USAF93

"A cold motor's components, the Alt, Starter, etc, will not like being run full force right after a VERY cold start (under 20 degrees). This is PURELY physical, and means run idle for maybe 30 seconds. Start and go is fine over 20 degrees or so."

The alternator will be spinning but the starter is a one and done so I'm not sure what affect driving cold has on it. I probably do about 30 seconds of fiddlin around before putting it in drive no matter what the temp.

fltdriver

To the OP, I think that your lady may be closer to the correct answer than you are. Even though it's pretty much to each his own, unless she is gunning it right out of the gate I suspect her engine has plenty of time to come to a safe operating condition before she takes off. Don't know about her but every girl I've ever known takes more time to get going then I ever have, adjust the radio, check myself in the mirror, run fingers through hair, maybe some lip balm, adjust the radio again, seat belt, dig in purse for something, etc...

AbbadonTD

Your right about the starter, I meant your distributor.

Also belts dont want to go as fast as possible, as soon as possible, they prefer to warm slower (by which I mean 30-40 seconds)

Flare side crazy

she did again yesterday and it drives me nuts as soon as it started she had it in gear and backing up idk it may not have any huge affects but it just seems like a simple thing to let it run for a min before taking off not worried about emissions tho, china is gonna take care of the ozone long before I have any effect on it

eyesman2

I live in river falls wi" think mpls/stpaul mn" on the very cold days in the winter like -20 plus i will let it warm up until i see that the defrost is starting to work..5 to 10 mins " i do have a engine block heater" then i drive but my god does the suspension rattle you for a bit until it cycles a bit. I am afraid if i start and go it will blow a hose somewhere...lol

AbbadonTD

Eyes, At that cold there in WI, does warming the car even help the suspension? I assume all the grease gets dense and it drives terribly, but the engine warming the suspension?

Also, isn't the engine block heater just to start it since it could seize up the oil and keep it from turning? What about the battery? or am I wrong?

I ask because a main use of my truck is to drive into the mountains for skiing. It gets very cold overnight, and I want to know what my best ideas are to be sure to start at 6AM on Sunday.

Questions are how people learn.

fltdriver

The only thing that helps the suspension is getting the truck moving and bouncing around.

The block heater will keep the oil from getting too dense and allowing for easier starts. Also parking the truck so it is in a protected area, somewhere that the wind is blocked- which may be hard to do on a mountain, will help keep it from getting completely wind chilled. Another option would be an automatic starter, my remote keyless entry/remote starter has a setting where if the temp gets below a certain point (-20*, -10*, 0*, 10*) it will start the truck automatically and run for a preset length of time (5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes).

The most important thing would be to ensure that you are only running 5w oil so it doesn't get too thick (like 10w or 20w would).

AbbadonTD

I tow in the summer, so I use 5w year round. I'm not about to install an engine heater. I haven't had problems (in the past with the Jeep either), its mostly a thought game.

Any thoughts on starters? are there better starters for cold weather starts?

fltdriver

There are several nice but expensive starters/RKE out there like the Viper systems, I got a Bulldog RS1100 RKE/starter and haven't had any issues with it, save my failure to test the lock/unlock system before hooking it up, I fried a fuse because I was too lazy to test the wires to see which end was switch and which was motor side. It always starts for me and we've gotten down to single digits so far this year, it's parked on the street and gets full wind all night long. It sometimes doesn't start on it's first attempt as the engine is super cold but it automatically retries after ten seconds and starts the second time. This could be fixed if I would have hooked up the tach sensor on it, once again just too lazy, that would crank it for up to 4 seconds instead of the 2 second crank in non-tach mode. I got it for the RKE and didn't plan on using the remote start feature very often but I have come to enjoy and use it a lot. I've got it set to run for 5 minutes if it gets down to -10*F.

You can always find them on ebay or Facebook B/S/T sites unused from people that got them and either didn't know how to install or got them as a gift and just didn't want them. Got mine for $30 shipped. Installed the RS1200 model on my gf's 99 cadillac, it has the security bypass for anti-theft systems, comes with a second controller, and has an antenna booster that allows the FOB to be used from 800ft instead of 400 without the booster. Less than an hour of install time on the truck and slightly more on the caddy because I had to tap into wires that were located in the trunk, they tell you exactly which wire to hook up to on their website, it's pretty much foolproof if you can follow directions and not get lazy when it comes to testing the lock/unlock.

eyesman2

engine block heater your best bet