Is there any practical benefit to letting a passenger car oil warm up before driving?

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Look where I live. Even in winter, the longest it takes is 3 minutes before coolant temperature hits 100°F and idle speed drops!

What I am saying is, you don't appear to be in a situation where you will be in a very long line of traffic if you don't turn the key and go, basically.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Another thing I don't recall mentioned in this thread is another good reason to let the oil warm up a bit and keep the revs low for a few miles before hitting higher revs is the related to the oil filter. Revving the engine higher than 2500-3000 with cold thick oil could put the oil filter into bypass and cause unfiltered oil to hit the oiling system. It could even cause the oil filter to tear the media (depending on the filter brand/model), as has been seen in the Oil Filter forum.

 

[sk_pete]

new engines have exhaust pipes in head, it does warmup fast.
but heated seats are gold.

 

[K.Aoi]

new engines have exhaust pipes in head, it does warmup fast.
but heated seats are gold.

My new favorite feature on any car is the heated steering wheel my Taos has, and it's not even winter yet. It's also smart and if you use the remote start function (only plan on using it when its snowed/iced and I want it to run the defroster etc) it automatically turns on the heated seats, heated steering wheel, and defroster if its below a certain temperature. But yeah the modern engines with integrated exhaust manifolds warm up so much faster, its great.

 

[Silver]

Until that blown lifter fills back up and stops ticking.

 

[Bigduke496]

Is there any practical benefit to letting a passenger car oil warm up before driving?​

In a late model engine, yes. The manufacturer wont tell you that because by the time issues show up it will be out of warranty. I also don't trust the oil life indicators for the same reason.

 

[mahanddeem]

It really depends on the car. Nissan with the aluminum block takes forever to reasonably warm up (coolant and oil) at anything less than 45F weather. Plus transmission has to heat up too to work quietly and efficiently.

 

[PimTac]

It really depends on the car. Nissan with the aluminum block takes forever to reasonably warm up (coolant and oil) at anything less than 45F weather. Plus transmission has to heat up too to work quietly and efficiently.

Most engines are aluminium block now.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Most new cars also have a coolant to oil heat exchanger which helps the oil warm-up quicker, and also keeps the oil cooler on the hot end.

 

[Falcon_LS]

What I am saying is, you don't appear to be in a situation where you will be in a very long line of traffic if you don't turn the key and go, basically.

Unfortunately, I do. Traffic is horrendous here, and it's not uncommon for a 5 mile trip to take 45 minutes to an hour. I usually hit the road quite early; rather sit in the office than in traffic.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

When I have idled to warm up it was for safety. As I remove as much snow and ice off the windows as I can in cold climates on dark mornings I wait for the coolant temperature to come up and the windows to fully defrost. Sometimes this takes a while if it’s sheet ice but in this situation the fuel is worth then for improved visibility and safety. Even then I m careful due to surface conditions and brake fluid and steering fluid that can feel a bit stiff.

 

[Patman]

When I have idled to warm up it was for safety. As I remove as much snow and ice off the windows as I can in cold climates on dark mornings I wait for the coolant temperature to come up and the windows to fully defrost. Sometimes this takes a while if it’s sheet ice but in this situation the fuel is worth then for improved visibility and safety. Even then I m careful due to surface conditions and brake fluid and steering fluid that can feel a bit stiff.

That's the only situation where I would idle my car to warm it up, if the windows still aren't allowing for proper visibility. But otherwise, I immediately start and go no matter how cold it is, and just keep the rpm below 1500 for the first few minutes and give it very light throttle. I have always believed that the single biggest factor in how long your engine lasts, is how you drive the car in the first few minutes of operation. Those people that flog their cars hard when the engine is cold aren't as likely to get long life out of those engines.

 

[mahanddeem]

That's the only situation where I would idle my car to warm it up, if the windows still aren't allowing for proper visibility. But otherwise, I immediately start and go no matter how cold it is, and just keep the rpm below 1500 for the first few minutes and give it very light throttle. I have always believed that the single biggest factor in how long your engine lasts, is how you drive the car in the first few minutes of operation. Those people that flog their cars hard when the engine is cold aren't as likely to get long life out of those engines.

Except if you live in an area filled with "not smart" drivers behind you who won't let you drive "safely" when you in the 1500rpm or less range in the cold days morning commute.

 

[Tman220]

Except if you live in an area filled with "not smart" drivers behind you who won't let you drive "safely" when you in the 1500rpm or less range in the cold days morning commute.

I wouldn't expect other drivers to expect or understand that you need to keep your engine under 1500 RPM. Perhaps you should only perform your warmup ritual if it doesn't impede the flow of traffic?

 

[mahanddeem]

I wouldn't expect other drivers to expect or understand that you need to keep your engine under 1500 RPM. Perhaps you should only perform your warmup ritual if it doesn't impede the flow of traffic?

Seems you feel attacked yourself? If driving at speed limit impedes traffic then I'm all impeding traffic all day everyday.
Cheers

 

[nthach]

In a regular gas car, I’d let the car idle for 10-30 seconds before taking off to let oil pressure build and confirm no oil light.

On a hybrid, I usually wait for the ICE to spin up and go.

 

[earthbound]

No benefit unless you like wasting fuel. A half minute should get the juices flowing.

dang not bad...it takes me longer to get the old girls juices flowing...must be doing something wrong..

 

[MattPersman]

I fire up the GLI for my wife a couple mins before she leaves. The Odyssey my boy is usually in the van watching the dvd screen so it may run for a few mins all year around

 

[sk_pete]

long periods idling, police in eu can give ticket for that

 

[350Rocket]

With a standard passenger car, toyota camry, is there any mechanical benefit to letting the oil warm up in standard midwest winter, 10 - 30F, temps? When doing an oil change I noticed oil at operating temps runs out like water. About an hour later when draining the oil collection pan at 50F garage temps I noticed the oil ran like maple syrup. This is using a 5 30W synthetic oil. When it gets down to 20F I would imagine it runs even thicker. I am thinking that the car is designed to run best at stabilized operating temps where the oil runs like water. How much, if any, does the extra thickness of 20F oil wear the engine? Standard practice with fuel injected engines is they don't need any warm up but is there any benefit to letting the engine come up in temp just a bit and give a minute or two to warm the oil up to 100F or so?

Where I live, I can pull out onto my country road and gently get up to speed at about 20% throttle or less. If a car is coming I'll wait for them. I don't need heavy throttle for at least 5 miles depending on which way I'm heading to my first jobsite.
If I had to merge onto a road with heavy traffic I'd he warming it up at least 10 minutes before that.
Also I'm parked in the garage now, previous house it would sometimes get 10+ minutes just defrosting while I scrape snow and ice off the windows and roof/good, so that is also a factor as is ambient temperature when you're starting up. I'm using 0w40 m1 fs.