How long to warm-up an engine?

Status
Not open for further replies.
On modern (2000+) vehicles, I start driving as soon as all the diagnostic lights are off.

On my older ones, I wait a bit longer. Especially my carbureted one which doesn't idle well for the first 2 minutes.
 
Originally Posted by Garak
Originally Posted by OilUzer
curious if you guys notice the same noises when driving cold?

You want noises, start it at -40. You'll have noises that you never knew existed.
wink.gif



You are right, I shouldn't complain about a little extra noise at +45F
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Originally Posted by ekpolk
See the thing in the middle of the exhaust that's bleeding -- you guessed it -- coolant? Yep, it's an exhaust-to-coolant heat exchanger. My 04 had what enthusiasts called the "Thermos", an insulated container that saved ~3L of hot coolant to inject into the block on the next start. This car sends coolant right to the pictured heat exchanger, then back to the engine. Works great. On my 1.7 mile drive to our ops department, it'll climb from ambient to at least 150F (per Scangauge I keep on dash). Certainly, not fully warm, but pretty good for the short distance.

Of course, this neat little contraption begs another question, which I'm sure half of you are already thinking -- a long run of coolant plumbing THAT close to the exhaust??? Yeah, I know, it's definitely one of those "what could possibly go wrong. . ." things. I will be keeping an eye on it. . .

Thank you for that post. I didn't know vehicles had such technology to help them heat up faster!


very interesting. First time I've heard of it. Any new cars come with this heat exchanger?
 
Originally Posted by OilUzer
. . .
very interesting. First time I've heard of it. Any new cars come with this heat exchanger?

My guess is that it's one of those things that's "first appearing" on the hybrids, but will probably spread to other vehicles too, so long as it doesn't prove troublesome. The draw is that it gets the engine to operating temperatures extremely quickly (of course), which results in both a substantial mileage gains, and emissions reductions, for any vehicle. EDIT: And you all know how popular those two things are with our regulator friends. . .

As for the "troublesome" part, the Toyota part number has changed at least three times for the current generation Prius (in production since 2016), hinting that Toyota has been tweaking the design. One guy on Priuschat reported a coolant leak associated with the heat exchanger, but this doesn't seem to be an issue lots of people are talking about. Heat exchangers aren't exactly new-fangled nuclear physics, but still... Time will tell.
 
Last edited:
Personally what I do - and I don't care how cold it is - I start it and let it idle for maybe 20 seconds, then I put it in gear and go. I'm careful not to push it for a couple miles if I can help it, but once that engine is started, I wait 20 seconds for the oil to circulate and I'm gone.

Never had an issue in all my years of driving, and I've put close to 300,000 miles on one car I owned doing that.
 
Having a '94 car that runs on E100 i have no other choice than let it idle for more than 5 minutes every first start of the day. The engine doesn't make any noises when cold but if i try to get going immediately, it wont be smooth and maybe misfire.

Not only the engine itself but also the intake manifold has to heat up to keep things smooth, it even have a eletrical heater that turns off when the engine reach operating temperatures.

Also, running a 50 weight, i like to let the oil thin a little bit before giving the engine any load.

With the Fit , i just let it idle until the rpm drops to 900~1000.Takes about 1-2 min.
 
Originally Posted by Garak
You want noises, start it at -40. You'll have noises that you never knew existed.
wink.gif


Not necessarily at -40º, but on a cold start (no matter the outside temperature), how fast does you G fast-idle ? Mine will run at 1800-2000 rpms for 30 seconds to 3 minutes. How quickly it starts dropping will depend on the outside temperature though.
 
Its fast idle isn't as obvious as some of the vehicles I've driven before, so it's not something I've had to pay as much attention to (i.e. a giant clunk going into drive or something like that). I don't think it's really any longer than what you've experienced, but when it's terribly cold, I'll let it warm up in my absence. I'm not sure of even the exact RPM. I'll have to take a look, but have heard the difference, even just pulling out of the garage, with it idled up for, as you indicate, maybe half a minute, then coming down basically as I lock everything up and get myself in order.

I never experienced it until this winter, but if I drive away in those -30 C or colder ambients without much warm up and just hit the freeway, it won't go to top gear until temperatures come up, even if I try sport mode. I had heard about that from people here before, but never experienced it. I tried a couple really short warmups this winter with our extended cold stretch, just for the heck of it. Of course, I can't say I much care for that staying in "4" bit, given that in my experience, a transmission that isn't shifting means it isn't long for the world.
wink.gif


OilUzer: My worst cold weather noise experience was close to -40 when I started moving my LTD and the ball joint was groaning, then gave way. Now, if you want fun, try getting a tow truck in -40.
 
Maybe 30 seconds or so, but I'm gentle on things for a good 10-15 miles as all of the fluids come up to temp on colder days. In the dead of the summer, I will be easy for 5ish miles or so.
 
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Not necessarily at -40º, but on a cold start (no matter the outside temperature), how fast does you G fast-idle ? Mine will run at 1800-2000 rpms for 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

I did a bit of a test today. I started the G37 in the garage at 10 C and let it idle. It was idling high for a good couple minutes, so I just drove away. Generally speaking, I either get in and take off relatively quickly, or, if I am warming up because of the cold, it's very cold and I leave the car for a few minutes to do something else. At the next traffic light, which was unfortunately not that close, I was close to operating temperature, so, obviously, fast idle was long over.
 
Whenever it's cold enough for frost on the windows, I start my car and let it warm up with the defroster on until the windows are clear...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top