"IF I think of equipment in the antarctic that is always in good condition and the problems they can have, I spose powerful enough cranking becomes the key issue.
If you had another motor to turn the one over you are trying to start then it may be ok."
Reminds me of my time in Manitoba. I was stationed at CFB Shilo (home of the 3rd Royal Canadian Horse Artillery), and in the winter it was not uncommon to see below -40C. The poor gunners would keep a couple of 5 ton trucks inside the gun hanger at night, and in the morning they would start the warm(ish) trucks up, take them outside to the frozen trucks parked in the compound, hook up the chains and drag the cold trucks up and down the road until the engines got warm enough to turn over. Then all the running trucks would go back to the gun park, hook on to more trucks, up and down the road until the whole battery was a haze of barely burning diesel smoke. Then they would start on the tracked vehicles. Smudge pots under the blocks, slave cables to the batteries and crank. The poor bast@rds did this dressed in parkas, mukluks, arctic mittens and every sort of battery operated heating piece of clothing imaginable, until every last vehicle was running under its own power. Liters of oil tucked in the coats to keep them warm, fingers frozen from draining water from fuel filters, frostbitten noses and cheeks. They would finally get them all running, fuel them up, do their first parade (daily vehicle inspection) then -yup, you guessed it- shut them all down, and park a couple of trucks back in the hanger and go home. Ah the good old days
