Cold Start thought experiment

[jwt]

Been noodling this for a while in idle moments of visiting the nothing box.

For the sake of argument your car is sitting for a few days at -15 C (5 F) nicely cold soaked. You are about to start it and want to minimize any start up wear. you have 2 options only.

1. Normal start, hit the start button , engine fires to life, you let it idle a suitable amount of time before driving off.

2. Hold the accelerator pedal down, thus engaging flood clear mode and the engine does not fire for say 20 seconds giving the oil pump time to pressurize before ignition forces come in to play. You again allow the engine to idle a suitable amount of time before driving off.

For the purposes of this thought experiment we will not use block heaters, change oils, store the car somewhere warm etc etc. The battery is infinitely charged so cold cranking is assumed to be flawless. It's a gasoline engine and reasonably modern lets say 10 years or younger. Just the two options above. Amount of time to idle before driving off is the same in both cases and dependent on your opinions of saving the planet versus crashing the car due to a frozen over windscreen.

Which option is most likely to minimize start up wear?

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[Vlad Soare]

The second option will certainly cause less wear, but I'd wager that in real life the difference would be negligible with a modern engine in good state of health, using high quality synthetic oil.

 

[StangTime]

I would choose option 1.
The wear and tear on the starter negates the option of just starting normally. Oil pressure will come up fairly quick and you want that engine to warm up right away.

 

[ORRadtech]

My feelings are #1 would be the least harmful.
A couple of rotations and it's running which says to me that oil pressure is where it's designed by Ford to be when cold starting.
Option 2 requires several slow revolutions at a lower pressure which seems to me would result in more wear before the engine is actually running.
If Ford felt there should be some special start up when cold they could, and probably would, put it in the owner's manual. Or, since the car measures everything, program a special starting sequence for cold temps.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Run a good syn and hit start and let it idle.

 

[Sevensixteen]

Mobil 1 & Fire in the hole !

 

[mustanghammer]

You want this thing.....http://www.engineprelube.com/

Similar to that, I have used an 3qt Moroso Accumulator to pre-lube the engine in my autox Mustang every time I started it. It was mainly installed to keep the engine from loosing pressure at high RPMS and or in high G turns on course. The pre-lube deal was sort of a side benefit. PITA to plumb and locate but worth it on a race car.

In the 80s there was a kit on the market that used a small electric pump that pulled oil from the pan and pumped into the oil galley. It was an automated system that ran before the starter turned over the engine.

All of these times have merit but modern engines that use thinner viscosity oils don't have the same cold start oil starvation problems that old engines did.

 

[ice445]

You want this thing.....http://www.engineprelube.com/

Similar to that, I have used an 3qt Moroso Accumulator to pre-lube the engine in my autox Mustang every time I started it. It was mainly installed to keep the engine from loosing pressure at high RPMS and or in high G turns on course. The pre-lube deal was sort of a side benefit. PITA to plumb and locate but worth it on a race car.

In the 80s there was a kit on the market that used a small electric pump that pulled oil from the pan and pumped into the oil galley. It was an automated system that ran before the starter turned over the engine.

All of these times have merit but modern engines that use thinner viscosity oils don't have the same cold start oil starvation problems that old engines did.

Prelubers are dumb. It takes forever for synthetic oil films to fall off bearings and surfaces in the engine. Just start it lol

 

[JCFoster]

When I was four or five my grand parents bought a ‘76 LTD 2 door without the vinyl roof. I remember my grandpa would always let off the gas to help the car shift. And remember asking myself why, when grandma drives she doesn’t do that. Anyway, if your like my grandpa go for it.

 

[jwt]

Thanks for all the responses, pretty definitive preference for option 1.

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