bad to run truck hard when its cold??

[brianh26]

I'm wondering if it is hard on my 5.3 to run it hard when the temp is low outside? And is it good practice to let my motor warm up before driving?

[mfennema]

What kinda temps are you talkin?

[brianh26]

Like winter time in Ohio sub freezing but no colder than 0 degrees or so

[mfennema]

Its never a bad thing to let your truck warm up, but I don't know anyone that sits around and waits for their truck to get to temp before driving. You wouldn't want to totally mash on the gas before your fluids could warm up and get thinned out a little, but as long as you have oil pressure you should be good to go.

[brianh26]

Thanks for the info

[GMCDriver1]

in temps below 40 degrees, I'd allow a minute for gas engines, to allow the oil pressure to drop and get circulating. Remember when cold, fluids are thick, including tranny, oil, power steering, and brake. Diesels? 2-3 minutes. Avoiding hard acceleration for the first 5 min of driving is also not a bad idea.

[gnet158]

two words if you can afford it.

 

Remote Start

 

Love mine, even tho the coldest it gets once in a blue moon here in So. Ca is 35 degrees I still use mine every day. Let her run for a minute or three while I'm grabbing my keys and other stuff headed out the door. My 08 didn't have it so on cold days I'd leave her running before taking off.

[flyboyron]

I live in So Cal also and once in a while when it hits 30 - 35 I use the remote start for a few mintues to mainly get the heater going.

 

On other days, I just start the truck and take off, but drive it slow the first couple of miles til I get on the freeway.

The temp gauge is about half way by then.

[wurgs]

Synthetic oil is a big help in cold weather. It won't make much difference at 35 above but 0 and below your truck will start much better and the oil will pump a lot easier as it doesn't thicken up in cold temps like dino oil.

[ujtruck]

its alway good to let it warm up, how about if I ask you to run 100 meters as soon as you wake up in the cold morning ?

[txab]

Crank it. Slam it into gear. Stomp the pedal to floor and drive it like you stole it.

[LaserBlueZ71]

its alway good to let it warm up, how about if I ask you to run 100 meters as soon as you wake up in the cold morning ?

I understand your point but I don't feel it is relevant. That only feels bad to a human because we have nerves. The internal steel parts of your engine do not feel anything. In the human body, muscles can tear and become damaged if they are not stretched. You can't stretch the metal in your engine, if it did, you would have a pile of parts on the ground.

 

Overall, your biggest worry is oil pressure. In very cold weather, the oil pressure is high because the fluids are thick. If you run at high RPM's with cold oil, you risk an oil pressure so high that it could potentially blow out the seal on top of your oil filter. As long as you are getting oil to all moving parts of the engine, at a normal oil pressure, your good to go.

 

The diesels take longer to warm up because diesel trucks have a much larger cooling system. They are designed to tow and work hard, when they aren't, you still have a large cooling system meant to take a lot of heat. I don't suggest bagging on a cold diesel, and only because the compression is so high. When it gets to very cold temperatures, diesels will knock and smoke like crazy, making all kinds of noise. When the engine is doing this it is not in balance and running smooth. If you demanded a lot of power suddenly, you do risk the potential of breaking something.

 

My experience comes from running big rigs, heavy equipment and locomotives in weather down to -55 degrees celcius. I was born and raised in the prairies of Canada where -30 celcius is the norm for 4 months of the year. Back when I was a long haul trucker I used to take loads to Alaska every now and then. The coldest trip I ever remember was -59 degrees celcius.

[Wolfmanjohn]

I wait 'till the oil pressure gauge is in the normal warm range of ~25-40 psi before putting any real load on the motor. This happens several miles after the 210 dummy indicates the motor is warm. My 'Vette had an oil temp readout on the DIC, and when pressure dropped to normal warm range,oil temp read ~160 degrees (on the rise). This usually took 5 to 8 miles of driving from cold start.

[LaserBlueZ71]

When I bought my truck I specifically looked for an all aluminum engine, the LC9 code I think it is?

 

My 2010 had the iron block with aluminum heads. I wanted out of that truck because I could see potential head gasket problems. Two different types of metal expanding and contracting at different rates is a disaster for head gaskets. My 2011 has an all aluminum in it, and I can tell it heats up a LOT faster than my 2010 did. 5 minutes down the road it's at full operating temperature, even in chilly weather.

[MikeNH]

The iron block/aluminum head combo has been around for ages. There is no issue as modern gaskets have multiple layers.