Severe operating conditions

[niky]

I guess winter driving counts. I spent 6 winters in New York which lasted 6 months of the year. I had to start up our cars and leave them running for 10-15 minutes until the engine warmed up and the heater had warm air flowing. That had to be done first before going to work and then again before going home.

Usually, I started up the car and left it idling while I went back inside the house and had breakfast.

At -40F/-40C and colder? Forget it. The ignition won't even turn.

With a good multi-grade synth, like a 0w40, you don't have to warm up the engine per se for that long... and idling in place won't warm up the transmission and differentials that much (if at all). Block heaters do a better job.

But I won't argue with how cold the cabin can get...

your car does not have an hour meter like a standby generator

If only they did!

Oil changes, IMHO, should be preferentially based on operating hours rather than kilometers.

Heavy duty US trucks have engine hour readouts. Ambulances, for one, since they are often left idling for long periods of time on standby... ready to move at a moment's notice.

Of local trucks, I recall only the Chevy Trailblazer and Colorado having this as one of the available readouts. Pretty useful, actually, to see how much time the engine is on, regardless of the odometer reading.

I also recall old (really old) Corvettes had a rev counter that counted how many revolutions total your engine performed over its lifespan.