I have started letting the car idle again

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So with the record cold we have been getting, I have moved back to letting the car idle a bit in the morning before I head to work.

The transmission likes to howl when it's super cold and the clutch is let out. I figured taking off while howling isn't good for it!

Gas mileage the last few tanks has been HORRIBLE. Seriously - in 4 years of owning this car, I have never had a tank below 30MPG. That includes when I first got the car and it was 100% city usage for most driving. The last few tanks have been 25. Bummer.

But, it does shift and drive a bit nicer. I get decent heat by the time I get to work.


Usually 5-10 minutes depending on the temperature. The -15F mornings, it was definitely 10 minutes.
 
Bye bye planet earth. Or maybe it'll just kill us off and then some animals will survive and take another billion years to evolve. Either way this weather is terrible and it's going to stay like this for the rest of time.

Global warmin shur is fun, t'aint it?
 
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When I lived in Stowe, I used to warm up the Expedition if the morning temps were below zero. Not because the truck needed it, but because that was my cutoff for taking the kids to school (instead of waiting outside for the bus) and I wanted them getting into a car with heat.

One week of that silliness, where the temp never got above zero for the highs, I put about 150 miles on the truck.

And it took 25 gallons to fill it up...
 
Same thing hear on deep sub zero days - about 5-10mins. 5w30 ( and a 1/2 at 0w20)in the sump. Otherwize its been 1-2 min Idle give or take at 10deg and up. My gas mileage has been horrendous at 20-21 with mainly 40-50mph backwoods state highway and 30% backroads at 30-35MPH. This is my first auto in years and I am unimpressed with the CVT AFA mileage shift cal goes. Its either lugging at 1200rpm or racing at 5grand. MIght run it in sport mode for a few weeks to see if that helps. That runs the tach about 500rpm higher and prevents lugging and my extra throttle inputs to overcome the lugging.
 
miller88, i changed my oil to ow-20(castrol) from 5w-20(Pennz HM with bunch of addy's) last week ahead of this arctic blast we are in right now, and I could not be happier, my unscientific, subjective observation is that my engine runs smoother and starts much better in this below 0 weather and my first tank has given me a mileage improvement, but i am going to run a few more tanks through it before posting that on my thread i have going on that project, to make sure that wasn't a fluke of some sort.
 
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I may have to cut my OCI short! The oil is probably full of gas by now haha.

I usually let the Jeep idle until it stops piston slapping. Generally never the car. Once it hits 30F again, won't really need to.


Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Same thing hear on deep sub zero days - about 5-10mins. 5w30 ( and a 1/2 at 0w20)in the sump. Otherwize its been 1-2 min Idle give or take at 10deg and up. My gas mileage has been horrendous at 20-21 with mainly 40-50mph backwoods state highway and 30% backroads at 30-35MPH. This is my first auto in years and I am unimpressed with the CVT AFA mileage shift cal goes. Its either lugging at 1200rpm or racing at 5grand. MIght run it in sport mode for a few weeks to see if that helps. That runs the tach about 500rpm higher and prevents lugging and my extra throttle inputs to overcome the lugging.


The Focus has this asinine high idle. If the cat isn't lit off, and the car is moving, the engine NEEDS to run at 2500RPM. Makes shifting the engine impossible when I push the clutch in and it races at 2500RPM.
 
It's part of the price of ownership. My vehicles serve me not the other way around. Ozone layer, fuel, oil be [censored]. That thing is going to be warm and the windows clean before I get in and put it in gear.

You wanna talk fuel? When I was a foreman for a construction company, I would start my truck around 4:30 a.m. and shut it off about 7:00 p.m. and would have used 3/4 tank of fuel and only have driven 40 miles total. They still have that truck at over 115k miles and still running fine.
 
Originally Posted By: horse123
Bye bye planet earth. Or maybe it'll just kill us off and then some animals will survive and take another billion years to evolve. Either way this weather is terrible and it's going to stay like this for the rest of time.

Global warmin shur is fun, t'aint it?


I like George Carlin's take on that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
 
Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Use decent oil and drive off gently after 30 seconds.


If the transmission (manual) didn't howl until the gear oil started to circulate, and the car would idle at under 2500 - that would be an option.

It's what I do when the temps are warm. Which, now, warm is 30F.

I do use good oil in the engine. I can't think of anything lighter for the transmission.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Use decent oil and drive off gently after 30 seconds.


If the transmission (manual) didn't howl until the gear oil started to circulate, and the car would idle at under 2500 - that would be an option.

It's what I do when the temps are warm. Which, now, warm is 30F.

I do use good oil in the engine. I can't think of anything lighter for the transmission.


Try some Redline MTL in the trans.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?product=50204
 
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In my 03 ZX5, which probably has the same 5spd tranny, I switched to M1 ATF, and the hauling is pretty much gone, only the PS pump hauls for few seconds. I used Ford's synthetic gear oil right after I bought the car and the transmission hauled like crazy and the shifts were very hard during winter. M1 ATF improved things quite a bit.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Use decent oil and drive off gently after 30 seconds.


If the transmission (manual) didn't howl until the gear oil started to circulate, and the car would idle at under 2500 - that would be an option.

It's what I do when the temps are warm. Which, now, warm is 30F.

I do use good oil in the engine. I can't think of anything lighter for the transmission.

What do you have in there now? I've got the Ford XT-QS-M5 in mine and there no significant noise at -20F even. Mechanically, the car doesn't seem to care what temp it is for starting, except for some interior rattles until the heat gets going.
As for idling, I don't bother even for the kids. My trick in the morning is to pre-heat the kid by getting him ready a couple minutes before we go out, so he's warmed up to start. I start the car and then strap him into the car seat, do the windows if needed and off we go, even at -17F this morning he was fine for the few minutes before we get any real heat going.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
In my 03 ZX5, which probably has the same 5spd tranny, I switched to M1 ATF, and the hauling is pretty much gone, only the PS pump hauls for few seconds. I used Ford's synthetic gear oil right after I bought the car and the transmission hauled like crazy and the shifts were very hard during winter. M1 ATF improved things quite a bit.


Is ATF safe to run in the transmission? I'd be worried about high speed runs in the summer or something.


Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Use decent oil and drive off gently after 30 seconds.


If the transmission (manual) didn't howl until the gear oil started to circulate, and the car would idle at under 2500 - that would be an option.

It's what I do when the temps are warm. Which, now, warm is 30F.

I do use good oil in the engine. I can't think of anything lighter for the transmission.

What do you have in there now? I've got the Ford XT-QS-M5 in mine and there no significant noise at -20F even. Mechanically, the car doesn't seem to care what temp it is for starting, except for some interior rattles until the heat gets going.
As for idling, I don't bother even for the kids. My trick in the morning is to pre-heat the kid by getting him ready a couple minutes before we go out, so he's warmed up to start. I start the car and then strap him into the car seat, do the windows if needed and off we go, even at -17F this morning he was fine for the few minutes before we get any real heat going.


Yup - I have XT-QS-M5 in it and it howls when I let the clutch out for a minute or two.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Use decent oil and drive off gently after 30 seconds.


If the transmission (manual) didn't howl until the gear oil started to circulate, and the car would idle at under 2500 - that would be an option.

It's what I do when the temps are warm. Which, now, warm is 30F.

I do use good oil in the engine. I can't think of anything lighter for the transmission.


What is in the transmission now? What's the spec? There might be a choice out there with better cold-flow properties.
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Use decent oil and drive off gently after 30 seconds.


If the transmission (manual) didn't howl until the gear oil started to circulate, and the car would idle at under 2500 - that would be an option.

It's what I do when the temps are warm. Which, now, warm is 30F.

I do use good oil in the engine. I can't think of anything lighter for the transmission.


What is in the transmission now? What's the spec? There might be a choice out there with better cold-flow properties.


Ford XT-M5-QS fluid. GL4 synethetic 75w-90.

ATF would definitely be lighter. As would Rotella T6 - which some people do use in these.

Apparently these are like the old Allison truck transmissions that would use ATF, hydraulic fluid, motor oil, gear oil ...
 
Not much more to say than start it, let it idle down to a reasonable level, and then go. Weird noises and all. All the rest is just wasted gas.
 
My Camry won't warm up in anything below 40 degrees unless I drive it, I learned this early on, I let it idle on a cold start at 35 degrees and the temp needle took 20 minutes to start rising.it's been like this since I got it in 2004.
 
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