Cold weather starting

[jetsfan68]

Here is a question I've wondered about.
Your truck sits out all night in 15 degree weather.- You go and crank it up first thing in the morning. What kind of internal damage is done?? I can't help but think that the cold oil takes a while to heat and circulate. Is there a minimum time you should let engine heat before driving? The cold seems to wreak havoc on autos and I just wonder what kind of damage it causes.
Any recommendations on how to treat truck in cold weather to aviod premature wear and tear?

2001 F250SD- 4x4 - Crew Cab- V10- Lariat- 4.30 Hunter Green

[todlake]

That's part of the reason my truck is all synthetic. It stays much more fluid in the cold temps. I normally let mine idle for about 5-10 minutes on the really cold mornings to get the windshield to start defrosting. It's much easier to scrape when there's some heat on the glass. But it's hell on the fuel mileage... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Robb [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Homegrown]

Unless I need to scrape the windows, mine only idles for less than a minute before I drive away. If it's sub-zero, I'll wait a few (2-3) minutes, then pull away slowly and take it easy for the first mile. I've always run dino oil and have had several 100K+ motors that used no oil and had great compression. I've heard that extended cold idleing does more harm than warming up under a load. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

[fredvon4]

Another thread here is about installing a block heater.

There is test data that proves that fleet vehicles that are pre-heated (coolant or oil heaters) last longer than those that are started from cold. ( I am in the testing business for the ARMY)

If you do not have a heater, then garage, if no garage, then radiator pointed away from the wind. Cold weather grade oils flow better (duh) and will help...though you will get an argument that the current 5-20 called for in modern Ford engines is about as good as you can get. I tend to agree.

The engine is not the componet that takes the greatest wear in cold weather. The rest of the drive train must ultimatly heat up by friction unlike the engine and trany. (yes the sorce of the motor/trans temp is friction) Most of the engine and trans parts are heated by the warm/hot circulating fluids.

Letting the truck idle for a few minuets has many benificial effects.

The first parts to get heat are the pistons and exhaust valves. Until the heads and block (larger mass) catch up, there is a thermal expansion difference that causes the top of the piston to be larger than the bottom and a tighter fit relative to the bore of the COLD block... these are not insignificant clearence differences.

If you were to start, rev up (over 3000rpm), throw it in gear, and get on the road as fast as possible to get to work, with your 0 to 15 degree engine, the probability of expanding the top of the piston large enough to scuff the sides of the bore and gall the piston are high. Oh it will run great for many more years but you won't get max engine life. Same idea with the close tolerance parts of the transmission.

Forgotten in cold weather usually are the tires, they also take time to heat up and wear more when very cold. Rubber CV boots die an early death from the cold and hard cornering. Drive shaft center support bearings crap out early if heavy loads are applied when they are very cold.

There is more slush and crap on your suspension, drive shaft bearings, wheel bearings in the winter. When the truck or car is parked after running fully warmed up, then things start to cool down and refreeze. Along the way several of these components actually ingest this slusshy crap by sucking it in past the seals. ( cold lubricants and air shrink in volume a whole lot!) Every seal on a oil or grease beaing is designed to keep the lubricant in. They are only marginaly good at keeping forign crap out. Not a bad idea to get the fellow at the lube rack to do your vehicle more often in the winter months.