Driving a car from cold, uphill.
Discussion
Who here dislikes starting a car from cold, and driving off uphill, because of mechanical sympathy? From where my car is usually parked, the first thing it does is climbing a (small) hill. It doesn't feel right with a stone-cold engine to give it that extra bit of throttle. Am I exaggerating, or does my car not really like it either? Also, what's generally the best technique to cover those first miles?
If your car is well maintained and with good quality oil, no problem. Driving up hill below say 2,500 revs in too high a gear with a stone cold engine could be more wear harmful than say 3,500-4,000 rpm in a lower gear soon after a cold start.
I change the oil in my cars about half the manufacturer recommended mileage intervals. No doubt that is beneficial. Someone I know believes that is not necessary and changes his oil say every 18,000 miles or more.
Guess who has engines with obvious wear problems. I'll give you a clue. Mine do not.
I change the oil in my cars about half the manufacturer recommended mileage intervals. No doubt that is beneficial. Someone I know believes that is not necessary and changes his oil say every 18,000 miles or more.
Guess who has engines with obvious wear problems. I'll give you a clue. Mine do not.
I know exactly what you mean, a friend of mine lives at the very bottom of a steep hill an I hate driving up it. It's just not a nice feeling putting the engine under load from stone cold, even more so in winter. My car needs quite a few revs to get second gear too, if there's nobody behind me I just crawl up in 1st 
I also dislike doing hill starts from cold.
I also dislike doing hill starts from cold. If you use decent, regularly changed, oil and keep the revs below 2.5k I can`t see it would cause any real issues.
I never exceed 2.5k revs until engine is warm in any case (conditions allowing).
Just drive "gently" for the first few miles. You don`t need to dawdle just don`t hammer it!
The fact you are asking the question at all shows you are mechanically sympathetic so I imagine your engine is well looked after and in decent condition.
I never exceed 2.5k revs until engine is warm in any case (conditions allowing).
Just drive "gently" for the first few miles. You don`t need to dawdle just don`t hammer it!
The fact you are asking the question at all shows you are mechanically sympathetic so I imagine your engine is well looked after and in decent condition.
MGJohn said:
If your car is well maintained and with good quality oil, no problem. Driving up hill below say 2,500 revs in too high a gear with a stone cold engine could be more wear harmful than say 3,500-4,000 rpm in a lower gear soon after a cold start.
I change the oil in my cars about half the manufacturer recommended mileage intervals. No doubt that is beneficial. Someone I know believes that is not necessary and changes his oil say every 18,000 miles or more.
Guess who has engines with obvious wear problems. I'll give you a clue. Mine do not.
Manufactures set the oil change intervals, then test the engine for 100000 miles (or more) using the recommended servicing interval and inspect every component for wear. Every component must still be in spec on all of dozens of test engines before the engine is sold to anyone.I change the oil in my cars about half the manufacturer recommended mileage intervals. No doubt that is beneficial. Someone I know believes that is not necessary and changes his oil say every 18,000 miles or more.
Guess who has engines with obvious wear problems. I'll give you a clue. Mine do not.
Robert Elise said:
i would have thought keep revs above 2500. keep oil pressure up and not lug the engine. i mean higher revs, not accelerating and putting load on a cold engine
Really?I`m not arguing, just curious as to why you think this?
I would have thought higher revs would increase engine wear whilst the oil is still cold/thick.
That`s always what I`ve been told anyway, makes me wince when people put high revs on cold engines.
It's not just you. I climb this from cold at the start of every day: http://goo.gl/maps/IMV3U and it kills my internal mechanical sympathy OCD. 
It gets a bit steeper at the top and includes a hill start onto a reasonably busy NSL road.
It gets a bit steeper at the top and includes a hill start onto a reasonably busy NSL road.i don't mean very high revs, but 2500 as a minimum going uphill otherwise you're in high-wear lugging territory. Not high high revs, and certainly not accelerating. It's load that wears engines, and keeping below 2500 whilst demanding the engine overcomes gravity feels like too much to me. One of the reasons a slow, grandma's car might well be prematurely worn. Depends on the torque curve, but for many cars i would think a steady 2800/3000 more appropriate
I too would rather have the car sitting at say 3500 rpm on a light throttle opening from cold, than letting the engine labour at low revs with a greater throttle opening, it just feels better IMO.
IIRC a lot of automatic cars hang on to the gears for longer when cold to try and get the engine to warm up quickly.
Personally I think a lot of people are a bit OTT saying they wouldn't pass 2,000 - 2,500 rpm when the car is cold - I'd find it a bit hard to drive it like that, especially for stuff like joining a fast moving motorway or DC (I have the A69 on my doorstep so sometimes you have to use more than 2,500 rpm if you want to join safely).
IIRC a lot of automatic cars hang on to the gears for longer when cold to try and get the engine to warm up quickly.
Personally I think a lot of people are a bit OTT saying they wouldn't pass 2,000 - 2,500 rpm when the car is cold - I'd find it a bit hard to drive it like that, especially for stuff like joining a fast moving motorway or DC (I have the A69 on my doorstep so sometimes you have to use more than 2,500 rpm if you want to join safely).
Robert Elise said:
i don't mean very high revs, but 2500 as a minimum going uphill otherwise you're in high-wear lugging territory. Not high high revs, and certainly not accelerating. It's load that wears engines, and keeping below 2500 whilst demanding the engine overcomes gravity feels like too much to me. One of the reasons a slow, grandma's car might well be prematurely worn. Depends on the torque curve, but for many cars i would think a steady 2800/3000 more appropriate
I see where you are coming from and I suppose it depends on the nature of the engine and the gearing etc.Still makes me uncomfortable putting that many revs on but I`m used to lots of torque at low revs so mine will pull very happily from 1500rpm.
I am using Satans fuel though
Does anyone worry about the wind as well? Im worried that years of wind erosion on the paint of my vehicle will actually make it smaller.
Im also concerned about speedbumps. They say your spine shrinks after being launched from an ejection seat due to the force. Maybe 20 years of going over a speedbump each day will have the same effect?
Lastly, don't get me started about corners. Im not convinced that the g-forces of using a car to go round corners are natural, and good for the body.
Oh, and i forgot about the sun. When you get into a hot car in summer, think of the sun rays shining through the window. That cant be good for your skin, surely.
Im also concerned about speedbumps. They say your spine shrinks after being launched from an ejection seat due to the force. Maybe 20 years of going over a speedbump each day will have the same effect?
Lastly, don't get me started about corners. Im not convinced that the g-forces of using a car to go round corners are natural, and good for the body.
Oh, and i forgot about the sun. When you get into a hot car in summer, think of the sun rays shining through the window. That cant be good for your skin, surely.
charltjr said:
There's mechanical sympathy and then there's full-blown OCD. Worrying about giving a car a few revs to get up a hill from cold is definitely the latter.
I have truly never even thought about it until now, I probably won`t think about it again either.I tend not to worry about these things and your engine will be fine anyway.
It appears some here are not differentiating between stressful labouring low revs due to load, hill climbing etc. Compared to higher unstressed or less stressful engine speeds which are far less wearing on engine components in hot or even cold start conditions.
Larger throttle openings at low revs can labour even a fully warmed engine harmfully.
Larger throttle openings at low revs can labour even a fully warmed engine harmfully.
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