Starting the engine

How often do you guys start up your engines?  My car is a weekend cruiser that sometimes goes a while in between driving.  I'm worried that starting it too often may be doing more damage than good.  Any opinions?

Thanks  

How often do you start up your engine?
When you start it up do you take it for a drive or just let it idle?
when you do start up your engine how long do you drive it for?  

Once every 7-10 days until it hits operating temp of 180 degrees. That will get rid of moisture in the crankase and keep the tranny and engine seals greased and soft to avoid cracking and leaks. If you have an auto trans I'd recommend moving the gear selector handle to all positions a few times too. If possible drive the car around the block once or just move it 20 feet back and forth just to keep the brakes, U- joints, rear end and rear tranny seal in working order. Use it or loose it kind of applies here.  

In the winter I usually just crank it up and let it idle for a while.  When the weathers nice I'll take a quik trip around the block.  I usually do this every other weekend.  I've been told that the worst thing for your engine is the first 2-3 seconds when you first start it, so I don't want to over do it.  

I have heard so many different opinions on this subject both pros and cons of starting during the winter.
What i do is start it up once a month and let it idle for about 30 miinutes so that it comes up to temperature, not sure about driving it around the block i would be concerned about road salt.  

If you disconnect the coil wire from the coil or turn on your kill switch you can turn the engine over without it actually starting. This pre-lubes all moving parts via the oil pump before there is a load on the motor from the combustion process.
Then reconnect the coil wire or turn your kill switch to start position and fire the motor up. Very little risk or initial start wear that way.
BTW: There is more risk to the motor NOT being started for long periods than there is by actually starting it on a regular basis. We're talking acids and varnishes forming in the crankcase, seals drying up and rust in the cooling system and elsewhere.  

jbirch is right on with seals drying from long non use. If you're going to be running the engine though, if the oil doesn't remain at oper temp for a long enough time, you are just building up contaminants, H2O. Especially on humid days. Run that motor 30-45 minutes at least to evaporate what water is there and don't just keep adding to it.  

Are you talking about disconnecting the kill plug from the negative side of the battery and turning the key on without starting it.
Will that prelube the engine?
Then reconnect the kill plug to the battery and then start the car and run it for 45 minutes every two weeks or so during the winter, and back it out of the garage and possibly move it back and forth in the driveway.  

Turn over without starting first any method that safely works. If you don't have a kill switch then just remove the main coil wire from the center of the coil that goes from the coil to the center of the distributor cap and provides high voltage to the distributor and spark plugs. This will allow the engine to turn without actually firing and starting but will circulate oil before you put a load on the parts during actual fire-up. Just disconnect that wire from the coil side and turn the key to start and crank it for about 5 seconds. That will prelube your motor before it runs and eliminate a bunch of start-up wear. Just reconnect that coil wire and sart 'er up. Only takes a few seconds and works good.