Idle on a cold day

[barryh]

My car lives in the garage which rarely drops much below 10 Deg C so I start the engine and drive.

If I lived somewhere that went down to - 20 Deg C it would still be the same except for a return journey from work where the car was left out all day. I still wouldn't idle it for more than a minute or two. I'd have covered the screen so that wouldn't cause any delay.

Leaving a car to idle and going back in doors is something I've never done. At best it's an offence and worst the car will be stolen. Police here in the UK recently put out a warning to that effect.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
In my area, if you want to idle your car, you better be nearby. The police will issue tickets to anyone who leaves a vehicle running, unattended.


I've never heard of anything so ridiculous. Tell me please, when it is 15 degrees outside and someone starts their car in the driveway and goes back in house for a cup of coffee (leaving the vehicle unattended), and Johnny Law comes by and writes a ticket, does Johnny Law stand out in the cold to write the ticket, leaving HIS car idling and unattended? Or does he sit in HIS warm car idling and wasting taxpayer gasoline?

Cops who do this should have their heated and taxpayer paid for warm cars confiscated and issued bicycles.

And I'm certain that a local policeman who cruises a residential neighborhood in the am looking for "perpetrators" of this type is most certainly generating LOTS of "goodwill" between local police and residents!?

Personally, I think the local "powers that be" who enacted this idiocy should be videotaped every morning. My children are grown, but what about the younger folks who put their (near) infants in cold cars and drive them to daycare every morning? Really, is there anyone out there who believes that 5-10 minutes idling in the am is destroying mother earth or their car?

If so, people are nuttier than I give them credit for; and I work with some real doozies.

Edit: ^^^That goes for you too barryh. And I'm willing to bet you don't have small children.

 

[JHerriot]

Around -20c or lower, the 3400 sounds like rattling death for a minute when woken up from a deep freeze. I usually wait until the revs come down a little or the piston slap stops; whichever comes first. Usually about 30 seconds or so depending on how cold it is.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: edyvw

That is 40 degrees F. 40c is temperature where oil is well on its way to operating temperature. For example in normal city cycle oil temp. on my BMW is between 68-72c.
That is the problem, most people who idle (highly doubt those are people that are discussing here) think that when they warm up coolant by idling, they can just blast the car.
And if they drive turbo car, they come here and say:that Euro POS failed me.


No. It was 40 deg C as this video shows. And I'd be concerned if my engine oil temp was normally only 70 deg C (158 deg F). That's not efficient at all and still inside the range where the oil add pack is not doing its complete job. 180-230 deg F is a more normal/efficient temp range for engine oil on typically driven passenger cars/trucks.

Dodge Ram 1500 3.6L V6 slow 20 min warm up at idle

It's odd how cold the trans fluid is at -9 deg C compared to coolant and engine oil. The engine oil and coolant were warm enough (104 deg F or 40 deg C) to suggest it ran recently....though the trans fluid doesn't support that notion. And not sure what SE -4C means unless that's ambient temp (approx 30 deg F). It takes 18 minutes of warming up at idle before the engine oil rises from 40 to 41 deg C. Too bad there is no sound or comments on what exactly they are doing.

Before seeing this video I'd have thought it was impossible at approx 30 deg F. to idle a car or small truck for 18 min and not see engine oil temp come up a single degree. Does the truck have a huge oil sump? Oil cooler? What else?

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I always let mine idle until the temp gauge begins to move.

And reason for that is?


Nissan Z32 fsm says to do this.

 

[aquariuscsm]

My old neighbor had this pos late 90s-early 2000's V6 Mustang. She'd get in it,start it,slam it in gear,and floor it up the street. That piece of junk would sound like it was about to explode into pieces,smoking like a mosquito fogger.

 

[aquariuscsm]

My subdivision is also right at the hwy,where I immediately have to get on for my commute to work. I don't like the idea of starting a cold car (this includes engine,tranny,and rear diff) and immediately hammering it to 75-80mph.

 

[bullwinkle]

Originally Posted By: JHerriot
Around -20c or lower, the 3400 sounds like rattling death for a minute when woken up from a deep freeze. I usually wait until the revs come down a little or the piston slap stops; whichever comes first. Usually about 30 seconds or so depending on how cold it is.
Where is Frozen, Canada? Maybe I should change mine to Not Frozen, OH, USA! Although it's a little chilly today, 25F with 15-20 MPH wind.

 

[bullwinkle]

On the starting front, I will generally pull off 30 seconds or so after the idle smooths out (& things like power steering quiet down) & nurse it for the first mile or two until the temp gauge hits the bottom of the normal range (or the blue cold light goes out on the xB).

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX

Dodge Ram 1500 3.6L V6 slow 20 min warm up at idle



In looking at that video again it does say -4 deg C is the winter temp. No idea though why the trans is stone cold and the other fluids are warm. The trans temp starts rising within the 1st minute and continually ramps up. The poster does say that normal operating fluid temps and oil pressure are reached at 15 min. But, I disagree. At 15 minutes the oil temp hasn't budged (gauge inaccurate?) and the oil pressure drops another 23% from the 15 to 20 minute point 344 to 264 kPa (or 50 to 38 psi). Idle rpm seems steady by the 5 min point.

 

[JHerriot]

[/quote]Where is Frozen, Canada? Maybe I should change mine to Not Frozen, OH, USA! Although it's a little chilly today, 25F with 15-20 MPH wind.[/quote]

Oh I get around a bit. Based not far from you across the lake in Kingston but often I find myself in the North and in the Western Prairies where Old Man Winter dwells and you can see your dog run away for days etc etc.

 

[GenesisGuy70]

Originally Posted By: MobilinHyundia
Best way to warm up engine is to start the engine wait about 10 sec and Redline it.
Keep gas pedal right on the floor till temp at Normal temperature.


Wait, I thought this is what we were suppose to do?

 

[Tman220]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: 69GTX

Dodge Ram 1500 3.6L V6 slow 20 min warm up at idle



In looking at that video again it does say -4 deg C is the winter temp. No idea though why the trans is stone cold and the other fluids are warm. The trans temp starts rising within the 1st minute and continually ramps up. The poster does say that normal operating fluid temps and oil pressure are reached at 15 min. But, I disagree. At 15 minutes the oil temp hasn't budged (gauge inaccurate?) and the oil pressure drops another 23% from the 15 to 20 minute point 344 to 264 kPa (or 50 to 38 psi). Idle rpm seems steady by the 5 min point.


Im willing to bet that 40C is as low as the coolant and oil temp gauges will read on the dash, dumb, considering the PCM needs to know at the very least accurate coolant temps below 40.

Take a look at the video again, it takes a full 4 minutes for coolant temp to go from 40 to 41C, extremely doubtful! much more believable it takes 4 minutes to go from -4 C to 41 C

I know when I monitor coolant temps on my car it probably takes about that long to go from 30 F to 100F

 

[demarpaint]

I wonder if his thermostat is on the way out?

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Tman220
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: 69GTX

Dodge Ram 1500 3.6L V6 slow 20 min warm up at idle



In looking at that video again it does say -4 deg C is the winter temp. No idea though why the trans is stone cold and the other fluids are warm. The trans temp starts rising within the 1st minute and continually ramps up. The poster does say that normal operating fluid temps and oil pressure are reached at 15 min. But, I disagree. At 15 minutes the oil temp hasn't budged (gauge inaccurate?) and the oil pressure drops another 23% from the 15 to 20 minute point 344 to 264 kPa (or 50 to 38 psi). Idle rpm seems steady by the 5 min point.


Im willing to bet that 40C is as low as the coolant and oil temp gauges will read on the dash, dumb, considering the PCM needs to know at the very least accurate coolant temps below 40.

Take a look at the video again, it takes a full 4 minutes for coolant temp to go from 40 to 41C, extremely doubtful! much more believable it takes 4 minutes to go from -4 C to 41 C

I know when I monitor coolant temps on my car it probably takes about that long to go from 30 F to 100F


That makes a lot more sense that the gauges/sensors don't work throughout the full expected range. If you look on the video there is also a needle gauge on the dash for coolant temp. That doesn't come off the low peg until around the 7 min point or around 59 deg C /138 deg F. So that's about as expected. And the oil temp is still not off the low peg yet (104 deg F or lower). It doesn't appear that the oil temp starts moving up noticeably until the coolant temp has reached thermostat control/normal op temp of 185-190 deg F. The oil pressure continuing to drop does suggest that oil temp is not yet close to normal op temp, even at 15 minutes. The oil pressure takes approx 17-20 seconds to reach full pressure (688 kpa or 100 psi here) following the engine start.

No matter how you slice it, it takes quite a while for coolant temp to come up during idle....and a lot longer for engine oil temp. The video shows that quite conclusively for this particular vehicle.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I wonder if his thermostat is on the way out?


In looking at the needle/dial coolant temp gauge on the dash, below the tachometer, it appears to me to work as expected when idling a vehicle. It takes 7 minutes to unpeg the needle, and then another 11 minutes or so to reach thermostat set point (18 min total). Very slow at no load. Do the same thing while driving at 20-40 mph and you're probably at full coolant temp in 5-7 minutes. Coolant temp can help heat your cabin. But oil temp is lagging so badly here, you'd have to wait quite a while before the car would be ready to handle a full load.

In this video, the trans temp gauge appears to be the only one that works all the way down to -11 Deg C. And it does start moving up immediately. By the end of the video trans temp is 160 deg F while engine oil reads 120 deg F with coolant at 194 deg F.

 

[FastLane]

-32C here this morning. I let Chevy 4.8 idle for 2 minutes then drove off. I just drive slow and gentle until the engine and transmission warm up.

 

[Doublehaul]

I see a bunch of days where the real temp is way below zero. I start the vehicle and let it run until its warm. Not because its better for the car...not because its worse. I don't care. I just don't want to sit in a cold car on a cold day. I like em nice and toasty. same same in the summer with the ac

 

[Shannow]

Start Car.
Put Seat Belt On.
Adjust radio to whatever podcast/channel.
Drive, holding a lower gear to keep the revs between 2,000 and 2,500ish.

 

[1JZ_E46]

I let my X5 warm up for about 5 minutes in the winter, but that's mainly because I hate the cold. After I start it, I turn on the seat and steering wheel heaters and head back inside to make coffee. Nice and toasty when I come back.