Jalopnik on warming up cars

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: Sayjac
Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
I started my truck this morning at 19'F. I am posting this to kill time while it warms up. 5 minutes should do it.

You heretic you.

You got a heat wave there in SC, it's 8°F here in the Piedmont of NC this morning.


You're both living in the tropics.
-10F here this morning. Glad it's Saturday and we have no urgent need to go anywhere.

 

[SHOZ]

The last ten days here have been below 0F for lows. I bought a 1500 watt milk house electric heater. 30 minutes in the car before I leave and all is toasty inside.

Even though the motor is not warmed the electric heater warms the interior enough to stop your breath from freezing on the inside of the windshield. This is what takes the longest to clear when just idling and warming the car.

I've found that idling the car before I leave and just starting and taking off dead cold, the engine takes about 5 miles more to reach operating temp of 180F and highway driving. Or after 15 minutes of cold idling the engine got o 140F. But driving 2 miles did the same without the idling.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Admittedly not as cold here but did see 28 this morning!

Our RAM needs a bit of time to make real heat. But it is lukewarm very quickly and since you can heat the seats and steering wheel it's not so bad.

What's funny is our service vans with over double the amount of coolant get hot in a couple of minutes. Never seen such effective thermostat control...

 

[eyeofthetiger]

Originally Posted By: Sayjac
Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
I started my truck this morning at 19'F. I am posting this to kill time while it warms up. 5 minutes should do it.

You heretic you.

You got a heat wave there in SC, it's 8°F here in the Piedmont of NC this morning.


Screw that. Truck started right up, but it sounded angry at me for the first minute of idling. I don't believe truck would appreciate single digits.

 

[cjcride]

-21C or -6F this morning started with a squelching noise from the serpentine belt for about 2 seconds. Waited for about 90 seconds and drove off keeping revs low. All's well, took about 10 minutes to start to feel some heat from the heater vents.

 

[babyivan]

You guys act like idling is evil. Never been an isuue before, don't get why it is now.

And I love how everybody is trying to top each other off on how quickly they get into their frozen car and drive off; like it's some sort of macho thing.

 

[eyeofthetiger]

Originally Posted By: babyivan
You guys act like idling is evil. Never been an isuue before, don't get why it is now.

And I love how everybody is trying to top each other off on how quickly they get into their frozen car and drive off; like it's some sort of macho thing.


Dude I can hop in my Fiesta on a 12'F morning, crank it up and immediately do a full throttle clutch dump in first gear, then no-lift shift into second and hit the overboost. That's the only way to warm up a 1.0 liter engine.

 

[babyivan]

Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
Originally Posted By: babyivan
You guys act like idling is evil. Never been an isuue before, don't get why it is now.

And I love how everybody is trying to top each other off on how quickly they get into their frozen car and drive off; like it's some sort of macho thing.


Dude I can hop in my Fiesta on a 12'F morning, crank it up and immediately do a full throttle clutch dump in first gear, then no-lift shift into second and hit the overboost. That's the only way to warm up a 1.0 liter engine.

HAHAHA

 

[bmwjohn]

wonder if your "service van" has a different thermostat. I usually see 3 available thermostats for my vehicles, and pick the one that will let it run coolest. I am much more worried about overheating than lack of heat or slow warm up.I heard that the old time way was to swap t-stats fall and spring, although that may cause emission issues, since apparently letting the engine run hot is better for pollution controls.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Our RAM needs a bit of time to make real heat. But it is lukewarm very quickly and since you can heat the seats and steering wheel it's not so bad.


Leave the main heater completely off for the first 10 mins. The engine will get to temperature much quicker. Then turn the heater on and you will have nice, warm heat. I accidentally discovered this a few days ago when it was 6 out. It has to be clear out for this to work. If there's condensation out then it shouldn't be done since you have to keep the windows clear. Prob can't have a lady in the car either since that won't go over well either.

 

[jimbrewer]

The engine oil might be super thin, but the other fluids are not. If it's a super cold day I'll take the back road for three or four blocks at a slow speed. Not for the engine so much as the diff and the transmission.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: babyivan
You guys act like idling is evil. Never been an isuue before, don't get why it is now.

And I love how everybody is trying to top each other off on how quickly they get into their frozen car and drive off; like it's some sort of macho thing.


Certain topics are bound to run a number of pages with sharply divided opinions.
Any thread concerning the evils or merits of idling a car to warm it up is one such topic, with other perennials being when to drain the factory fill, thick vs thin, M1 being noisy, Royal Purple being overpriced as well as the appropriate service drain interval to use with any oil in any application.
There are some (many) topics on which we never seem to reach any consensus, although we do discuss (argue) a lot.

 

[babyivan]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Originally Posted By: babyivan
You guys act like idling is evil. Never been an isuue before, don't get why it is now.

And I love how everybody is trying to top each other off on how quickly they get into their frozen car and drive off; like it's some sort of macho thing.


Certain topics are bound to run a number of pages with sharply divided opinions.
Any thread concerning the evils or merits of idling a car to warm it up is one such topic, with other perennials being when to drain the factory fill, thick vs thin, M1 being noisy, Royal Purple being overpriced as well as the appropriate service drain interval to use with any oil in any application.
There are some (many) topics on which we never seem to reach any consensus, although we do discuss (argue) a lot.

I know exactly what you mean, I went down that rabbit hole of when to change factory fill when I bought the WRX. I must've read hundreds of threads on here. It made my head spin.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Leave the main heater completely off for the first 10 mins. The engine will get to temperature much quicker. Then turn the heater on and you will have nice, warm heat. I accidentally discovered this a few days ago when it was 6 out. It has to be clear out for this to work. If there's condensation out then it shouldn't be done since you have to keep the windows clear. Prob can't have a lady in the car either since that won't go over well either.

My cars with automatic climate control don't turn on the heater until it's been a few minutes. Even then, it's a gradual release so a) the car gets to temp properly and b) you're not blasted with cold air initially. I just leave it to 75 AUTO and let the system do it's thang.

 

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted By: pezzy669
Originally Posted By: DriveHard
Originally Posted By: pezzy669
Not going to lie even the "frigid" low to mid teens we get here I only wait ~30 seconds or so before driving off (5W-40) and I take it very easy until I get some movement on the temp gauge. She groans and moans more than usual for the first 1/2 mile or so and the transmission shift quality is pretty [censored] for the first few accelerations.

On another note E85 starts causing problems around the 20-25 degree mark and it just gets worse the colder it gets, starts just fine but the hesitation and bogging down from a standing start for the first minute or so of driving even after 30 seconds of idling is just downright maddening and in the case of pulling out of my apartment building can be dangerous due to traffic. She is going back onto Premium once this tank of E85 is gone. Thinking the tank I am on is still a summer blend E85 as I did not have these kinda issues last winter.


I run E85 in my Silverado year round, and it has never failed to start, and runs fine after 10 to 15 seconds.


E85 is blended down with more gasoline during winter months especially up north, E85 can range from E51-E83 and still legally carry the E85 tag. They mess with the blend during winter months to avoid starting issues on flex fuel vehicles. My car was in the shop for ~3 weeks so either it sucked up a lot of water or I am still working through the last tank of a higher blend. Now I will say in Atlanta we have had a much harder and longer cold snap than last year so that may be playing into things.


You are correct they blend it down in the winter, but here in Iowa the minimum is 70% by state law...so even in the dead of winter the "worst" it can be is E70.

 

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted By: Kira
The article (aka 'click bait') read like a high school writing assignment.

In the cold I fire an engine up and give it a 10 seconds or so to stabilize. I too live on a hill so I let the car roll merrily along.

What hasn't been mentioned is the flat spots on our tires. When cold enough you can easily feel 'em as you drive off.

I go real slow as the flat spots work themselves out.


Agree with you on all counts there.

Problem with the internet is that some articles end up getting more exposure than they should. This very article appeared in google's suggestions for me.

Out of interest, I googled on the topic and found some very informative and well researched articles out there as well.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: bmwjohn
wonder if your "service van" has a different thermostat. I usually see 3 available thermostats for my vehicles, and pick the one that will let it run coolest. I am much more worried about overheating than lack of heat or slow warm up.I heard that the old time way was to swap t-stats fall and spring, although that may cause emission issues, since apparently letting the engine run hot is better for pollution controls.


Actually since they have a large heat exchanger system they have removed the stat from its stock location. Coolant that would normally bypass the stat and go to the heater core instead goes to the heat exchanger first, then the heater core. It is only interesting because the coolant volume is much larger than a stock 6.0 would normally have. Yet somehow we have heat nearly instantly.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Our RAM needs a bit of time to make real heat. But it is lukewarm very quickly and since you can heat the seats and steering wheel it's not so bad.


Leave the main heater completely off for the first 10 mins. The engine will get to temperature much quicker. Then turn the heater on and you will have nice, warm heat. I accidentally discovered this a few days ago when it was 6 out. It has to be clear out for this to work. If there's condensation out then it shouldn't be done since you have to keep the windows clear. Prob can't have a lady in the car either since that won't go over well either.

Since the RAM is primarily my wife's therapy vehicle that is unlikely. I am fine with the heated seat and steering wheel. Feels decadent!

 

[irv]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Our RAM needs a bit of time to make real heat. But it is lukewarm very quickly and since you can heat the seats and steering wheel it's not so bad.


Leave the main heater completely off for the first 10 mins. The engine will get to temperature much quicker. Then turn the heater on and you will have nice, warm heat. I accidentally discovered this a few days ago when it was 6 out. It has to be clear out for this to work. If there's condensation out then it shouldn't be done since you have to keep the windows clear. Prob can't have a lady in the car either since that won't go over well either.

Since the RAM is primarily my wife's therapy vehicle that is unlikely. I am fine with the heated seat and steering wheel. Feels decadent!


Same!

 

[bbhero]

-11°F around my area this am in southeast Va... One of the coldest night seen on record. I was pumping gas out in -5°F. A bit chilly. But manageable.
The day before the big snowstorm I went and ran the lady's Camry for 40 minutes. 12 minutes of driving with no heat on and ten minutes with heat on. Interesting phenomenon happened.. While going down the road at 65 mph coolant temp gauge would drop in temperature. Come to a stop light and it would go up. I figured that the very cold wind-chill was dropping the heat of the system. So after driving for 22 minutes I parked the car. Sure enough the temp came up and heat became nice and hot after 10 minutes of sitting. I did want her to actually have good heat all the way to her job. She's told me that on very cold mornings that they car wouldn't put out good heat until she just about got to work which was 35-40 minutes away. So when it was 6°F last Wednesday am she had a warmed up car with good heat all the way.