Drugs

Meat gazer?

In the reserves, I went long periods of time without being tested, then I’d be randomly selected for a couple of months in a row. It seemed to actually be random.

We were pretty lax. A chief or JO would get a sealed envelope the day before and would tell us the day of. This was the reserves. If we resked there were no consequences.

I have never heard of someone failing. Limited experience, of course, but it seems insane to risk a dishonorable discharge for something so stupid!

Man, you’d think that joining the military would convince you not to make dumb decisions in life.

The whole pants down, shirt up thing is insane. Using a 1st class is also such a waste of resources. I guess things must have been pretty bad if that was the case.

Did they at least have someone from the medical staff watch? We had watchers, but they were usually rando junior petty officers who stood behind and had no view of our privates. I mean penis, not the Army. With NWUs being so baggy, I can see cheating being extremely easy.

We also held the cup above our head while walking for some reason. The cup has our info on it, so swapping it out with someone shouldn’t have been a concern.

My son asks questions about EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. He caught a glimpse of something similar and has never brought it up since. My wife even made a comment a while later that wouldn’t be TOO leading and he didn’t pick up on it. I honestly think he just saw nakedness and nothing else.

Make an pre and post-underway checklist, laminate it and keep it in the boat.

I get it normally and if this was /worldnews, but what percentage of Reddit members are from the US?

I don’t understand how this made the laptop misbehave. Did the behavior resolve itself after you fixed the mistake?

You’re talking things way out of context and exaggerating the risk. Much higher RPM? Most cars cold idle at 2K RPM as is. I’m advocating driving off gently, not starting up at low temps and gunning it immediately onto the highway. Besides, I’d argue that overloading an excessively cold engine is more likely to result in catastrophic failure such as a cracked head, blown gasket or spun bearing. Who cares about wear at that point?

Also, did I even mention doing this at negative 40? I was pretty clearly stating that most of us start and drive our vehicles at temperatures at which the oil is immediately properly lubricating the engine, far from the limit of the oil. On the flip side, just as your example of loading up an engine at negative 40 is absurd, so to is warming up your engine by idling at, say, 0C.

Most of us, including me, never even see close to -40 where I am. As mentioned, I RARELY see below zero and never below the negative teens Fahrenheit, which I think is pretty common. Under these circumstances, starting up and driving off gently is the best thing to do.

As mentioned before, the only way to warm up the rest of the drivetrain is by driving. I think that’s neglected, and some who warm up their engines have no problem loading up the rest of their bone-cold drivetrain. If you do idle your engine to warm it up, I hope you at least still drive gently for a bit to warm up the rest of the car.

I get it, though, it’s human nature to want to take care of things that are so important to us and cost so much money. But, just because you think your engine is as cold, brittle and sensitive as you feel doesn’t make it actually so.

Finally, I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to warm their car up for personal comfort. I think it’s wasteful and polluting, but we all do things in our lives that pollute and we can improve on, so who am I to give someone a hard time. If the conversation comes up, however, I will make it known that warming up an engine for the engine’s sake before taking off is all for their peace of mind only the majority of the time.

The best way to warm up an engine is while under gentle load.

Even if you don’t use top-tier boutique synthetics, any modern API-rated oil will properly lubricate the engine for the vast majority of us. If you live somewhere really cold, where it gets we’ll below zero Fahrenheit, an easy solution is to use a full synthetic, meaning at least a good Group 3 oil, 0W-XX oil.

An oil’s pour point isn’t a great indicator of whether an oil will pump adequately upon startup, but it does show you that even a decent synthetic like Mobil 1 10W-XX oil will still pour at -39C. They offer other synthetics that are down in the -50s C.

Sitting there idling your engine to warmup also prolongs the time it takes for the oil’s viscosity to reach the point where wear is minimized. Regardless, at the temperature most of us experience during the winter (positive degrees Fahrenheit), the wear on your engine will likely not matter in a practical sense. Lubrication IS happening. The thought that you’re running your cold engine dry for some period of time is simply not true.

Anecdote: we get into the negative teens Fahrenheit for at least a few days each winter where I am most winters. Even still, my oil pressure light goes out nearly as quickly as when it’s warm out. The oil pump does have a bypass, which will open when the oil is very cold and thick; however, the pump is positive displacement and an adequate amount of oil will pump to the supply channels almost instantly. That’s. It even to mention the leftover film of oil and boundary layer of additive protection left on the bearing surfaces.

I mentioned it somewhere else, but I only run the engine to de-ice when it’s substantial. That doesn’t occur often.

How does that affect corrosion rate, though?

Right, but the corrosion is significantly reduced at lower temps. It doesn’t matter as much if your car is covered in salt if you’re parked out in 0F temps for weeks on end. The rate of corrosion will be minimal compared to sitting in your 40F garage EVERY night.

I admit that I know this and still don’t wash my undercarriage as often as I should. I even have the attachment for me pressure washer and all!

True. Definitely a consideration I wasn’t thinking about. In my climate it’s usually very dry during very cold days, so fog isn’t an issue. Even on moister, warmer days the defrost setting will still pump out dry air and keep the windshield clear. It’s COLD, dry air, but the cold doesn’t bother me.

You’re right, though. If I turn on the defroster setting and the windshield doesn’t clear up I’m forced to wait.

I’m not personally concerned with interior temps. The practical benefit to having a preheated block, to me, would be three fold mostly:

1. Lower fuel costs/emissions
2. Lower engine wear
3. Helping on the rare days I need to de-ice the windshield.

Even on days where it’s well below freezing and I need to drive for a decent distance I usually leave the heat off until the coolant reaches operating temp. I honestly don’t like the warm, dry air blowing on me when I’m already bundled up and comfortable. Even when the fam is in the car I do this. The kids are bundled up just like me and usually have their own blanket to keep them nice and cozy.

Heating up the interior is only something I’m concerned about on long trips. Eventually then cold will creep into my feet or I’ll want to take my gloves and scarf off to get more comfortable, but that’s always well after the coolant is up to temp anyway.

/

I bought electric block heaters for both of our vehicles, but then things worked out for us and we moved to a house with a garage. It never gets much colder than freezing, since it’s attached, so I haven’t felt the need to install them. There would obviously still be some benefit, but it’s not as pressing of a concern now. I’ll likely install them when I do the first coolant exchange. They install in the block drains, so it’s s bit of a job, too.

But then you have issues with accelerated corrosion from salt and moisture, at least in many norther parts of the US. The lower the temp the lower the corrosion rate. Also, if you have a garage with electricity, why not install a block and maybe an oil pan heater? You’d just have to set something up to remind you to unplug before you pull out!

Same goal though, right? Minimize emissions.

Yes it does. If the block is heated, the coolant is heated. Turn the car on and you don’t have to wait for the initial bit of heat to help with melting the frost. You’re not going to have 100C heat, but it may be sufficiently above freezing to help. Even if the heater isn’t on long enough to provide enough heat to melt the ice, you’re closer and will spend less time idling to get there than if you didn’t have a heater.

Exactly! Ideal solution.

The pistons contract, too. The combustion will also act in the piston and piston rings pretty much evenly, tending to center the piston in the cylinder. The layer of oil the piston rings ride on in the cylinder cross-hatch will also mitigate wear, even at low temps. The main concern might be that the piston contracts more than the cylinder, so some additional fuel dilution and bypass may occur, requiring a more-frequent oil change in the winter.

Also, the longer the engine is maintains at reduced temperatures the more wear there will be. Idling to warm an engine up takes a lot longer than gently driving off. While driving at low loads, I would argue that you’re actually reducing wear compared to excessively idling to warm up all the time.

Practically speaking, driving off gently soon after starting the engine is the second best option. The first is an external source of heat, which is the point of the article, if I’m not mistaken.

Good point. The only time I idle to warm up is while clearing ice and snow off the car. The heater may not put out a ton of heat, but the rear defroster (and front in my vehicles) will get the melting started while I work on the rest of the vehicle.

That is…literally true, but it’s practically not an issue for most people with well-maintained vehicles.

I’ve started every vehicle I’ve ever had, one with over 200k miles it (with a good battery),in sub-zero Fahrenheit at least once without issue. The oldest was a Subaru with the short piston skirt design, so it made an awful lot of noise, but there was never an issue actually starting.

5-10 minutes of gently DRIVING will get the fluids warmed up. There is no need to idle to warm a vehicle up in most cases. Besides, the only real way to warm up some parts of the drive train is to drive. The only practical benefit is for the driver’s comfort.