Starting truck in -20 Celcius

That's an awful temp to start it up.
Wear and tear is horrible. Still, it is said tough #### and done. It may be mitigated by warming up the oil pan. Once, I saw a guy who set up fire underneath the oil pan with a stack of papers or an oily rug but I can't recommend it because of a fire hazard.

 

Hopefully the fuel was treated with anti gel, otherwise it won't start also. The oil will be very thick depending on what in it. It's nice to run synthetic oil in those extreme temp if living in the part of the country. You could look up them temperature range for the oil in the truck.

 

Plug it in if it has a block heater. Should help some if the fuel is not gelled.

 

If the batteries are good it'll start. Helps if the block heater is plugged in for a couple hours ahead of time though.

 

For those 'merican's' out there, -20 Celcius is -4 FaFahrenheit.
UBI (Useless Bit of Information), -40 is the same in Celsius and Farenheit.

 

X2 with @AModelCat

If the batteries are still good it will start. Newer common rail engines start very good in the cold compared to older ones. Anything below -20 will need block heaters for sure to start.

 

You can rent a generator from Home Depot and plug in the block heater. It should have one installed being in that area

 

Rent a turbine fuel heater and generator, stick heater underneath the truck, block the wind with something, let it run at least 20 min, start and pray, or pray and start, up to you.

 

Lets hope it isn't full of summer fuel.

If the fuel is winter, plug it in for 3 or more hours. While the block heater is working, go to an auto parts store, buy magnetic oil pan heater, and another extension cord, put it on the bottom of the oil pan, and plug it in. Wait, and after a few hours try starting.
As already mentioned, if no place to plug it in, buy or rent a generator.
2000 watt is big enough, but 3500 is nice.
Picking up some diesel treatment and adding it can't hurt.
If you are really lucky, it has 5w40 oil in it already.