Some Concern About How To Take Care Old Car

[Lopburi99]

I heard or read somewhere once of the benefits of allowing the engine to run a couple of minutes after starting the first time each day. The reason was to allow for the oil to be pumped thoroughly up into all the important lubrication areas of the engine some of which having drained down into the oil pan during the night. Also, time for the fuel mixture to stabilize a bit (but in Thailand engines are rarely cold enough to require full rich fuel mixtures). They say this will substantially add to an engine's life.

One source even said to wait until the water temperature gauge needle starts to move, but one often doesn't want to wait that long, and it may be overkill anyway.

What do you guys think?

Seems to make sense intuitively. I do it regularly. I want my new car to be my last.

Edited July 13, 2009 by Lopburi99

[Lopburi99]

Red coolant is used in all aluminium blocks.

Blue one for cast iron, with aluminum head.

Green if have not heared of.

Water can be used in a hot country like Thailand, but is not loved since it puts much corossion on inside.

You do not need to worry much about all those points Stingray sums up. But it's good to check them. Buying a Haynes or other book online ( like Stingray stated ), will help you very much, so you can do it yourself.

The owner of Castrol Company, once said: Changing to oil so often, is really not necesarry, since actually oil can go in an engine it's whole life. He used to same oil for 400k on his Mercedes Benz. He stated it was all a money issue, for the world economy. I believe the man.

Wow, that's a tough one to accept 240Z. I've seen old oil so dirty it was like sticky sludge. No way that crap could provide the same quality of lubrication as fresh oil. As an engine ages it dirties oil more quickly, not to mention water (from vapor) and other contaminates accumulating over time, thus adversely affecting it's lubrication effectiveness. IMHO anyway. But then again, he is way beyond my pay grade.

Or maybe he was appointed by the government to run the company?

Edited July 13, 2009 by Lopburi99

[sunny747]

Already described how to to do in POST 12, cost, minimal,

thanks lickey. do you think the air flow will better after cleaning the radiator? sometimes while driving, hardly any air flows from my AC but it gets better if turn of the Ac for few mins.

[Lickey]

Sunny, most cars have a cab air intake filter, this could be blocked by dust/leaves/mud ect,

You can imagine the blower motor working hard to pull in air against a blocked filter, the motor gets hot & ineficient, causing electrical smells in the car,

Cleaning the radiator matrix/core will certainly help the engine run at its best, cleaning or re-placing the cab filter will certainly help the air con,

Cheers, Lickey..

[Lancashirelad]

I heard or read somewhere once of the benefits of allowing the engine to run a couple of minutes after starting the first time each day. The reason was to allow for the oil to be pumped thoroughly up into all the important lubrication areas of the engine some of which having drained down into the oil pan during the night. Also, time for the fuel mixture to stabilize a bit (but in Thailand engines are rarely cold enough to require full rich fuel mixtures). They say this will substantially add to an engine's life.

One source even said to wait until the water temperature gauge needle starts to move, but one often doesn't want to wait that long, and it may be overkill anyway.

What do you guys think?

Seems to make sense intuitively. I do it regularly. I want my new car to be my last.

In colder climates its certainly very beneficial to give time for the oil to start to warm up a bit, less so in the tropics where the oil never gets really thick. However, you are on the right thinking with just a minute or 2 from a 1st start of the day to allow the oil to get all around the engine. It does take a good few seconds to arrive at the top.

In England i drive heavy trucks part time. When over nighting in a truck stop, its very normal to hear the guy parked next to you start up 5 to 10 minutes before moving off. Much bigger engine in a truck though ofcourse. Also some truck gearboxes can be difficult to change if the oil in them is very cold.

Also, you should never stop a turbo charged engine immediately after the turbo has been working as it continues to spin once the engine is stopped, but by stopping the engine you have cut off the oil supply to its bearing.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Lancashirelad