OK, So I just got back from the chilly frozen lake quite dissapointed.

It was too windy to fly, but I would still have liked to get the engine tuned for the lake. I managed to get it started a few times, but due to improper tuning, it died. Unfortunately, I could not get it started again to get the proper tune. I was thinking that the fuel might have gotten too cold, or the carb got blocked off.

how would cold effect the engine, and what are good ways to avoid it?

Hi F-18
I flew year round when I lived in north western Pennsylvania, so I know cold. Keep your glow driver in a warm pocket. Use a new glow plug. Use an electric starter. Once the engine is primed, add a squirt or two of lighter fluid to the carburetor and start the engine with the electric starter.

If the temperature was substantially warmer the last time you ran / tuned it, then you will most likely need to richen the carb adjustments...both the high and low speed needles.
Try opening the high speed about 1/4 to 1/2 turn, and see what happens...the low speed might need 1/8 to 1/4 turn (approx....these are just "guesstimates" )

engines and/or fuels, must have changed allot more than irealize.
when i was a teenager40+ yrs.ago, my best buddies dad flew his planes off a small frozen lake in southeasternwisconsin all the time. i remember some days when he would have trouble getting them started, but often enough that i remember him giving up because of the cold. we had a ball following them around on our iceskates.

It helps to warm the engine before you start it. If you can't find anything else hold the engine under the exhaust pipe of your car while it's running. When we do our New Year's Day Chilly Fly we have a big propane heater in our shelter. The guys that had cranky engines took them in there and held the engines up to the heat before they tried to start them. Works like a charm. Makes it a lot easier to get the engine started up in cold weather. In between flights wrap the engine with a rag or something else to insulate it and keep it from getting too cold, it will help when you get ready to start it up again.

Ken

My weather only drops from 115 to the mid 20s, OK that is a lot but it doesn't get down as low as some of my friends fly in. I have to fatten up my high speed needle every year when it gets down to the 40s and 50s. Because it happens every year I know it is only going to be four clicks on the high end. My friends on the east coast and mid west told me to try lighter fluid, about 4 drops on those cold mornings, right down the throat of the carb. It works but I can't get to most of the carbs on my planes. With a lot of rolling over I can get them going but my cold weather friends tell me they do everything Ken mentioned. I came up with my own favorite way though, I don't bother going flying unless it is going to be 50 or above. Here in NV that isn't too hard most the time. I may miss a couple of weeks a year but I wait for our warm spells. Last week it was 70+, this week it was in the 20s out at the field again, I'm finishing up a build in my heated shop.

Way back in days of yore, and I lived in Chicagoland, I enjoyed ski-flying down to 20*F if the wind was not overly brisk like over 15mph. First I used a couple drops of propylene oxide for start assist, however a couple drops too much resulted in a flooded glow engine.
Some guys flew down to "0" and they found a new solution for cold wx starting. Simply obtain a small squirt bottle of a couple ounces or whatever you like. Mix 50% of your glow fuel with 50% Gasoline. Gasoline has a much lower flash point ( the lowest temperature at which vapors above a volatile combustible substance ignite in air when exposed to flame ) than methanol. The glow engine uses temperature by compression of fuel vapor as a medium for combustion timing. The cold glow engine simply doesn't get the average glow fuel warm enough via compression until it is flooded, or near same.

With the Gasoline-Glow mix, there is a small amount of lubricant from the glow fuel for the start and the gasoline provides the lower flash point. Once I went to such mixture, starting glow engines at 20* was no problem and it was not nearly as touchy as other fluids I had tried.

I set the plane so the engine is in the path of my car's tail pipe. The hot exhaust blowing on it warms it up nicely

I use the methods Villa stated above and works great for me.

Archie

ive actually had castor "wax" (i think thats the correct term) where it falls out of the methanol soultion into a wakey like substance in the cold clogging the carb but i run 100% castor oil so that shouldnt be an issue for most.
the lighterfluid method works great, as does heating up your engine (i like the blow torch method) or just put a few of those hand warmers by the engine.
for the most part i dont have problems getting engines started in the 20-30's anything below that is harder

Warm and cold causes condensation. Moisture is bad Ju-ju for all engines I would think. (Causes rust and oxidation) I can't prove it, but I would think winter flying might shorten the life of a engine depending how maintained our engines are.


Pete

As long as you do proper maintenance on the engine after you are done running it and make sure there is no moisture left in the engine that can rust the bearings there's no problem with running an engine in the colder weather.

Ken

My personal temperature limit is low 20's F. but last year, a couple buddies talked me into going out when it was in the low - mid teens.
We had a real hard time getting one engine going...I opened both the high and low speed waayyy up and it was still too lean.
I finally decided to remove the NV assembly, and found a "clot" of white waxy substance...it was stuck in the fuel inlet nipple...
His flight box, with metal gallon fuel can, was sitting on the snowy ground...

Flight box fuel pumps get sluggish in the cold too...