Conflicting Info on starting your car during winter...
11-11-2002, 07:30 AM
#1
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Conflicting Info on starting your car during winter...
I know Xviper thinks that u shouldnt start your car once a week or once a month while your car is parked because its rough on the engine....but Ive asked a bunch of ppl this (mechanics, mostly) and its pretty much a split between yes( start it up every so often) and no (for the same reasons X gave)....Anyways, the manual says to start it up once a month and let it run for a few minutes or whatever it is.....why would they ask u to do this if its bad for the engine?
Im just thinking that I know that dry starts are difficult on the engine but isnt it good to get some oil in the upper parts of the engine once and awhile? Like i mean, if u dont start it till next yearrrr, wont everything get super-dry (for lack of a better word) up there?
anyways, anyone's thoughts?
Im just thinking that I know that dry starts are difficult on the engine but isnt it good to get some oil in the upper parts of the engine once and awhile? Like i mean, if u dont start it till next yearrrr, wont everything get super-dry (for lack of a better word) up there?
anyways, anyone's thoughts?
11-11-2002, 08:49 AM
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You should have made this thread a poll....
I am of the same mindset as Xviper. I have been storing my toys for 4 to 6 months per year for more than a decade. I remove the battery and take it inside so it does not get subjected to the freezing temps. While the battery is out I obviously do not start the car/bike. To me I do not want to warm the car/bike half way up, shut it off and let it get cold again, over and over and over. This kind of thing will allow condensation to build up in all sorts of places. And the last thing I want is little pools of water inside things like my exhaust.
I am of the same mindset as Xviper. I have been storing my toys for 4 to 6 months per year for more than a decade. I remove the battery and take it inside so it does not get subjected to the freezing temps. While the battery is out I obviously do not start the car/bike. To me I do not want to warm the car/bike half way up, shut it off and let it get cold again, over and over and over. This kind of thing will allow condensation to build up in all sorts of places. And the last thing I want is little pools of water inside things like my exhaust.
11-11-2002, 09:27 AM
#3
Hi S2000boy, as you say, there is mixed opinion on this and you must go with your gut instinct (it's your toy). Let me see if I can explain Honda's philosophy on this.
If memory serves me correctly, the owner's manual doesn't say anything about what to do with the battery during winter storage, does it? (If it does, then I'm just blowing smoke out my butt.) Modern day cars with ECUs do not like it when the voltage drops too low, so I think that's why Honda wants you to start the car every month or so. They could have just as easily told you to put on a "smart" charger instead and not start it. In fact, this is what Honda has in their owner's manual for their ECU equipped motorcycles.
As I've mentioned before in another thread, the oil in the engine basically falls out of the top of itself within a few days so when you start the car each month, it is no different than if you start it up once in the spring. There will be no oil up there anyway and it won't stay up there for more than a few days. In an ideal world, you could have a device that would spin the oil pump for a couple minutes BEFORE first firing up the engine. You used to be able to do this with motorcycles, in fact, when the starter was not linked to the kill switch. I seem to recall "in the old days", that owner's manual would actually tell you to have the kill in the "OFF" position and either crank the engine with the electric starter or use the kick starter a few times to circulate the oil prior to trying to ignite it in the spring.
Starting a car whether it be after a few weeks or after a whole winter, IMO, is only circulating oil to places where it will not stay for the next time you start it.
Years ago, I used to start my stored cars up every 2-3 weeks and they were in heated garages (a non heated garage would be far worse). After a couple of winters of listening to those horrendous mechanical "oil-less" clanking starts, I decided to stop doing this and only started them up once in the spring. Then, I only got those bloody awful noises once. Those noises tell you that there is a lot of metal to metal contact for the first 20-30 seconds - seconds that were equating to hundreds of miles of normal wear and tear. So, I asked myself whether or not I wanted to do this every month or only once in the spring and just let the car "sleep". (I think part of the reason I used to start them up from time to time was to just be able to sit in 'em and listen to 'em go "Vroom-Vroom". I really started to miss them during those cold lonely winters.)
If you're going to start it up, you might be better off to do it every week or every few days. That way, there's still a bit of oil stuck on those engine parts.
If memory serves me correctly, the owner's manual doesn't say anything about what to do with the battery during winter storage, does it? (If it does, then I'm just blowing smoke out my butt.) Modern day cars with ECUs do not like it when the voltage drops too low, so I think that's why Honda wants you to start the car every month or so. They could have just as easily told you to put on a "smart" charger instead and not start it. In fact, this is what Honda has in their owner's manual for their ECU equipped motorcycles.
As I've mentioned before in another thread, the oil in the engine basically falls out of the top of itself within a few days so when you start the car each month, it is no different than if you start it up once in the spring. There will be no oil up there anyway and it won't stay up there for more than a few days. In an ideal world, you could have a device that would spin the oil pump for a couple minutes BEFORE first firing up the engine. You used to be able to do this with motorcycles, in fact, when the starter was not linked to the kill switch. I seem to recall "in the old days", that owner's manual would actually tell you to have the kill in the "OFF" position and either crank the engine with the electric starter or use the kick starter a few times to circulate the oil prior to trying to ignite it in the spring.
Starting a car whether it be after a few weeks or after a whole winter, IMO, is only circulating oil to places where it will not stay for the next time you start it.
Years ago, I used to start my stored cars up every 2-3 weeks and they were in heated garages (a non heated garage would be far worse). After a couple of winters of listening to those horrendous mechanical "oil-less" clanking starts, I decided to stop doing this and only started them up once in the spring. Then, I only got those bloody awful noises once. Those noises tell you that there is a lot of metal to metal contact for the first 20-30 seconds - seconds that were equating to hundreds of miles of normal wear and tear. So, I asked myself whether or not I wanted to do this every month or only once in the spring and just let the car "sleep". (I think part of the reason I used to start them up from time to time was to just be able to sit in 'em and listen to 'em go "Vroom-Vroom". I really started to miss them during those cold lonely winters.)
If you're going to start it up, you might be better off to do it every week or every few days. That way, there's still a bit of oil stuck on those engine parts.
11-11-2002, 03:18 PM
#4
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If you don't start it every other day or so, I'd leave it till spring. I heard that a dry start like that is equal to a half a year of driving almost. It is better to drive the car everyday than let it sit and have dry starts. That isn't an option so just leave her till spring and fire her up once.
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