Power Steering in frigid weather

[zoopop]

Hello,
Is it bad to drive right away when you start your vehicle in frigid weather? I live in Minnesota and it is -40 degrees out with wind chill.
And will this wreck the power steering mechanism if driven without letting car warp up? It does make that "whining" noise for a bit.
Thanks!

[rixGAphx]

Wind only affects exposed skin, has no effect on metal (other than to more-quickly chill the metal to the actual air temp).
But yeah, that's cold.

About as cold as Detroit, where these cars were designed.

All the parts and seals shrink a tad with the extreme cold, and rubber gets brittle.
The 'whining' is fluid leaking past some seals in the PS system.
It's not really hurting anything, short-term or long, but the PS will work better as you're driving if you allow everything to warm-up a few minutes first.
If it were really a problem, they would make low-temperature PS fluid, and local shops would make another bazzillion bucks by telling you how important it is to have your PS system 'winterized'.
Just make sure it's full and there are no leaks.

As winter sets-in it's important to check the cooling system antifreeze proportion, and to get a motor-oil change to a thinner 'winter' blend (about 0W10 for you), but there's no such thing as Winter PS fluid or service.

Hope this helps,
-Rick

PS: On the V6, the PS pump is belt-driven.
The 'whine' might also be the cold serpentine belt slipping on the pulleys; the 'stiff' PS fluid would exassperate the noise, until it warmed and thinned.

[mattcow]

Just a side note: It is bad to drive away when you first start your vehicle in any outside temperature. Your engine is designed to operate at its normal temperature which could be anywhere form the coolant temperature to the exhaust tempertature - depending on what part you are talking about. The difference from a cold day to a warm day might be 30 degrees which is nothing compared to the difference in temp between your normal operating temp and a warm day.

[jonnythan]

By the way, the car does not care what the wind chill is. The car will never get below the actual ambient temperature. If it's -5 with a -35 wind chill, the car is at -5 and cannot get colder than -5.

The wind chill is irrelevant when talking about the car.

[jcasemore]

Wind only affects exposed skin, has no effect on metal (other than to more-quickly chill the metal to the actual air temp).
But yeah, that's cold.



THANK YOU!!!! I have been having this debate with people at work. It's been on the radio, and they even had the weather girl on the radio and they all say wind chill has no effect on inanimate objects. Well, it does, exactly as you just said. It's nice to finally here someone else say it!

[jonnythan]

THANK YOU!!!! I have been having this debate with people at work. It's been on the radio, and they even had the weather girl on the radio and they all say wind chill has no effect on inanimate objects. Well, it does, exactly as you just said. It's nice to finally here someone else say it!

It has an effect only if they are exposed to the wind *and* they are warmer than the ambient temperature.

Clearly when your car's engine has been sitting around for a couple hours and is "cold," the wind chill makes absolutely no difference. If the air temp is 0 and the wind chill is -40, your engine will never get below 0. It will get to 0 faster than it would be if there were no wind, but it will never get below 0.

[jcasemore]

It has an effect only if they are exposed to the wind *and* they are warmer than the ambient temperature.

Clearly when your car's engine has been sitting around for a couple hours and is "cold," the wind chill makes absolutely no difference. If the air temp is 0 and the wind chill is -40, your engine will never get below 0. It will get to 0 faster than it would be if there were no wind, but it will never get below 0.

Exactly!