Let it Snow!

From Fozzee.net

It's amazing to me just how quickly I can get behind on updating. It seems like yesterday I noticed I had posted almost every day for a week. Not so much, 10 days later. It's just been pretty busy around here with the massive snowfall Tuesday afternoon. We closed early at work, and then opened late yesterday morning, due to the heaps of snow on the road. At 10am when I left home, the street in front of our neighborhood (We have private snow removal which is generally most excellent) was pretty well screwed.

The Jetta made it just fine, though, following the rut out to the main street (which was slushy but not deep at all). The only time I was even marginally concerned was when I realized that the rut I was in lead into an apartment complex and I had to "jump" into another set of tracks. Dear old Dad was a pretty good teacher of winter driving tactics: Just Keep Moving and stay out of the deep part; Drag one wheel in the snow if it looks slick, etc. Winter driving has definitely become easier as I've gotten older, probably mostly because I drive a less sporty car.

Speaking of the Jetta, with a bit of additive (I'm using the Power Service again this year, about 4 ounces to a 13 gallon fill) and the new "ignition" system from earlier this fall, it starts fantastic all the way down to the -7F (-22C for all you sensible sorts) we saw last night. I wont lie, it occasionally has to be cranked a second time, but that second try starts really easy. I suspect that it has something to do with the system trying to protect the battery from deep discharge by disengaging the starter if the voltage drops too low (or there's just not the juice to hold the solenoid in)... A new battery would likely solve the issue entirely, and I'm somewhat actively looking for a huge spiracell or something, since there's space under the hood for it.

At 2F this morning (again, -17C) I got all the way to work (6 miles, like 10km) and the thermostat still hadn't opened (indicating that the engine had reached "cruising temperature"), but very nearly. Heated seats rock. I'm still hoping to get the winter covers for my birthday, as that should help with warming up, even if they look a little goofy. I could probably fabricate something, if I had a set to look at, I'm just not sure how aggressively they block the airflow, and it'd be bad to suck a homebrew cover through the radiator or something.

Bottom line, diesel or not, I'd still recommend it for the cold nastiness we have here in the midwest.