I live in TN in an area with a pretty moderate temperature. I drive a 2010 Nissan Maxima with a 3.5L VQ35DE and use PU 5w-30. From my house, the first few miles are slow going allowing ample warmup for both the engine oil and transmission fluid. The car is also garaged... so no worries there.
From work, it is a whole different story. I work at a hospital with crazy hours. The location is in the mountains and the temperature gets to about 10-20F on some winter mornings. The concern I have is when I get off at say 2 AM... 10F... engine cold and been sitting for a 36 shift. When I leave work, I am literally on an on-ramp accelerating within a quarter mile. There is little to no drive time to warm up the engine or transmission. I find myself babying the car because I feel it is not properly warmed up. Is driving the car at highway speeds (2.25k RPMs) with little to no warm-up in these temperatures detrimental to the engine or transmission? Am I being overly paranoid?
I know WOT with a cold engine is terrible and would never do it... but what about 2,3, or 4k RPM acceleration when cold?
I would appreciate anyone who can provide specific scientific comments such as if the oil filter is in bypass or the flow of oil is dangerously low in my situation described above regarding immediate highway use.
From work, it is a whole different story. I work at a hospital with crazy hours. The location is in the mountains and the temperature gets to about 10-20F on some winter mornings. The concern I have is when I get off at say 2 AM... 10F... engine cold and been sitting for a 36 shift. When I leave work, I am literally on an on-ramp accelerating within a quarter mile. There is little to no drive time to warm up the engine or transmission. I find myself babying the car because I feel it is not properly warmed up. Is driving the car at highway speeds (2.25k RPMs) with little to no warm-up in these temperatures detrimental to the engine or transmission? Am I being overly paranoid?
I know WOT with a cold engine is terrible and would never do it... but what about 2,3, or 4k RPM acceleration when cold?
I would appreciate anyone who can provide specific scientific comments such as if the oil filter is in bypass or the flow of oil is dangerously low in my situation described above regarding immediate highway use.