How soon is too soon to get on the freeway?

[rationull]

I understand the importance of letting an engine warm up before running it hard, but I've got a question about the extent to which this is necessary. My office is located literally alongside the freeway I use to go home from work. The onramp entrance is probably 300 feet from the parking lot exit. If I use that onramp, the car will generally have been running for about two minutes before I merge onto the freeway.

Most of the time, in an effort to let the car warm up more before accelerating to freeway speed, I drive a little out of my way to a different onramp. This other onramp is far enough away that my coolant is almost to operating temperature by the time I get there. This isn't too much trouble to go to if it's better for the engine, but I find myself wondering if it's actually necessary or if I'm being too paranoid.

I generally don't rev my car (an 07 civic, redline 6800 RPM) higher than 3500 or an occasional 4000 RPM to get up to speed unless there's some safety need like a semi that can't move over, and likewise I generally don't have to go WOT to merge. Is that really too hard to run an engine that hasn't fully warmed up yet?

 

[Eddie]

You are probably good if you get the water temp off the peg before entering the expressway. Just drive as easy as trafic allows till full warmup.

 

[XS650]

Quote:

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Most of the time, in an effort to let the car warm up more before accelerating to freeway speed, I drive a little out of my way to a different on ramp. This other onramp is far enough away that my coolant is almost to operating temperature by the time I get there.

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That's the smarter choice. You don't want to be concerned about how hard you should run your engine while merging onto a freeway.

 

[Kestas]

I live a block from the freeway. I'm on it within a couple of minutes after starting the car. I really don't care what it does to my engine. I've been doing this for 20 years and none of my cars seem to suffer from it. Here in Michigan the body of the car gives out long before the drivetrain does.

 

[brianl703]

I used to work right next to the on-ramp for a freeway. There were a couple of short traffic lights before I got to the on-ramp.

I worked there for about 3 years before we moved to another facility. The car I had back then is still on the road with 190K on it. If this harmed the engine, it sure isn't showing.

 

[surfstar]

Drive the shortest distance.

You won't shorten the engine's life at all. Anyone who says different will have no data to back it up. I'm on the freeway within a couple mins and have 228k and no oil burning/use in my engine.

I'm sure countless people would floor it under the same conditions and their engines would still last as long as they own the car.

 

[Palut]

What is the onramp like? Incline, length and merge area will all factor into your decision.

If you don't have to stress your engine much then don't worry about it.

I personally have to accelerate up a gentle grade about 800 feet from my parking lot, but the onramp is very long and I can get up to freeway speeds without exceeding 2800 rpm. That with a little I-4. I don't worry about it.

 

[rationull]

The onramp is a nice long downward incline ... followed by a ~70 degree curve (third gear) and a short merge area

Lots of the on and offramps around here are like that, and it gets a little annoying when lots of semis are on the road.

The traffic only moves around 60 to 70 in that section so I don't have to stress the engine too much. This onramp is similar to the other one, where as I mentioned I don't usually have to go over 3500 RPM and I don't have to put the pedal to the metal (err... carpet) or anything.

Sounds like it's not too much to worry about it. And good point surfstar, lots of people probably think nothing of it and don't have any problems.

 

[Aldaris]

according to toyota, the best way to warm up a car is to just start it and drive it normally, no differently from when it's already warom.

 

[ARB1977]

In my Tacoma the book says to drive when the fan dies down, which is about 20-30 secs after start. Anyway, from the time take off and enter the freeway the needle is just starting to creep up. I stay in the slow lane for a little bit to let things gradually warm up.

 

[Auto-Union]

Don't worry about it, you are in Cali temps. Plus it's the 2nd start of the day anyway. Just use good light oil and rev that thing once in a while.

 

[Benzadmiral]

In the little 4-cyl. Benz, I would climb in, start up, then spend a few moments putting my seat belt on and switching on the radio. By this time the tach was showing about 850 rpm. I'd shift to D, giving 750 or so, then drive slowly through my complex and out to the street.

The GNO Bridge, where people drive as if they're in a video game, is two miles away. By that time the engine was throwing heat (in the cold times of winter) and ready to roll. Sometimes I needed to downshift the autobox to 4th to get some extra grunt for the fairly steep bridge slope, but I doubt I ever revved over 3000 during the first ten minutes of driving.

When I traded the car at 89K miles, its problems were with the 5-speed electronic tranny, not the engine.

 

[Schmoe]

Since your driving a Honda, don't even fret. Honda's warm up really, really fast. And as others have said, your in California.

 

[Max_Wander]

I once had a car that was geared to turn 4000rpm at about 120km, and I thought about this after leaving work in the cold of winter and hopping on the highway 2minutes after startup doing about 140km/h

 

[JHZR2]

driving under light load is the best thing you can do to warm up. Avoid loading the engineheavily or idling.

I generally use a rule that I avoid pressure greater than the needle on the temperature gauge.

At cold up to 1/4, I only use 1/4 throttle, max. My needle sits at steady state at 1/2, so in regular driving I avoid going past half.

JMH

 

[harry j]

When I leave work, I have the choice of two entrance ramps to I-95. I always use the one that is further away in order for the engine to get warmed up better. The closest one is less than a mile, the other just over two miles.

Harry

 

[Tornado Red]

Unless you're using a 20w50 or other thick conventional oil, it only takes 30-45 seconds to get the oil flowing throughout the engine.

The rule is not to work the engine hard until after the temp guage starts to climb. Jumping on the freeway isn't that hard on the engine if the ramp is long enough.

 

[mechtech2]

Use the correct oil [probably a rather thin one].
In colder weather, let her run for up to a minute before getting on the highway.
You don't have to speed and really wring her out, at this point in your travels.