Today in Columbia, MO we had the coldest day (-3*) we've had in the last ~5 years. It snowed buckets 2 nights ago and I haven't run my truck since then (unfortunately it's parked outside under a cover).

Anyway, I go out to start the truck so the battery doesn't die, and upon start up it starts ticking like a mf'er . I look at the oil gauge and have no pressure so immediately shut it off. Please tell me this is due to the extreme low temperatures. I haven't had any ticking or pressure problems prior.



EDIT: It ran for MAYBE 10-15 seconds before shut off, hopefully I didn't break or bend anything in that short amount of time?

 

This is due to extreme low temperatures, ticking is probably the hydraulic lifters.

Not that it's wise, but you'd be surprised how long you can run without oil and not do any damage.

If you have a block heater, plug it in. It will keep the oil and water warm. If you don't, then get a couple of incandescent lights under the hood, or a heating blanket or something to get some warmth in there before you try to start it again.

If you have a garage available, push it inside and let it warm up.

I'd pop the radiator cap, oil cap and dipstick and look for anything unusual too.

 

Here in Cape Garagedoor, MO it was a bit warmer at +2 degF, before falling to zero at 9am and setting a record low here for 06 January. :-)~


The starter had all it wanted and more trying to turn the motor over, but *yawn* as usual, the 5.0L lit right off.


Clatter is normal on start-ups here in cold weather, but it usually quits within 10-15 seconds. Figure the limits of 10W40 in cold weather in a motor with high miles is pushing the limits of acceptable 'normal'...


All seriousness aside, would be concerned about the oil pressure not coming up, what kind of oil are you running?

 

+1 with Velvet Fog...
we have a high of -14 degrees here today!!

 

Not sure on oil weight or brand. Have only had the truck about 2 months and am going to put amsoil high mileage in it whenever I put my FTI cam and tw170s in a week.

 

I had a buddy do the same thing to his truck. We drained the cold oil, filled it up with some lighter, fresh oil, then pulled the distributor and primed the engine really well before starting again. It was fine after that.

 

Really hoping that when it warms up to around 40* on Thursday rather than -3* the problem will take care of itself. I need to drive this truck 2.5 hours this weekend so I can do a head/cam swap with my uncle.

 

-25F here lol and I never get any valve train noise.

I'd hardly call -3F extreme low temps, but when you or your vehicle is not used to the cold you notice allot of things that won't work right like a weaker battery, poor coolant concentration and heavy weight oil make colder starts a real pain.

 

I was waiting for this. Run 5w-30 in colder seasons and 10w-30 in warmer seasons. Your temps are barely cold enough to warrant poor performance/starting issues. I live near sylver and we have been in fighting these temps since November (gotta love Canada). Weak batteries and poor coolant mixes are usually culprits oh and diesels .

 

Well I don't have a lot of experience with cold, its 78 here today, but synthetics are much more resistant to temperature changes while maintaining the higher viscosity needed on high mile engines. You can even get a 0-30 in synthetic.