Let the truck warm up?

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Assuming there is no frost (always amazes me how sidetracked we get on that tangent), get in, start it, let the idle slow down a bit and go. Last winter, the longest this process took was 3 minutes. That was at -28f, cold soaked, and no block heater plugged in. (Granted, this in a well maintained modern vehicle).

With frost, start it, get out and scrape, then go. The heat helps the scraping.

And there are plenty of times there is no frost and a cold start happens.

Idling for 15 minutes because it's better for the vehicle is bunk. Better for the operator to not be cold, sure.
 
In the past, I have strapped a Mr. Heater "Buddy" propane heater in the passenger seat to accelerate interior heating during ice removal from windows. It does create some fogging due to water vapor being a combustion by-product. I refrained from driving with it in operation due to CO concerns.
 
I never let a car idle long. Usually it's in gear as soon as it starts. Even my 75 ltd. Soon as the oIL light is off. I'm rolling.
 
I'm in the camp of a brief warmup, then gentle driving for a short while. Assuming no frost or snow needs to be cleared, do this: on a 10F day, start up your car. After two minutes, pop the hood and withdraw the oil dipstick. It will be warm to the touch----not hot, not burning, but warm, which means your oil is already circulating just fine. Wipe your fingers, drive off and know that you'll never need to wonder about the issue again. Proof positive.
 
26F this morning. I started my Jeep and in less than 30 seconds I was a hair over 1,000 rpm, that's when I popped it into drive and took off.
 
Idle a minute or two to get radio set and scrape frost. Then slowish driving through the neighborhood. Even if you idle for a while, tranny, diffs, and tc are still need to warm up with some easy driving.
 
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Winter time, start whatever im driving -- buckle seat belt -- make sure mirrors are positioned/adjusted to my liking -- find radio station -- take off nice and slow/follow speed limit for the most part for multiple miles until the vehicle starts producing decent heat for defroster. I dont wait till the last minute so I have time to take it easy and let things warm up/flow like they should.
 
We get in and go. Same as in the summer. We overnight inside the garage so no frost to deal with in the morning. If there is snow or ice, we'll idle while cleaning the white stuff off. Might need to idle a bit longer to get the coolant up to temp and wait for the derosters to do their job if we get caught in something during the day or evening. Only extended idle for safety/visibility.
 
On mornings where there's a hard frost or freeze I'll use the remote start on the GMC and let it warm up and defrost for 5-10 minutes, usually by the time 10 minutes is up the coolant temp gauge is showing between ~185 and 210. Scrape the slush off, get in and go. My commute is only 4 miles so by the time I get to work not much has changed when the temp outside is below freezing.

On my old Ram I'd go out, start it and use that time to start scraping the windows. By the time I left the coolant would be around 170ºF, the iron block Hemi took longer to warm up. It had an oil temp readout and with the 20 mile/35 minute commute I had then the oil temp would usually hit 210ºF about 10 minutes in.

The GMC runs 0W20, the Ram ran 5W20 or occasionally 5W30 and neither has or had problems starting down to 0ºF. This time of year the GMC's transmission fluid never seems to get above 150ºF unless I'm on the highway for a while, when the fluid is below 100ºF its shifting makes a faulty Ford DCT look normal.
 
We get below freezing during the winter. If it's icy I scrape the windows. When I'm done I leave. When it's not icy I give my truck 20 seconds or so and by the time I'm on the main street the water temp is creeping up.
 
We have below 32* frequently in Wisconsin. I remote start my truck put my boots on and get in and drive my truck. So it maybe gets 3 minutes of run time before it leaves the driveway. I take it easy going through town for a couple minutes and then get on the highway and let it eat.
 
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