Hey, I just heard a nasty rumor that when starting my 1999 CTD in very cold conditions that you should put the auto trans in nuetral until it warms up....is there any truth to this? It was below zero again last night and today and I'm curious if it can be an issue.

 

Well when the tranny is in neutral, the pump circulates the trans fluid. I put it in neutral during my cool down, especially after towing so it runs fluid through the cooler. On warmup, sometimes I do it, but I noticed the engine will produce very low egts, similar to the ones in park. If I idle it in drive with my foot on the brake, the egts rise above 300.

 

in neutral and the pump running it will begin to warm the fluid and get the tranny good and lubricated so when you do start off fluid is already flowing.