Advice with Engine & parking

I have two related questions here.  I dont have a garage and have to park the Blazer outside.  My driveway is on an approx 35* incline.  Does it make a difference if I park it with the front of the car facing downward or vice a versa.  What I mean is, on start up if the oil in the pan is tilted towards the front or back of the engine does it make a difference especially in the cold, its about -20* in Chicago this weekend. 
 
Also, with it being so cold, what have you guys used and like as far as any oil & or gas additives for cold starts.  I use Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic Truck/SUV oil and dump in Chevron Techron at every oil change.  Today when I started the truck up, mind you the temperature, it didnt sound nice on the rings! 
 
Any and all advice and suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks!

I lived in upstate NY and had the same problem with my house I had up there. I backed it up the driveway do to the fact that the oil pump in the oi pan is in the front. With the shape of the oil pan, more oil stays near the tube. When oil is in back of pan less gets to the tube/oil pump until on level ground. And as far as oil types go with the lowest oil weight possible. Ask a dealer to which oil you should use in cold weather. Is been about 4 yeahs since I lived there so I dont remember the oil I used but it helped a lot just be backing up the driveway and I know it might be hard with the ice and snow. I Hope That helps you.

thanks, that does help!  I try to backmy car up half the time even though the wife makes fun of me.  hehe.  I will be doing it all the time now!

Ummmm,, the oil pump pick up tube and oil pump are in teh back of the oil pan, next to the transmission. Look at the oil pan, the pump and pick up tube are in the deep part. Parl facing up hill.

As for the cold, keep the nose out of the wind, and let it warm up a few minutes before you drive, and when you do drive take it easy, the tranny fluid hasn't warmed up yet so your shifts are going to be hard and late. Go easy on it. your pumps are trying to push syrup through a straw. Its takes time for the oil to circulate, and then it still has to warm up. An old winter trick is too turn the headlights on for a couple seconds before you try to crank the engine over. This get the battery working to get you all the cold cranking amps to your starter.

heres a pic of a '85 4.3L that is going into my '93. All 4.3 are built the same as far as the oil pimp is concerned.

Notice which way the headers are pointing, and which end has the pulleys on it?
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/Hanr2/242014.jpg

See the thing sticking up that is flat? Thats the oil pump pick up screen, it rest about 1/4" off the bottom of the oil pan, in the deepest part of the oil pan. You NEVER want the oil pump to run out of oil, that is why its in the deepest part of the pan. If it runs out of oil there, your ****ed.

Here is another pic from another angle. In this pic I have a different oil pump pick up tube, this one fits the oil pan. In this pic its shiny.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/Hanr2/245099.jpg

In this pic the oil pan is on the engine, and the pic if the same angle as the previous pic.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/Hanr2/245100.jpg

Thgout ought to clear up any confusion.

quote:

ORIGINAL: BlazerSS

...its about -20* in Chicago this weekend. 

Also, with it being so cold, what have you guys used and like as far as any oil & or gas additives for cold starts.  I use Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic Truck/SUV oil and dump in Chevron Techron at every oil change.  Today when I started the truck up, mind you the temperature, it didnt sound nice on the rings! 

In that kind of temperature, I would surely be using 5W30 like the manual says, possibly a synthetic. Heck, I might even go for a 0W30 synthetic, but oils in that weight will definintely cost more. As much as I like Techron Concentrate Plus, I don't believe I would be using it more often that every other oil change. There have been used oil analysis samples showing elevated wear metal readings that may have spiked by its use.

I dont use anything but 5W30 synthetic even in the summer.  I guess it doesnt really matter which way I park as long as the oil level is correct, it will never be able to come out of the deepest part of the pan.  But just to make things clear, If I wanted to be safe than sorry, in case the oil  level wasnt correct, I would want to park the truck with the nose facing uphill towards my garage so the the back of the pan is getting all the oil from the gravity.  Am I understanding this correctly?
 
thanks guys.  "I love this game!"

Correct.

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Thanks again! 
 
Does anyone here like to use SeaFoam every now and then, or even Lucas upper cylinder lube, etc?  Like I said Mobil1 5W30 Fully Synthetic used every 5k miles with a bottle of Chevron Techron with the next full tank of gas and I only fill up with top tier gas like Shell or Phillips 66.  Im tryin to keep my truck running clean & smooth as I am barely getting 15mpg city as it is.  26k miles on it.  I am going to change the fuel filter and clean the MAF next oil change.  Any other suggestions?  I plan on keeping this truck forever and ever. 

How come no-one has mentioned using block heaters, oil pan heater and battery heater/charger? I live in alaska, where the temperatures drops to -45 for months at a time... Needless to say, all our vehicles on the road are "winterized".
Put a block heater in, and silicone a 100-150 watt heat pad to the lower part of the oil pan, and install a battery wrap blanket, or a 12v trickle charger/maintainer for the battery. The block heater will keep your block and coolant warm, the oil pan heater will keep your oil viscous, and the battery blanket or charger will keep your battery charged and keep from freezing. You can also silicone a heat pad to the tranny pan too, although that is usualy optional..   Connect all these with a 3 or 4 way box plug, and plug it in for 2-3 hours before you need to start.. You will have no worries then.
Oh, and use 5w-30.

Block heater       $25
150 watt silicone pad   $20
battery blanket or charger $20
3 or 4 way box    $15

Solid advice.  Everyone around here was freaking out about their vehicles because the forcasted low was a deathly 29* last night 

I dont even think twice about my vehicles until its below 0 degrees...   just run 5w30 and let it warm up a bit before you race off and you will be fine...  29* is a heat wave for us! I suppose if you had 20w40 oil and 80w90 gear oil and 100% glycol for coolant, your car might be slower to start and move.. but still, nothing to really worry about at 20 deg..