any "Remedies" for cold starts?

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97tbird

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This morning it went down to like 20F here, and both our cars are parked outside - promptly results in pretty noticeable start up clatter for some time, then smooths out...
Tbird 4.6L has MC 5w30 with MC filter
Elantra has Castrol (probably) 5w30 with oem filter

We both let cars warm up for a few min before driving, and then drive gently for the 1st few min's too...

So the amount of start up clatter is very probably harmless and normal - BUT it would be nice to minimize it...

so, in respect to oil (Or Gas?) additives, is there anything one can do?

[I am thinking of adding a bit of MMO to the bird's oil(kinda scared to do it on the Elantra as it has a much smaller sump) and gas and perhaps a bit in Elantra's gas (only)...

I was wondering what others are doing against start up clatter...
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
This morning it went down to like 20F here, and both our cars are parked outside - promptly results in pretty noticeable start up clatter for some time, then smooths out...
Tbird 4.6L has MC 5w30 with MC filter
Elantra has Castrol (probably) 5w30 with oem filter

We both let cars warm up for a few min before driving, and then drive gently for the 1st few min's too...

So the amount of start up clatter is very probably harmless and normal - BUT it would be nice to minimize it...

so, in respect to oil (Or Gas?) additives, is there anything one can do?

[I am thinking of adding a bit of MMO to the bird's oil(kinda scared to do it on the Elantra as it has a much smaller sump) and gas and perhaps a bit in Elantra's gas (only)...

I was wondering what others are doing against start up clatter...



My Marauder has the 4.6 DOHC Engine and with MMO in the oil and gas I have no startup noise, this morning it was 12 degrees outside when I started the car up and it was fine.

I really feel there is more of a benefit with MMO in the oil during the wintertime since it has a pour point of -60 degrees.

Right now I am running Amsoil 0W-20 but I have run MC 5W-20 in the Marauder during the wintertime with some MMO in the oil and there has been no noise.

How many miles do you have on the Bird.
 
c3PO: Yeah I have to go and add a few glugs of MMO to the Bird (have never used it before); Bird and Elantra both have around 135k miles.

Drew: yeah i probably worry too much; thanks.
 
Some days my car rattles a lot on cold starts; some days it's whisper quiet. I seriously don';t know what gives, but I don't worry about it.

Seriously, unless you've endured a few -10 to -20 cold starts and heard what an engine sounds like at those temps, I wouldn't worry about it.

I wouldn't be looking to "solve" the problem with MMO or other oil additives.
 
Shouldn't anyone who considers "watering down" the viscosity of your 5w30 oil with a solvent like MMO should really just use a synhetic 5w20 or a thinner 5w30 like Castrol Edge? I mean really folks...have we not learned enough about oil on this site to know better than to add solvent and a 3w oil to our sump versus get a beter performing oil in the first place. Or how about a 0w30 or 0w20?

Adding MMO to your sump to give better cold start performance is simply bad advice IMO.
 
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well, i am just curious about MMO mostly - the cold start thing is a co-incidence kind of. Nobody advised me to do it - I just wanted to try MMO anyway, just for the heck of it, due to all the enthusiasm these days
wink.gif


0w-30 and 0w-20 are full syn, no? I think I have also learned about not converting a 135k mile car (which had dino all along) to syn oil at that kinda mileage. one time i tried it at about 95k miles on my Tbird it resulted in some pretty drastic oil consumption which took some time to normalize even after switching back to dino. only after that has the car been using semi-syn MC 5W30
 
20F isn't cold and any engine with 135,000 miles is going to make a little noise. 0Wxx isn't going to do any better at 20F than 5w30 conventional IMO. Those engines make a little startup noise with the Overhead valvetrain and hydraulic cam chain tensioners. Don't worry about it.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
well, i am just curious about MMO mostly - the cold start thing is a co-incidence kind of. Nobody advised me to do it - I just wanted to try MMO anyway, just for the heck of it, due to all the enthusiasm these days
wink.gif


0w-30 and 0w-20 are full syn, no? I think I have also learned about not converting a 135k mile car (which had dino all along) to syn oil at that kinda mileage. one time i tried it at about 95k miles on my Tbird it resulted in some pretty drastic oil consumption which took some time to normalize even after switching back to dino. only after that has the car been using semi-syn MC 5W30


Feel free to try it, you won't know if it works for you or not unless you try it.

Also there is nothing wrong with switching to a synthetic oil at that mileage.

This site reminds me of a House episode on tv the other day where he said something on a plane full of people and everyone started doing it, happens on this site all the time.
 
Originally Posted By: postjeeprcr

Also there is nothing wrong with switching to a synthetic oil at that mileage.


I am sure theoretically there shouldn't be anything wrong - all I know is my car lost a LOT of oil in a SHORT period when i did that - things returned to normal after switching back to dino.
 
(7tbird - At 20F, any proper weight oil should be fine.
We get a lot colder than that [Chicago area], so I added 16 ounces of MMO to my crankcase this year. It wouldn't hurt you to add some.

http://www.marvelmysteryoil.com/index.php/site/faq/#fuel

Follow all the links and FAQs you want to!


I find Hyundais to have clatter on start up more than any other modern cars. I have a Sonata, BTW. New or old, even if everything is right. They must spec high leakdown lifters.
Also, I have had oil filters that were better than others in this respect.
 
Thanks Mechtech - I will just play a bit with MMO - can't hurt, IMO.

I have heard the same about Hyundais. I think that's just how they are. Doesn't seem to be harmful.
On my Tbird I have MC FL-820s filter and OEM Hyundai filter in the Elantra. (wife gets O/Cs at the dealer).
 
You can move to a warm area....j/k

Using a good flowing synthetic will help. I usually go down from a 10w30 to a 5w30 in the winter and noticed a big help. But even then when it was -26 it was a hard effort to get the car to start. I might have to go 0w30 next change.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
what's "2T"?


I think he is talking about 2-Cycle Oil in the gas.
 
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