NewYorkBuck

Sorry for the delayed response, but just read this.

When it comes to starting the car/changing the oil, I have never understood this logic. From my current understanding, to move oil through the engine, the engine/oil pump is going to have to turn X number of times to build pressure. Now, my confusion is, what does it matter if the starter is turning the engine, or if its combustion turning the engine? In either case, oil pressure will be made on the Xth revolution, and therefore the same exact number of piston strokes, valve openings, etc. What am I missing here?

With that - I totally understand the logic behind pouring a quart of oil down the filter during an oil change. THAT builds pressure much faster than just adding to the oil tank. But I never remove the fuse to the fuel pump for the above reason. Just doesn't make sense to me.

dprantl

Cranking with the starter turns the engine at much lower RPMs than a running engine at idle. Also, when first started, the RPMs momentarily rise making it even worse. There is also no heat generated from combustion when just cranking without fuel/spark.

That said, it is unclear what the wear difference between running just the starter and just starting a cold engine really is. The general consensus is that the starter method is potentially better and cannot be worse, so why not. If you were really obsessed, you could disconnect the oil pump and spin it with a drill...

Regarding periodically starting the car to get fluids warmed up, there are also two camps. Some think it is better to start the car and let everything warm up regularly (i.e. once a month), while others say don't touch it since that is what causes the wear in the first place. However, the longer you do not start the car, the more the internals dry up, so no one really knows for sure which method is better/worse. Personally I like to do regular starting, but you need to make sure everything is fully warmed up, so we are not talking a 5 minute wait. I have seen the insides of a transmission that was sitting for almost a decade without being touched. There was a nice covering of rust/oxidation everywhere above the fill line of transmission fluid. I would rather take the minor wear of regular starts than something like that.

Dan

"02996ttx50

i would opt for regular starts also. much better than never at all.