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.
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.
But it’s ok to let your EV warm up. Give me a break..
Being that I don’t give a rats ass about climate change or preserving the environment for future generations, I always make extra sure to hit the accelerator so as extra more carbon monoxide go s into the environment.
Same goes for boats in cold weather, except they warm up faster under load. While still at the dock, put it in gear at low rpm until the temperature gauge starts to rise. This assumes you have secured the boat properly with fore and aft spring lines as well as bow and stern lines
In Alaska there are gasoline/diesel engine that idle for hours on end during the Winter. My relatives there have never noticed excessing engine wear from that.
Most mornings, the temperature was -30 to -40F during mornings of the 6 week deep freeze. I could have waited hours for the truck to warm up. Basically the truck got whatever warm up time I needed to brush the snow off before heading out. I could have idled the engine for an hour and it would just bump the temperature gauge up a tiny bit.
The engine would be a bit sluggish pumping the cold oil but the biggest obvious impact was to the transmission. Very sluggish in changing gears. The transmission would warm up enough to start shifting sort of normally about 8 miles into my 12 mile commute. As far as the heater goes, the engine never got hot enough to blow actual hot air for 3 months. On the commute, I would feel a hint of warm air when pulling into the office parking lot. Truck mpg really suffered - it was about 15-20% less than my southeastern US normal.
I did one 100 mile drive and it was an hour into the trip before the cab of my truck was warm enough to take off the parka. It's why bother though, I'd just need to stop for something and have to wiggle back into the parka. Lol..
Most mornings, the temperature was -30 to -40F during mornings of the 6 week deep freeze. I could have waited hours for the truck to warm up. Basically the truck got whatever warm up time I needed to brush the snow off before heading out. I could have idled the engine for an hour and it would just bump the temperature gauge up a tiny bit.
The engine would be a bit sluggish pumping the cold oil but the biggest obvious impact was to the transmission. Very sluggish in changing gears. The transmission would warm up enough to start shifting sort of normally about 8 miles into my 12 mile commute. As far as the heater goes, the engine never got hot enough to blow actual hot air for 3 months. On the commute, I would feel a hint of warm air when pulling into the office parking lot. Truck mpg really suffered - it was about 15-20% less than my southeastern US normal.
I did one 100 mile drive and it was an hour into the trip before the cab of my truck was warm enough to take off the parka. It's why bother though, I'd just need to stop for something and have to wiggle back into the parka. Lol..
They never get around to describing the “expensive’ damage warming up does to the engine, they just keep repeating the claim. Oil being too thick and cold to do the job is the only danger I know of. In modern engines with modern oils 30 seconds of idle and then driving gently to start probably won’t do any damage to speak of. It will warm the car up faster.
I suppose we could always do what the Krauts and the Ruskies did in WWII: Build a fire under the engine before trying to start it.
Most of the wear in an engine occurs during startup when the oil is cold and thick. Aircraft engine manufacturers recommend preheating to make the oil more viscous. This is done either with forced air, heating pads, ring heaters around the cylinder heads or a combination. Aircraft engines cost 5x - 10x what a car engine costs. I preheat the engine in both my airplanes even in the summertime. When they start after preheating it’s as if they’ve been running for hours. Without preheat the oil pressure is slow to come up, the engine runs rough for several minutes, etc. After wrenching on tractors, airplanes, cars, motorcycles and boats for nearly 50 years my experience says this is BS.
As a 50+ year gearhead, I can tell you this article was written for ONE REASON ONLY... to reduce gasoline use.
Carbureted engines will run rich when the choke is on, and that can wash oil from cylinder walls until the choke comes off. The choke often stay on until the accelerator is used.
Modern fuel injected engines (basically every vehicle made in the last 30 years) are programmed to shut off the cold start mode when no longer needed. No excess cylinder wear caused by cylinder wall oil dilution.
Another car care article written solely from a “green” perspective, with all other considerations ignored. I suspect the authors couldn’t differentiate between an oxygen sensor and a spark plug.
So much ignorance - willful or otherwise - in circulation these days.
If I don’t warm it up, the transmission THUNKS when I put it into reverse.
Is this true?
NO it’s the worst thing to do is drive a cold engine it’s bad for seals the cylinders are true round when cold more oval it hard on the rings and all moving parts belts bearings.
Oil is thicker and won’t lube as well.
Wrong, to allow the oil and transmission fluid to get warm and be able to circulate as it should is a logical. I say this having lived in upper Maine for years,had many a car or truck over the years and always ALWAYS warmed them up rather than just waiting for the idle to drop as these clowns say/ suggest. Pollution ? bull __t.