Engine warm up

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jeff kushner

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Maybe John can answer MrS.... but most vehicle lubricants have not been engineered to land -40 in the curve of allowable temps. The question might be rephrased to "for those that don't warm up at -40, what are the failures?" Good question though.

The science at ultra-low temps is that loaded bearings, especially "insert bearings" suffer damage over time from the galling of the surfaces(metal transfer) due to a lack of lubrication providing the needed film. They try to minimize this from happening by using materials with higher surface tension. Still, the resulting damage will "loosen" an engine, as the engineered clearances extend. In many modern engine, reliance on high oil pressure and lots of insert bearings magnify the issue. Cams, crankshafts, rod big-ends....all the highest loaded bearings are now often "inserts".

Also, this occurs on heat-stripped cylinder walls when shutting off a really hot engine. The oil on the walls flashes off and w/i 8 hrs, rust is forming(believe it or not). Then, the owner starts the very cold engine, with oil that does not move for 40 seconds or so.... and he loads the engine by driving cold. While those oxides don't cause much deformation in the cyl walls, the oxides are now in your oil and too small to be captured by the filter.

Comparatively, gasoline is cheap.....jmho

jeff
 

JohnT

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I'll bite.

Firstly to be clear I'm not talking about wind chill I mean real honest to goodness -40. You often hit that overnight and at 7am as you head off to work with the sun not risen yet it's actually the coldest part of the night.


I have tried toping up the wifes car with 0w20 at -30 and watched as the oil poured like a good quality honey or lucas stop smoke treatment.


Power steering lines blow out regularly by uncaring drivers who jump in, start the car and crank the wheel as they exit a parking lot. Even power steering fluid thickens up to silly levels.


Older batteries >3 years or moderately discharged batteries freeze solid.


Tires that have rested overnight take a few hundred yards to flex enough to soften to round.


Your transmission oil is like honey and shifts are weird for want of a better word


So the reasons to start and let warm up are many but include …


Allowing the oil to thin before applying any load. In fairness both ford turbos I own will not apply any boost until engine temp gets up a bit. The 1.0 inline 3 in the Focus is very noticeable. Yeah, I get that most wear is going to happen in the first few seconds, it’s why you should plug your car in to the block so that it's warmer than ambient. But even then your oil isn't behaving like oil you know and love.

Allowing the metal parts to expand, you want to hear piston slap, start and drive a triton 3v 5.4 from this type of cold.

Allow the engine bay to come up to more sane minus temps so rubber and plastic parts can flex a bit. Your exhaust manifold is acting like a big radiator and under hood temps rise quite a lot if the wind isn't blowing.

Allow the transmission pump oil around a bit and thin it out some, not much because the only heat generation is from the oil pump, but every bit helps.

Allow the interior to warm up so plastic parts don’t break, the seat doesn't crack and the interior of windows don’t freeze up. And you’re not freezing to death waiting for the cabin to warm. You haven’t lived until you are using your credit card to scrape the inside of your windows as you drive down the highway

Even -45c windscreen fluid craps out as it contacts the window once you are moving so the ethanol or alcohol evaporates before the wipers have time to clear it unless your windscreen has been warmed a bit by the demister blower.

Seriously, if you haven’t experienced this type of cold it’s hard to describe. Metal gets brittle, plastics shatter, ice is like iron, and frostbite is severe and happens fast. Add wind, either natural or because you are moving, and any heat generated by engines, transmission, wheel bearing friction dissipates fast.


You give your pride and joy the best chance to survive another winter by treating it gently in these temps, allowing time to warm up and driving moderately until you car sounds and behaves more normally.


John
 
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Trainmaster

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Cars are designed to take some abuse, and driving a cold engine hard is abuse. Most cars are so good today that they'll last until their warranty is expired, even when abused. And no manufacturer will tell you their engine has to be warmed before driving.

You want to get 250,000 out of a motor and transmission, you let them warm up before you get on it.
 

Flexpedition

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When snow and ice melt off of my vehicle, it can really get humid in my heated garage.
Probably have a mold issue as a result. And rust forming on my garage door rails.

If thats not bad enough, the melted snow is filthy, leaving dirt rings on my epoxied floor when the water evaporates.

Few years ago a wind blown snow drift, 3-4 inches tall, formed along the garage door. When the door opened a section of the drift fell inward. When the door then closed, the opener obstacle detected it and reversed the door. Had to hand shovel it out. Took atleast 2-3 hours for the garage to warm back up above 60°F.

My point is, winter sucks south of the Canadian border too.
 

JExpedition07

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Some mornings it takes a bit to idle down, I’m sitting in my expy as I type this. It’s 23 Fahrenheit here currently on the dash. Truck has been on high idle (1,250 RPM) for 5 minutes so far. I don’t drive until it drops to 900-1,000 RPM.

High idle goes in stages 1250-1000-750 depending on temp and as it warms up.
 

ExplorerTom

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Some mornings it takes a bit to idle down, I’m sitting in my expy as I type this. It’s 23 Fahrenheit here currently on the dash. Truck has been on high idle (1,250 RPM) for 5 minutes so far. I don’t drive until it drops to 900-1,000 RPM.

High idle goes in stages 1250-1000-750 depending on temp and as it warms up.

23 degrees F isn’t that cold. If you are still on high idle after 5 minutes, I think you’ve got other problems.
 

Clemson82

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Some mornings it takes a bit to idle down, I’m sitting in my expy as I type this. It’s 23 Fahrenheit here currently on the dash. Truck has been on high idle (1,250 RPM) for 5 minutes so far. I don’t drive until it drops to 900-1,000 RPM.

High idle goes in stages 1250-1000-750 depending on temp and as it warms up.

I don't know where in New York you are, but I heard on The Weather Channel that Syracuse, NY gets more snow than any other city in the United States! I think I'd be "investing" in a garage... :cheers:
 

Plati

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I don't know where in New York you are, but I heard on The Weather Channel that Syracuse, NY gets more snow than any other city in the United States! I think I'd be "investing" in a garage... :cheers:
I believe in parking outdoors, have a garage but both Expy's live in the outdoors. My logic for winter is, you pull an iced and salted vehicle into a warm'ish garage where everything melts and its wet all night = more corrosion. Besides my small garage is full of tools and other stuff. And Expys are too big for my garage.

North of Syracuse is what we call the Tug Hill Plateau. It gets heavy duty lake effect snowfall due to a number of factors such as the long fetch down the Great Lakes & its higher elevation. Tug Hill can totally dwarf the snowfall of any other city in NYS although in recent years it hasn't lived up to its legendary past. This weekend it may get 6 feet!

A great website for snowmobilers and other snow lovers in Tug Hill with a pile of webcams is http://www.northernchateau.com/northernchateau.htm

The sister site is http://www.gotsnowcams.com/gotsnowcams.htm

CathyWoodard (5).jpg
 

JExpedition07

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23 degrees F isn’t that cold. If you are still on high idle after 5 minutes, I think you’ve got other problems.

No issues here that I know of. Engine runs great and doesn’t burn an ounce of oil. Dropped right down to 750 RPM when I finished typing that reply. I could have been exaggerating since I wasn’t looking at the clock when I started it, but it felt like 5 minutes to me when I hopped back in.

Also drove my dads 16’ F-250 6.2L (30,000 miles) from a cold start today.....had to be picked up from service dept after sitting over night. Sat at 1,100 RPM for several minutes before it dropped to 800 RPM....then drove off.
 
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