Remote Starter effects on Mobil 1

[wn1998]

I just put a remote start on my wifes 97 cavalier since she has to park out side (My jeep and bike get the garage).
I live in the midwest and we just had about a month of temps in the 20 degrees-20 below zero and my wife has been using her remote start almost everyday. She lets the car run for about 10-15 minutes before she gets in it and drives. For the most part she does long 20-30 mile drives to work going about 45-50mph the entire way with a hand full of stop lights.
I have read on here that idling increases the fuel in the oil. Will her drive burn that off? This is a beater car with 157k and I would rather not pay for a UOA. Now her OCI is 6 months which is about 7k. Should I be lower it since she has an auto start?

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Good question above!

I also have a duplicate, cold weather vehicle-starting wife. The only difference is I get the older, paid-off vehicles & she gets the new ones.

I have no idea how I ever agreed to that formula.

 

[Propflux01]

I would think your vehicle would still fall under the severe service intervals, and it would not be warm enough (the actual oil temp) to 'burn it off', especially being as cold as you describe.

 

[wn1998]

$1200? I bet it's worth less than that. The wife gets a new car this summer since she has had this cavalier since she was 16! We probably won't trade it in since it has such high miles on it and I will drive it until it dies to save some on gas and also save a few miles from going on my jeep.
I still want this car to last and if the remote start is causing fuel dilution I will switch to a shorter oci.

 

[Islandvic]

Change the PCV valve and dont worry about it.

You are doing better than 95% of your neighbors!

 

[eljefino]

If your PCV system works fine then the fuel shouldn't be a problem.

The car is worth what, $1200? Not a slam or anything against the car... but don't worry about it.

I like the idea of mobil-1 in a car that's remote started in winter time because people sometime lose touch with how awful sounding their car is when turning over. Extra layer of cold crankability and all.

 

[Gary Allan]

wn1998 ..wouldn't a block warmer ..even with the use of a remote starter, be of substantial benefit to you? Surely there's an outside outlet (or one you could easily make available) for this car to plug in to?? The remote start would still clear the windows and whatnot ..warm the compartment ..but the engine would be fully ..or nearly warmed up from the get go and any insult would be reduced to "just idling" and not "warming up". I would think that the cost of the block heater (I'm assuming a tank type for ease of installation) and the electricity to run it, would be recovered in one season in fuel savings alone. I would think that her warm up time would be reduced by 2/3 ..or more. Then there's no need ..or at least a reduced need, for a shortened OCI

If your wife can keep a car that long (yep, she's a keeper, pal) then she can probably remember to unplug the heater before leaving.

 

[wn1998]

I have thought about getting her a block heater. I have one on my garaged jeep but thought that the remote start was a better alternative since she only leaves the house in the morning, I didn't think the warmer would be worth it once I installed the remote start.

 

[Gary in Sandy Eggo]

>>I have read on here that idling increases the
>>fuel in the oil. Will her drive burn that off?

Only way for fuel to get into the oil is past the rings. An idling engine is under no load, so even when cold, fuel contamination will be at a minimum under idling conditions.

You're often advised to drive off right away in order to conserve fuel, BUT, this is more reasonable at warmer temperatures. Letting a really cold engine idle for a while before applying a load or higher rpms is better for the engine and better for your comfort.

This being said, I live in a very temporate climate and always drive off immediately, but slowly for the first couple minutes.

Regards, Gary in Sandy Eggo