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Please. You forget NY. It's a balmy 1F outside my house right now. -11 up in Saranac where my brother and nephews live, with a -30 wind chill. The Adirondack region of northern New York State is often the coldest place in the country this time of year.
That isn't very cold. The coldest regions in the lower-48 states are around Minnesota, ND, around the Great Lakes, and Northwest NY (around Buffalo and Watertown). Going up North there is central Canada, and then Alaska. It gets a lot colder in the interior and North regions of Alaska, than it will ever get in NY. Thank Siberia, and Alaska (with Canada's help) for the arctic blast you are getting in NY this week
I ALWAYS let my car warm up before driving, even during summer time.
Usually for about 10-15 minutes, but I sit in the car during the warm up.
It just seems logical to me that its better for the engine to be properly lubricated and at running temp before driving, taking off right at start up, it takes a little time for the oil to be distributed to the upper part of the engine.
Good points, you are spot-on about the cold-start engine wear. But with so many newer vehicles using 0W20 full-synthetic I don't foresee thick oil being as much of a problem today. However, if I lived in a "winter" climate that saw those kinds of temperatures, I'd most certainly have a vehicle with plug-in block heater and maybe even a pre-lube kit.
Perhaps a good experiment would be to stick a quart of 0W20 in the freezer and see how thick it gets. I just have to hope my wife doesn't find it in there.
agreed. the poster you quoted did make some very good points, but modern light weight oils dont thicken up like older heavier weight oils did. that said though, if i lived in an extremely cold climate, i too would invest in, and use a block heater when air temps fell below a certain point. either that or invest in a properly insulated garage, and still have the block heater.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icy Tea
I replaced an older car( '99 GM fuel injection six cylinder engine) with a car with a four cylinder direct injection engine. I notice that that car warms up considerably faster, maybe twice as fast. Its blowing warm air in just under 5 minutes after sitting out in the cold whereas my old car would be blowing warm air in ten minutes. Just as I was pulling in my driveway, LOL.
Maybe its the direct injection or is it the smaller more confined engine compartment? Or just a quirk of the engine/car design? Its enough of a plus to make me want to keep an engine with direct fuel injection if that's the reason, even over a six cylinder or turbo if they didn't have that quick heat up time.
modern cars warm up faster because they are designed to. higher opening temp thermostats, more efficient radiators, etc. all mean that modern cars start throwing out heat with in a mile of starting out. its not the direct injection, but rather everything. also electric fans that can be left off until the engine reaches a particular operating temperature also aid in warming up the engine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by victimofGM
But you need the coolant hot to defrost and defog the windows. Visibility is most important.
actually modern cars use the air conditioning to defrost and defog the windshield. the idea for doing that is the a/c is basically a dehumidifier, and thus take moisture out of the air inside the cabin so it cant collect on the windshield or other windows.
At subzero temperatures and the car parked outside all night, any moisture that has been in the cab before you park the car turns to ice. This is very common in places where it gets extremely cold. Moisture inside the vehicle can be from the occupants breath (including dogs), from snow that the driver or others get inside on the shoes, and so on. When you are driving the car a lot of the moisture is removed from the cab when the blower's lever is placed on defrost, but the rest of the snow just melts on the floor mats. When you park the car for the night, some water vapor still remains in the cab.
Yes, and I've had it happen at 0. One day I got into my truck wet from rain, that night it got down to 10 or so and the insides were iced up. And, as you mentioned, if there's snow on the mats.
Who I responded to lives in Louisiana. While I know it can get somewhat cold there interior fogging shouldn't be a problem.
Someone mentioned A/C being tied into Defrost. It is. You can also run A/C in the other modes to remove moisture. I have it set for A/C year round. It seems to warm up quicker on the setting.
agreed. the poster you quoted did make some very good points, but modern light weight oils dont thicken up like older heavier weight oils did. that said though, if i lived in an extremely cold climate, i too would invest in, and use a block heater when air temps fell below a certain point. either that or invest in a properly insulated garage, and still have the block heater.
modern cars warm up faster because they are designed to. higher opening temp thermostats, more efficient radiators, etc. all mean that modern cars start throwing out heat with in a mile of starting out. its not the direct injection, but rather everything. also electric fans that can be left off until the engine reaches a particular operating temperature also aid in warming up the engine.
actually modern cars use the air conditioning to defrost and defog the windshield. the idea for doing that is the a/c is basically a dehumidifier, and thus take moisture out of the air inside the cabin so it cant collect on the windshield or other windows.
Partially right. It does use the compressor to remove moisture but you need to raise the temperature to lower the humidity percentage of the air so it can defog the windows. Next summer when your windows fog up, try turning on the defogger with the thermostat turned to cold and see what happens.
'Round here, leaving your running car unattended is invitation to theft...an issue I haven't seen brought up in this thread.
I brought it up, in post #22:
"I also live in a county where it's illegal to let your car run unattended with the keys in the ignition..."
Albany County in upstate NY has a law against that. And auto thefts were the reason why they passed that law, because some of those stolen cars had young kids in them.
Partially right. It does use the compressor to remove moisture but you need to raise the temperature to lower the humidity percentage of the air so it can defog the windows. Next summer when your windows fog up, try turning on the defogger with the thermostat turned to cold and see what happens.
For years struggled with interior windshield windows and rear glass fogging up despite having the defogger and maybe AC running. Finally an older family member told me have to set the AC to open the fresh air intake of AC (usually have the thing set to recirculate), don't know why or how but it fixed the problem.
It was a bitter cold 50 degrees here this morning. I go as soon as the engine stabilizes.
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