So, for many of us, our Buicks sit in the garage during the cold salt laden months. Is there a problem with starting the car and warming it up, letting the battery charge instead of driving it in the salt? I realize that moisture will accumulate in the exhaust - any other issues?
I run mine a here and there to keep oil throughout the engine but I dont think idling will really charge the battery. Better off with a battery maintainer or float charger.
Worse thing you can do is run a car and not drive it, it never really gets up to operatiing temps. Forget about it until spring. I have seen guys ruin Engines this way. For some reason most guys feel the need to get in and rev the engine thinking this is good. Just put a smart charger on it and it will be fine until you can actually drive it. This question keeps coming up over and over on every car site in existence.
Ya what's the deal with that? I've seen a guy fire up his BBB cold and rev it to like 4500 RPM's to show off. I guess it's cool!
Well he is very stupid end of story. Im a boat owner in the off season Bats are disconnected.. I keep them on a tender. Not a pos cheap one. As far as the motor I roll the motor over every 30 days or so.. NEVER start.. Cold air that is full of moisture is drawn into warm motors. Only way to get that now water out of the oil is RUN the motor . In other words drive the thing down the highway for a hour. Not putt it around town.
I snuck my Aquamist car out yesterday. Must of been close to 50 degrees out. Drive it around, threw some gas in it, got nice and hot and tweaked the tune on it. Felt good to drive it again. Hadn't driven it since October. Some streets were still a little white than I liked, but it was bone dry out. Did more good than harm in my book. Funny though, it started up like it ran yesterdy
You suck, Jay. Roads up here are so white it's a dust cloud of salt. Only hit 29 today. Beat that thing for us NH guys.
X3 about NOT driving the car... The entire drivetrain needs to get up to a sustained normal operating temperature. The moisture and compounds in the fuel and oils will accumulate in the oil, creating acids, if only run briefly. The sustained operating will get everything circulated properly, and the operation at correct temperature will not allow the water vapor to accumulate, as it would in just the idle operation or minimal run-time.. that is why they say that short trip driving is the worst that you can do for your vehoicle, placing that under the SEVERE driving conditions in the warrant/ maintenance section of the owner's manual.( You DO read your owner's manual, don't you?) On an aside note, I heard that there was an error in the original editions of the 1987 Buick Regal owner's manual. Something was backwards in the wording; something about the MINIMUM sustained speed instead of the MAXIMUM sustained speed. Mine was a later build car...
Ehh do what you like. Ive never heard anyone blowing a motor or hurting one by starting it. My shop is a 40x40 thats an old horse barn that was built around 1900. The layout is weird and i have to move cars around once in while. The 11:1 470 starts and moves the same as the 8:1 152 in the scout. Sure beats the hell out of pushing them around..
The more you cold start your engine the quicker your rings wear. Then you will have a smoker on your hands.
Its a mechanical device with wear parts. Every time you start it and run it you're wearing it out. Its the nature of the beast. 10, 100 or 1000 cold starts doesn't equal worn rings. Hell they are low tension these days and only get splash oil. If it was an issue there would be an oil feed to it.
Well we agree to disagree. Many cold starts without actually driving the car speeds the wear process. I didn’t make that up. Rich winter mixtures wash the oil right off the cylinder walls and contaminate the oil. I will continue to not start my cars in storage until I am ready to drive.
I don't disagree with that. What I disagreed with is your statement saying he is going to ruin his engine. He wants to start at once a month for the six months of winter those six cold starts will not hurt anything. He said he is taking it outside to let it warm up but choke is is opening he is okay. When did these engines go from tough muscle car beaters to being as fragile as a China plate?
and unless you have a catalytic converter the exhaust will not get hot enough to burn the moisture and acids from the combustion process. I knew a guy that put a Jag XKE in storage. He would go and start it once a week and run it for 5 min. The new exhaust rotted out in 6 months and the car never moved an inch....
I'll fire my stuff up a couple times over the winter as long as it's above 45. We usually get a day or two a month that gets that warm. Gets the valve springs in a different spot and I just love the smell of AvGas. I do change the oil in each car toward the end of March before I start driving them. The Mustang has been doing this routine for coming up on 28 years.
I'm with you Joe. For the last 12 years I run a battery tender and magnetic oil pan heater and start my car every week to operating temperatures. I drive it twice a month depending on weather conditions during the winter. I've never had a problem and it still runs great no smoking, knocking, or anything like that. The beauty of this is two fold, the car is always ready to go and I can enjoy the car year round.
If you built a good running engine and dynoed it, then set it on the shelf, would you feel the need to start it from time to time?
I'd turn it over from time to time. The fact that my engines are in the cars means it's easier to just turn the key.
