We're having a real winter here in Denver this year, the normal kind before the previous many years of mild temperatures with the occasional cold front. Thus my Onatopp (yes that's my recently acquired personalized plates) has been sitting quietly under cover with the battery tender since November. I'm hoping that in a few weeks we ride. My concern of course is all that cold oil sitting at the bottom of the oil pan and how to best initiate the first start up. I'm sure metal will grind while the oil heats up enough to lessen its viscosity and flow freely. While she sits in a covered garage it is exposed to the temperature swings and for the last few weeks they been cold.

My first inclination is to wait until we've had a series of warm days. Any other thoughts?

 

Normal procedure with the V8V after long sleeping period is to floor and hold the accelerator pedal there and let the car crank (it will not start just turn) until oil light goes out, now the system is oil filled and you can fire the engine in the normal fashion without damage. It's in the manual.
Cheers
Christian

 

+1 The manual is your friend.
But I'd say minimal damage instead of without damage. There's still some metal on metal, but it's not increased by the forces of combustion.

 

I'm not familiar with the 2009 AM V8 engines, but if there is an oil dipstick then you can check the oil level/viscosity/temperature fairly easily. I live in Minnesota and we often use electric engine block heaters to keep the oil warmed. An electric dipstick is used to heat the oil, and they can be purchased at auto parts stores. I know it sounds funny on this type of car but it could work especially if the car has been left in the cold.

 

I suspect with the Vantages dry sump system, this would heat up only the oil in the sump and not do much for the engine. It would, however, serve to help the oil flow through the cold engine.

 

The dipstick will not be touching oil at cold temp so I am pretty sure this will not work.