I posted this in another thread, but I think this one is better... anyway

I'm planning on driving my car in the winter on the nice days and the not so terrible days. This might be a few days a week, or maybe once every two weeks. My question is, is it a good idea to start the engine once every day, or every other day to keep the oil well circulated, or does all the oil drip down overnight?

There's no way I can go all winter without driving it, but I don't want to do any damage either..... oh the drama!!

 

Read my reply up above. Cold start it ONLY when you plan to use it. Don't start just because you think you're doing the engine a favour. Every cold start is added wear on the engine. Why put that wear on the engine for nothing? Do it if you plan to use the car. Oil sticks to the metal parts pretty well with modern day oils. However, cold start wear will still be evident.

 

I know, but what i'm saying is, it's impossible for me to go all winter without driving my S2k. So i'm going to be doing damage by cold starting it once every two weeks, it's just unavoidable. So will the wear be lower, if I start it every day. Maybe only half the oil has time to drip down while standing overnight. I dunno.

 

The bulk of the oil falls back to the oil pan within minutes. After a few hours, all you're left with is that film. This film won't change whether you leave it to the next day or leave it for a week or several weeks. Whether you start the car and use it the next day or in a week or two, the cold start wear will be the same. Although these numbers have been disputed, it is still worthy of thought. It has been published many years ago, that a cold start can equate to several hundred miles of wear. This is not saying it's severe as modern day oils can limit hundreds of miles of engine wear to a minimum. However, it's still wear and the premise is that it's still the same.
You seem to be obsessing over this a lot. For someone such as yourself, you are not going to sleep well at night nor will you ever be satisfied until you do what you think is best. So, if starting it every day, even though you don't intend to drive it, makes you feel good about the car, then do it. In reality, your car won't know the difference except for the fact that you won't run it under load to operating temps (condensation in the exhaust leading to corrosion) and just letting it sit there won't put back the juice into the battery that you took out to start it. I guess that's where the Battery Tender comes in.
People have been storing cars for decades. Some will leave it for months and then go out and start it in the spring - no harm done. I've been one of these. Some will go out and start the thing every few days and sit in their garages and go "vroom - vroom" for 10 to 15 minutes because they think it's doing the car a favour - also, no harm done. I've been one of these, too. Personally, it's easier to just leave it alone and limit the number of cold starts and the subsequent wear for nothing.
In the end, it's what you believe and what makes you feel good about your car.

 

You could always move South where it stays pretty warm year round

I would store my s2000 if I lived anywhere north of Virginia/Kentucky/Missouri

 

Store it? No way that -I- could. I just got over the magic 600 mile mark and played with the VTEC today. There is no way that I could wait until March to drive it again. Just putting it away at all was hard

We are supposed to get our first real snow tomorrow and my S2K will stay in the garage for now. But on the first relatively nice day, out it comes again!

 

The basic concept is simple:

Do NOT start the car unless you plan to drive it.