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Salar de Uynui - Dealing with the Cold Salar de Uynui - Dealing with the Cold
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  #1  
Old 15 Aug 2012
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Salar de Uynui - Dealing with the Cold
Any tips for protecting the bike overnight from the cold on the Salar de Uyuni? Not sure how real a danger having the coolant freeze is? If I just throw a blanket over it will that be enough? How low is antifreeze supposed to work anyway?

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Old 15 Aug 2012
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Hi goo,

Checking the weather on:

Weather Forecast Uyuni, Bolivia | Uyuni Weather | Wunderground

I see that the Salar will be in the mid 30s F or at or around 2C at night for the next few days. That is hardly cold. Your bike will be fine. The oil may be a bit thick and cold in the morning, but hardly enough to have to light the MSR stove and warm up the oil pan in the morning.

I will be leaving my truck parked outside in the northern plains of the U.S. over the winter while I'm in South America. It will likely be subject to horizontal snow and 20 below O temps like it was last year. Covered in ice and snow and will likely start up to my amazement just like it did this year when I got back from my travels.

You may freeze your ass off though. I would save your blankies for inside your tent. Your bike will be fine even with marginal coolant. Not to worry.

Kindest regards,
John Downs
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Old 15 Aug 2012
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Thanks for the reality check! I had been hearing of 20 below nights out there... Hopefully this is not just a freak heatwave and temperatures will be similar in a fortnight when I get there...
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Old 16 Aug 2012
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I checked out your blog and see you are from the southeast. It's important to remember that 20 below in Bolivian centigrade is just below 0 in fahrenheit numbers. Not cold enough to hurt antifreeze. It may get that cold in the dead of winter in the higher elevations, but it looks like you will be fine with pleasant daytime temps in the 50s F. Should be fun. It will only be getting warmer as Spring approaches in the altiplano.

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Old 16 Aug 2012
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The Salar (and the rest of the altiplano) gets cold at night, no doubt about it. It's now winter, and if it doesn't get below freezing as John suggests, you're a lucky man. I'd suggest not being too blasé about it if you're planning to be out there.

I'd not get too relaxed about your coolant either. Recommended percentage is 50/50 for most engines, but people cheat one way or the other for a variety of reasons--especially in places where it never really gets too cold--better cooling, for example, at the expense of freeze protection. If yours is 30% antifreeze, that'll protect to just 5 degrees F. Below that, your coolant will freeze. Freezing coolant can blow out hoses, burst radiators or crack your block. If you bought the bike used or have diluted the coolant at some point, think about this.

Other considerations also apply. If you run your battery dead, it'll freeze and be ruined. As long as it's charged, you're ok. Bikes don't like being started at zero degree temps, although they'll usually do so if everything's working right. Etc.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark
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Old 16 Aug 2012
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My antifreeze hasn't been diluted and I put in the recomended Silkolene before the trip. Also my battery is a Lithium which doesn't suffer from freezing issues. I am slighlty dubious about those temperature forecasts mind you. The measuring station is probably in the town of Uyuni or even Potosi which wouldnt reflect the temp out on the Salar.
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