Posted on 12/24/2022 4:20:36 PM PST by vespa300
The winter is already brutal on your car because of the conditions, but drivers can make things harder by turning on the vehicle to let it warm up before driving.
One thing some do when the temperatures are cold outside is to start the car and let the engine warm up a few seconds before driving. Several auto experts believe this may not be conducive to preserving the engine.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox10phoenix.com ...
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It’s also important to blast the defrost on the inside of the windshield and get the air and windshield above freezing before you get in so that your breath doesn’t fog up and then freeze on the inside of the windshield. That’s not safe for driving. I hate seeing idiots scraping the inside of their windshield while driving with one hand.
If it has snowed or there is frost, you can sweep snow and scrape the frost/ice from the outside of the car while it warms up. If you do a good job, you’ll be warm and by the time your done, the inside of your car will be warm.
For all the unthoughtful, clean the snow from the entire top of your car. It’s not very polite to have it peel off and slam into the car behind you in traffic. It can cause an accident. One other note: that four wheel drive you never use, it doesn’t make you stop on ice or snow covered roads. It seems every time I drive south in a storm all the vehicles that are on the side of the road have four wheel drive.
Do the auto companies believe this? They sure have made remote starting a common feature and they know how it will be used in cold weather. Hopefully this article is wrong.
I've worked with machinery that needed 24 hours to warm up or risk damaging the bearings.
I know more than one knucklehead who blew a head gasket playing "get in, start it, and drive away while the engine is still cold".
The old saying "drive it like you stole it" has morphed into "drive it like you lease it".
When really cold, I let it sit for 10 minutes to warm up the interior. Been doing it for decades. Nice and toasty.
My diesel truck hasn’t shut off in days. Oh no, the horror heh.
Tons of stories like this. GloBULL warming on full display
I have a wonderful but old Infinity. My garage said to sit in car for several minutes every morning with engine on, even if I don’t drive it. Been doing that until temp 8 below zero and too cold to leave the house. Getting flack from know-it-all neighbor, but an old car is an old car.
Apparently frost on the windshield isn’t a factor in this writers Fanta y world
Exactly! I could not possibly care less. Some oil is like grease. 3500 psi would hardly move hydraulic cylinders yesterday.
Block haeters are best in consistent cold as are battery tenders and heat mats.
I let mine warm up enough to soften the ice crust on the windshield so I can clear it and see to drive. Because I use synthetic oil, it can take a minute for the heat to build up in the engine to effeciently run the window defroster.
Also, it’s not uncommon to be able to get into only one door and have to let the heat do it’s job and thaw out the remaining doors; especially the driver’s side door.
Make sure “the oil has warmed up enough to properly lubricate the main journal and connecting rod bearings.” True for all engines. The Saturn Rockets used in the Apollo Program got warmed up before lift-off for thirty minutes. Engines need optimal temperature, just like an espresso machine.
Exactly=- When engines are cold, the oil is cold and doesn’t move well, and when started up- the cylinders don’t have the lubrication necessary to keep metal from wearing on metal- at least that is what we were taught way back when- The oil needs to warm to thin enough to work through the engine before taking off and putting more strain on the cylinders, valves, pistons etc- Not sure abotu newer vehicles- but that is how we were taught many moons ago-
Not at all. I have a mini heater in my car with an extension cord to my house.
I plug it in, take a shower get dressed and my car is defrosted and warm.
Then I might wait for it to idle down for 30-45 seconds whatever the computer decides
**Some oil is like grease. 3500 psi would hardly move hydraulic cylinders yesterday.**
I remember the middle of winter 02-03, bringing a 25 ton load of oats from near Watertown, SD, to near Bloomfield, IA feedmill. I arrived midday, temp about 10 above, maybe 15 mph NW wind, and saw the ground stained with hydraulic oil near every auger. There wasn’t an electric motor anywhere, because they were Amish.
The kid that unloaded the trailer saw me looking at the motors and hoses, and said he hoped he would get me unloaded without blowing another. He was sensing my skepticism. I looked across the road and there were Amish children happily playing outside their one room schoolhouse, unfazed by the weather.
I got unloaded without a problem and drove away feeling as happy as those kids.
Try putting newspaper in front of the radiator.
It will warm up quick,keep an eye on your temperature gauge.
A few years ago, I outfitted my pickup truck just because I like it warm and ready to go and it can get very cold at some of the locations I go to..... I don’t use my system all the time but once it gets down under 20 F, it gets used.
What I did was buy an electric heater to sit on the floor on the front passenger side and then I fed the cord through into the engine compartment. Then I installed both an oil pan heater and an engine coolant circulating heater. Finally, I wrapped the battery in an electric blanket. These four devices are all 110v of course and they plug into a power bar that is strapped to one side under the hood... input end of the power bar was then fed through the grill of the truck so that I only have to plug one thing on to an extension cord. The heater inside the truck is only 250 Watts, the battery jacket is 100 Watts and I think the other two heaters are about 300 Watts so it just works off one outlet without throwing a breaker.
Oh and I only use synthetic oil... essentially no change in viscosity with the low temperature.
That suggestion is worse than leaving it sit.
Put a good oil in it, fill the tank with ethanol free gas if possible, add Sta-bil gas stabilizer in the tank, hook up a battery tender - NOT a trickle charger.
We do that with motorcycles for the winter. SOP
The car, when/if started, needs to be run at least 15 to 20 minutes AFTER reaching full operating temperature. This enables the heat to cook off the moisture and combustion gases/impurities from the oil. Running the car for a few minutes creates more of those impurities, not less.
There are plenty of solid articles which back this up.
Thats a bunch of horseshit. More climate change nonsense. Parts expand and contract due to temperature fluctuations. Its always better to get the fluids in the engine warmed up and circulating before you take off.
Allowing your ice cold engine/oil to warm up will damage it, but starting and quickly taking off with an ice cold engine is good for it.
BS...Not buying it, no sale.
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