It is extremely cold here where I live now for a week or 2 and it aint no signs of warming up. Im doing mainly city driving now and my question is how much harm is it to the car with the constant starting/stopping of the engine in this cold? I warm up the car and drive it always till the engine warms up enough until I park it but then in an hour lets say, I need to go again and its another ongoing process from very cold to warm. The transmission makes a short "hum" when coming to a stop due to the cold aswell.

I am using a thinner oil aswell with synthetic in it.


Any opinions everyone.......just curious?

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98 S420
99 C230K
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Mark, do you use a block heater? I often come home in the morning after dropping my daughter off at school, and then have to go out after an hour or two. I plug the car in during that break and it really works well for keeping the engine warm. Even at -38C (we had it a week ago...) the coolant temp would be at least 60C when I went to go.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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Unfortunately the 380 didnt come with a block heater so Im out of luck.

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I thought block heaters were only offered on the diesels.

Perhaps in your state...

In Canada, they are standard on every car sold.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

oh so true, people here die if the temperature drops below 55F!

Take a looksie at FastLane, bet you find a block heater for the 380 in there, I know they have one for the 560. Think the cost was ~$60, almost got one but decided to wait and see how bad it is up here.

The first days the morning temps were below zero, the engine fired off but it turned slower than I liked. When I changed the oil I went from 10W30 semi-synthetic to 0W40 Mobil One. Wow, does it ever spin up quick on the cold morning starts.

You might consider using a winter blend oil for your cold weather driving, either dino or synthetic should work.

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Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

I will look into it.......but this is originally a Florida car so obviously no block heaters!

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You should also warm up the battery before cranking it. Turn your lights on for 20 seconds or so before starting the car.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

warm up the battery? I never heard that one, on really cold days I'd be afraid to turn on anything that robs power from the battery. More than my share of cars have needed boosting on cold mornings when the engine doesn't fire quick enough.

Getting a block heater put in shouldn't be a problem at all. If you had to I'll bet even Canadian Tire could set you up. (though I don't recommend that punishment to anyone) Block heaters are also a good ideafor the stand point of reaching operating temperatutre quicker and there by reducing emmissions due to the warm up, and your engine will produce a ton of them during this period. An interesting side note to this, the new prius has an insulated bottle to store warm coolant to reintroduce to the engine to warm it up quicker for just the reason noted above. I thought that was a clever and relatively low tech solution.

did a block heater ever cause fire?

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My neighbor's brand new custom home burnt down last January with a fire that started in the garage. It's believed that the block heater cord on his Dodge Ram was to blame. Destroyed the attached garage, the Ram, and the Audi A4 in the garage.

It was a nightmare.

Shaun

see what I mean!?!

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Happens in Edmonton once in a while. People use any ratty old cord that they have handy to plug in their car. We use nothing but excellent condition cords and the garage circuit is not only on the breaker, but GFI as well.

Also, your block heater cord (running from the heater to the grille) can deteriorate with age and should be replaced every few years as well.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

I've found that synthetic oil and a block heater do wonders for cars in Canadian winters. I think the chances of a block heater starting a fire are negligible, especially if you keep things in good condition, as mentioned. I use them on all my cars. In the summer, I tuck the block heater cord neatly away into the engine compartment and secure with a nylon tie. To make sure the cord stays in good shape, I secure it to the front frame so it doesn't dangle or rub on anything.

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon