Engine knocks on cold start during the winter

[Twista]

Is this normal for most cars? Just started this when the weather got below 20 degrees outside, but the knocking goes away after 1 minute of idling. I heard its because the oil is thick because of the winter weather and something about lifters.

How smart is it to use a thinner oil? Can this cause any damage once the oil warms up to operating temp?

This topic is not about the Stang

 

[MustangChris]

ford recommends not using any additive at all in their oil.

keep in mind out manuals were published 11+ years ago, so the additive technology might not have been what it is today.

I suggest going with a lighter oil. It frees horsepower, and one of the smarter-folk on this forum suggested it to me and i have never looked back.

5W30 is what i run year round now.

5 being the viscosity of the oil when its cold and 30 being the viscosity when its at proper opperating temperature.

5W30 will flow better when cold than 10W30.

edit: notice how the 30 stayed the same. Switching to a 5W30 instead of 10W30 will not harm your car once it reaches opperating temps.


think of it like a speedometer gauge. 5 is the minimum speed and 30 is the maximum speed. your "car" (oil) will "drive" (flow properly) from 5 to 30. isnt this better than 10 to 30?due to the polymers added to motor oil, the oil will not thin past "30 weight."

just be sure to use a premium oil that meets or exceeds all industry standards to help protect before it begins to warm and to make sure it protects your engine.

(Motorcraft or Moble 1 or royal purple, for example)

you should note that many newer cars use a very thin oil... 0W20s and what-not...

 

[duh09]

"5 being the viscosity of the oil when its cold and 30 being the viscosity when its at proper opperating temperature."

Then why do they make 10W30 and oils with thicker cold viscosity? Seems like it'd be better just to use 5W30 in any situation nearly...

 

[lrall]

the viscosity numbering is backwards much like wire gauge

 

[MustangChris]

"5 being the viscosity of the oil when its cold and 30 being the viscosity when its at proper opperating temperature."

Then why do they make 10W30 and oils with thicker cold viscosity? Seems like it'd be better just to use 5W30 in any situation nearly...

i have no idea bro.... i told you everything i know... the polymers in oil coil and stretch, they are coiled when cold, and strech when warm....

one reason may be that our cars are so old, that extreme weight oils werent perfected yet.... from what i remember 10W30 is recomended in the 4.6 in summer and 5w30 in winter...

im not a engine designer, a petro engineer, or an expert. im just telling you what i know from piecing together information on the back of sugar-packets at my local denys....

 

[96_SVT_Cobra]

i use 5w20... it gave me 60 hp and 85 tq :headbang:

 

[duff daddy]

i use 5w20... it gave me 60 hp and 85 tq :headbang:

lol

 

[MustangChris]

i use 5w20... it gave me 60 hp and 85 tq :headbang:

lol

my friends taurus uses something retarded like that... lol... looks like pee.....

 

[duff daddy]

Alot of people use 5/20, alot of chrysler motors use 5 20... its what i ran in my car... All SRT cars need 0-20 or 0-30 ....

 

[atrainsgt]

Use 5w-30 or 5w-20 if Duffy recommends it.

 

[MustangChris]

Use 5w-30 or 5w-20 if Duffy recommends it.

i dont know what "too low" would be... or what negative consequences would occure from using an oil with too low of weights.

i would think overheating would be the most common danger, but once you get to a higher opperating temp (say on a hot summer day in a traffic jam) that oil is not going to protect you as well as you would like.. thats probably why ford recomends a -W30, as to help protect durring the extreme situations that some of us put up with between 8-9AM and 5-10PM... lol.


im not saying duffy is wrong, im jsut saying that i dont know what would happen if the 5W20 wasnt performing well at higher temps.
id suggest a 5w30 for a street car (personally.)

 

[JerZeyStangz]

Amsoil 5w30 w/filter in the winter here. Starts up strong in cold weather and doesn't knock. 5w30 and 10w30 are the same in weight, meaning that at a certain operating tempature, they are both going protect equally when the car is at operating tempature. The number in front of weight basically means, how well it can circulated oil on cold start ups. So basically having 0w30 is better than 5w30, and protects just as well as 5w30, because your looking at there weights.

I highly suggest not running 10w30 in the winter because oil will not travel fast enough on start up making the engine sound extremely noisy for the first couple seconds, and the first couple seconds is very crucial because everyone knows that wear and tear is at its peak on start up.

 

[TxCobrA98]

go down to like a 5w30 or a 0w30, 0w30 being probably the best choice. at startup, 0w30 will have a less thick of a viscosity than a 5 or 10w30 and will still be optimal at engine warmup.

a good reference here

 

[silver 4.6]

all cars normally have a small tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.... when they start up cold, even my dads 20k miles avalanche does that in the mornings.

 

[MustangChris]

all cars normally have a small tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.... when they start up cold, even my dads 20k miles avalanche does that in the mornings.

no, his does it becuase its a GM product.... LOL!

 

[vermilion]

modular motors have a really tight oil clearance. around the .005 range. some even .001 range.

 

[Petek]

all cars normally have a small tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.... when they start up cold, even my dads 20k miles avalanche does that in the mornings.

no, his does it becuase its a GM product.... LOL!

5.4 tritons tick like crazy all the time.

 

[duh09]

Alot of people use 5/20, alot of chrysler motors use 5 20... its what i ran in my car... All SRT cars need 0-20 or 0-30 ....

Hmmm. Maybe I need to step down to 0w30 now that its getting colder...

 

[GDawg]

I would try some "Z-Max" or something like that. It leaves a coating that is there on start up to protect during that time the engine is not getting enough oil. Start up is what kills engines.