Combat the Effects of Cold Temperatures
Vehicle maintenance is an important part of preparing for winter months. Extreme winter weather can make breakdowns especially dangerous, and most people aren’t aware of the effect cold weather has on conventional lubricants. An oil’s cold-temperature performance refers to its ability to flow when the engine is cold, or below typical operating temperature (212°F), and not simply to what feels cold to humans. In other words, warm summer days are also cold to an engine. Startup lubrication is directly affected by a lubricant’s cold flow ability, and the negative impact happens at warmer temperatures than most consumers would think. For example, in early 1991, General Motors* halted sales of the Corvette* ZR-1 because eight engines had seized at the Bowling Green assembly plant in Kentucky. The temperature had only dipped to slightly below freezing and at startup the hard-to-pump motor oil did not reach the front camshaft bearings, which were destroyed by lack of lubrication. GM responded...

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