Cold weather starting

[milehighbear]

Well, it does get cold here in colorado, and has been for last two weeks but starting to warm up more. Whenever it got cold out and i went out and started the ghost, I would have this knocking or tapping which i figure was a tappit or lifter losing its oil pressure. Anyway, for the last two oil changes I would put 10w-30 in and then go drive it around. After it got warmed up, i would stop, put in a can of stp and then drive it around for about half hour to keep oil going and stp mixed. I know when you park your car and it cools off, the stp does not mix with the oil but sort of stays at bottom of your oil pan. Well, anyway, I have done this procedure twice before it started getting cold. During this last cold bout, it was in neighborhood of 16-25 degrees at night and in the morning when i started the ghost, it did not knock. Now I'm not going to put anymore stp in during the winted but i will change my oil here again in about a month and see what happens. If it does start knocking, i will get on here and let you know. But if you don't hear from me anymore about it, it means that i may have found a way to get around it. If anyone else try's this, let me know your results.

[Tim]

How loud is your knock? My engine knocks on cold starts too, but it's kind of hard to hear unless you're listening for it. It's most noticeable when the engine is under load, say going up a hill.

The lifters make a steady, loud clicking when they are malfunctioning. It sounds radically different from engine knock.

I usually run 10w30 as well, but with no additives. The knock subsides after a few minutes, and hasn't really caused any difference in how the car runs.


Also, on a sort of related note, this is very common in the 2.3L Volvo engines. It has been tracked down to piston slap, and hasn't really caused any problems other than the noise. Don't know if it's the same thing as in your case, but it might be related.


-Tim

[TominMO]

Why not use 5W30 when it's cold?

[milehighbear]

During the winter I do use 5W-30, but when its cold out, like in 20's , low 30's, it knocks until it warms up and then knock goes away til the next morning. Somtimes it goes away for couple days like lifters are full of oil and and fully extended and sometimes it's as if they aren't full enough of oil til engine warms up and it gets more oil. Now its been in low thirty's and im still using 10w-30 and there is no knocking. I will go to 5w-30 here at end of october and will see if it still knocks. It seems like the stp coats everything while its mixed and once it cools, parts stay coated, but the extra stp in oil goes to bottom of oil pan and will stay there until it drains out. Thats just my perception. Like i said, im not going to use any more stp and just see how long it keeps from knocking. Mine only knocks when its first started, it doesnt knock under a load or going up a hill.

[olivertwist]

same

IT startes on me last might when i took the car out it had a knocking noise for 15 min then it wint away but at a light it started over agina
should i change the oli i done run 5w30 now , there has been no changes to any parts to the engine internals sense 1992 .I do add lucus oil

[FestYboy]

you could always run 0w-30...

[IdealSociety]

use synthetic oil, any good synthetic has much better cold weather properties than conventional oil. Ive ran mobile 1 in my stock festiva here in MN where we get a couple weeks a year at -20* or colder and ive never had more than a couple ticks at startup that went away after a couple seconds of getting the lifters filled.

i run Mobile 1 in anything that doesnt leak oil, in the cold weather i can tell a 100% improvement over conventional. not only that but its just better for your engine