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My family and I are being reassigned to Alaska and we will be driving through Canada in February 2010. I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice as far as travel during this time. I have my emergency kit for the trip to include the block heater for far northern travel. We will be driving my brand new 2009 Ford FUsion on the trip with our two dogs. I was wondering about road conditions and help from those familiar with this area. I have a GPS and the AF has given us 13 days to get there. I have a lot of good information from the alaska forum and want the friendly canadian help now. thanks and I look foward to traveling through your beautiful areas.
Block heater is a good start. You should also install an Orange heating pad on the bottom of the oil pan. For a Fusion, 100 watts will be good. If it is an Automatic, put a 75 watt on the Trans oil pan too. This can probably wait until you arrive as long as you have the block heater or do it now if you can. Engines live longer and don't break if the fluids are warm when started.
It will be cold, traction is good at low temps. There will be ice on the roads, GET GOOD SNOW TIRES put on. I love General Altimax Arctic, best I have ever used, studded.
YOU MUST HAVE ARCTIC CLOTHING ONBOARD: For each person, polypro or wool (no cotton), Arctic Boots, maybe insulated coveralls or pants, Parkas, warm hats, gloves. You could encounter 50 below or colder.
The roads are decent, grab a copy of the Milepost if you can find one, indispensable for Northern Travel, it's a thick book with Maps, services, etc.
Elmendorf or Eielson? If Elmendorf, it does not get near as cold as Eielson. Good luck!
Oh yeah, put a cover over your radiator openings on the front of the car. Cover the grill, or run it behind the grill and in front of but not touching the radiator. Block it all. Brakes, steering, heater will all work better.
what type of cover?? where can i get this type of thing?? we are going to eielson. Is the oil pan heater just a magnetic one?? I am new to all of this. How do you think it will be going over the rockies??
Every auto store up here has them (I am in Fairbanks). They are flexible, thin, silicone pads about 1/16" thick. You park in a warm garage, with a warm engine, and plaster them on with high heat Silicone adhesive and use duct tape to hold it on until cured overnight. Simply get a 3 way power splitter and hang a cord through the grill with devices plugged in.
As for the cover, doesn't need to be fancy. I just looked at a picture of your car, I would cut a piece of that corrugated sign material or plastic that fits the lower air intake, and use tie wraps to hold it on. Then cover the grill openings with cut pieces of foam or something. Use your imagination. The engine will still cool, but will draw air from under the hood, everything will work better. No need for this above 0 deg.
Welcome to Alaska, and thank you for your service! I am a 6 year Navy vet and Alaskan since 1987.
Hi, I live in Edmonton AB (Canada), you might be driving through here on the way to Alaska. The temperature here has been -30C to -40C at times (-22F to -40F), a block heater, battery warmer, and oil pan heaters help to start the vehicle if it's too cold to start and make it warm up 2 or 3 minutes faster than usual, I'd imagine for an almost brand new car you wouldn't even need anything unless it were -40 or colder, and I think most new cars take thinner 5w30 oil too that would help. A block heater alone should be all you'd need, with a good battery. Blankets & maybe a candle in a can in case you're broke down waiting for a tow too.
If you're driving most of the day and plug in the block heater all night at a hotel that should be more than adequate, I have never bothered with an expensive oil pan heater, you'd have to crawl under and stick it on, and then take it off before driving away or it would surely fall off, even a "permanent" one could get scraped off while driving over deep snow.
I have a block heater but never plug in my 20 year old Toyota (with a carb too) and it has started ok every time, no battery or oil heater either. After driving for a few minutes everything warms up anyway, and new cars have a nice warranty in case something breaks too, I wouldn't be surprised if a dealer tried to tell you the warranty was voided because of a non-dealer-installed heater "overheated and broke something", they take any excuse not to pay for a repair.
Cover the radiator with some old scrap cardboard, any piece torn close to fitting and put in front of the radiator (away from the fans!) will work well. May even want to put a foot wide hole over the fan area too in case your car heats up and the radiator fan comes on, otherwise it could overheat if it's only 10 or 15 below freezing (watch the temp gauge). If it's easier to put some cardboard right in front of the grill or bumper and hold it on with some twist ties or string that would work too.
Winter tires do help with grip, but driving slower and taking turns carefully works just as well. I don't know if the alaska highway is plowed regularly or not, (anyone know?) but all the main highways around here are, if there is a snowfall while travelling it would be safest to wait the few hours or even a day until the snow stops and the roads are plowed, and get some tire chains (cables, rubber, etc) and practice using them to be extra safe.
Mountain driving should be fine, I read somewhere that if a newer fuel injected car has some performance problems at high altitude to try turning off the car for a few minutes, then when you start it again the computer calibrates the air density and it should run better... if there are any problems.
Actually, doesn't the Alaska government have a website with highway driving tips? Or the Yukon or BC sites? Check with the AAA too, if anyone should know the driving conditions it's them.
I'll defer to someone else about the Rockies, but if you have good snow tires, and the clothing you will be fine. What route are you taking?
The route we have planned is from into canada and then through winnipeg, saskatoon, edmonton, dawson creek, fort nelson, watson lake, haines junction, tok and then into Eielson. We are taking our time so that we can drive mostly during the daylight hours. So I should use the radiator cover once we hit canada?? I can get some thin foam from a craft store and cut it to fit right? I am glad that there are sites like this that give such great information. I have gotten the best info on here and I am looking foward to the drive.
Hi, I live in Edmonton AB (Canada), you might be driving through here on the way to Alaska. The temperature here has been -30C to -40C at times (-22F to -40F), a block heater, battery warmer, and oil pan heaters help to start the vehicle if it's too cold to start and make it warm up 2 or 3 minutes faster than usual, I'd imagine for an almost brand new car you wouldn't even need anything unless it were -40 or colder, and I think most new cars take thinner 5w30 oil too that would help. A block heater alone should be all you'd need, with a good battery. Blankets & maybe a candle in a can in case you're broke down waiting for a tow too.
If you're driving most of the day and plug in the block heater all night at a hotel that should be more than adequate, I have never bothered with an expensive oil pan heater, you'd have to crawl under and stick it on, and then take it off before driving away or it would surely fall off, even a "permanent" one could get scraped off while driving over deep snow.
I have a block heater but never plug in my 20 year old Toyota (with a carb too) and it has started ok every time, no battery or oil heater either. After driving for a few minutes everything warms up anyway, and new cars have a nice warranty in case something breaks too, I wouldn't be surprised if a dealer tried to tell you the warranty was voided because of a non-dealer-installed heater "overheated and broke something", they take any excuse not to pay for a repair.
Cover the radiator with some old scrap cardboard, any piece torn close to fitting and put in front of the radiator (away from the fans!) will work well. May even want to put a foot wide hole over the fan area too in case your car heats up and the radiator fan comes on, otherwise it could overheat if it's only 10 or 15 below freezing (watch the temp gauge). If it's easier to put some cardboard right in front of the grill or bumper and hold it on with some twist ties or string that would work too.
Winter tires do help with grip, but driving slower and taking turns carefully works just as well. I don't know if the alaska highway is plowed regularly or not, (anyone know?) but all the main highways around here are, if there is a snowfall while travelling it would be safest to wait the few hours or even a day until the snow stops and the roads are plowed, and get some tire chains (cables, rubber, etc) and practice using them to be extra safe.
Mountain driving should be fine, I read somewhere that if a newer fuel injected car has some performance problems at high altitude to try turning off the car for a few minutes, then when you start it again the computer calibrates the air density and it should run better... if there are any problems.
Actually, doesn't the Alaska government have a website with highway driving tips? Or the Yukon or BC sites? Check with the AAA too, if anyone should know the driving conditions it's them.
I am having the block heater installed here in Florida before we leave and I am having the dealer that I bought it from install it so that it doesn't void my warranty. I thought about that before I did anything dumb. We will be travelling through Edmonton on our way and will most likely be staying the night there. WWe have our trip planned out so that we stay in areas that are populalated and only travelling no more than 8 hours a day. We have 13 days to get there so I want to make sure that we take our time and we give ourselves enough relax time at night so we don't get burned out. Some people have said that we are crazy but I just tell them that if the military thought it was dangerous they wouldn't let people drive there in the winter. We have 2 dogs travelling with us so we are glad that there are many hotels that we are travelling in accept pets. We won't leave the kids behind. Thanks for the great information and I have heard that the Alaska highway is well plowed in the winter too so we should have a good drive. I am praying to the good lord above that he gives us safe travels and good weather on our trip. We have about 25 days left to go and then we will be on the road to our new home and new chapter in our lives.
Can I suggest you switch to full synthetic motor oil in your vehicle? It flows a lot easier at low temperatures and takes some strain off the starter.
Might be good to pack a 50 ft extension cord in the car so you can access electrical plug-ins in hotel parking lots.
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Alaska
