Should You Warm Up Your Car Before Driving?

[KGMtech]

I don't warm up, but I do drive slowly until the temp gauge shows some movement.

In Canada, if your car is left outdoors in the winter, it would be rare that some frost would not need to be scraped off the windows, the engine running at this time is useful - if only to give cabin heat sooner - not for any engine longevity purpose.

 

[bioburner]

I give my vehicles a minute or so with the tranny in drive when things get below freezing. Cold fronts installed

I have a good friend that's an engineer at the University in MN and the standy by generators have a heater. My father maintained a monster standby for a boiler plant and it had block heaters.

Fire trucks are usually stuck in a heated building as they have water on board and often wait on the apron engine idling waiting for the firefighters to get on and who wants diesel fumes inside.

 

[Srt20]

I live in WI and let them warm up usually. And its not for the vehicles sake, its for mine.

I won't disagree with anything the video said, but I certainly won't say that letting engine warm up significantly shortens engine life either. Ive had many vehicles well over 200k miles that were warmed up because I don't like sitting in a cold vehicle. Sometimes I let them run 30 mins.

Back in my younger days, I had vehicles that would idle in winter at night for hours. Of course I always had a pretty female in the vehicle I had to keep warm.........


Anyway, its not a death sentence to let a vehicle warm up. But it probably isn't the best thing for it either. Fair enough?

 

[gabriel9766]

My malibu has remote start. So i give it 30 sec to warm up if it's above 32. Now below 32 i give it a min or 2. Last sat when it was -7 i gave it 7 mins. I usually drive through the neighborhood keeping the rpms under 2k. The highway is only 1 mile from my house.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Simple. If it bothers you that much then let your vehicle warm up. I choose not to let it warm up.



+1 Warming up is kind of an old school thought but if you're happy to do it why not? You aren't harming anything. I started warming up my car in the winter because I drive my son (14 months) to daycare in the mornings and it has been too cold to allow for the car to properly heat up while driving

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: salcuta88
If it's really cold, the oil flows slower....


As long as you have the proper winter oil viscosity selected for the ambient temps you will experience, the oil will not flow slower. If you're using a 0W for example, your oil will flow the same at say -20 deg F, 0 deg F, or +32 deg F....as it's rated to pump and flow down to -40 deg F.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

My parents let their car idle for 15-20 minutes before leaving. It's DI, too. I imagine the oil is half gas by spring.

If it's below 0 I will let it run for 5 minutes or so, but just sitting the engine is going to take much, much longer to come up to temperature than just driving lightly . So that's what I do.

If it's the Focus or the F350, I will usually wait for it to idle below 1500 before taking off. Both will idle at 2500 when first cold started.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
The reason isn't related just to carburator ineffectiveness, compared to efi. The reason to warmup is to avoid wet blowby at load . But it doesn't mean you need to wait the water temperature to raise up, because in 40-60 seconds at fast idle, the pistons and rings got enough thermal expansion to avoid wet blowby at load. The wet blowby is composed of sooty fuel, mostly and that causes cranckcase oil contamination and dilution.

Yep.


This makes sense. Allow just enough idle to get the critical parts well on their way to being some higher than ambient temperature.

But this isnt a long time. I always get in, start the car, do seatbelt, radio, phone, etc setup, then drive. Avoiding driving like an idiot is helpful too...

 

[crazyoildude]

I warm up all my engines in the cold winter for 5 full minutes then drive slowly for the next mile or so..Is it the best thing to do? I have never had a problem and i generally keep my new vehicles until 200,000-300,000 miles then give them away still in great condition. I have been in the engine business all my life and i like the warm up..Does it waste gas and pollute the air more? Yup but like i said my engines and most transmissions last forever.
This is just my choice but it has worked well my whole life.

 

[IndyIan]

If I need to scrape the windows I'll let the car warm up while doing that, if not, its go time. I do have 2 minutes of driving before I have to go over 1/4 throttle so I figure that's enough warm up and I might as well use the gas to get that much closer to where I'm going. Both my cars have Al blocks and heads so I don't worry about uneven expansion.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
I warm mine up so I can see through the windshield. It's a good idea to have some idea of where other vehicles are.


Get an ice scraper. Takes too long for the engine to warm up on its own.

Also, you should have the other windows defrosted too.

 

[Kamele0N]

Originally Posted By: Miller88


If it's the Focus or the F350, I will usually wait for it to idle below 1500 before taking off. Both will idle at 2500 when first cold started.


Are focus and F350 ancient carbureted versions with manual choke? Pretty insane rpms for cold idle for car with ECU and injection...

 

[demarpaint]

I start it, when the tach dips below 1000 rpms I drive. That's typically anywhere from 30 seconds to about 2 minutes or so in my climate.

 

[blupupher]

I just love all these "keep it under 3000 rpm" lines.
Not everyone drives a small engine vehicle. 3000 rpms in my 5.4 is pretty excessive.

I don't understand the problem. Isn't the whole reason to get 0w and 5w oils to have good cold weather oil flow? Why would you need to wait for the oil to warm up (which will make it thicker) before driving?
Engines have cooling systems designed for cold weather (that is why you have a thermostat). No need to wait to get the coolant "flowing".
Fuel injection works wonderful in the cold.

You really should have no need to drive differently (as far as starting the vehicle and driving it) between summer and winter. Who in the summer time starts their vehicle then drives WOT within 2 minutes? Who here sees WOT with any frequency?
Now I agree with getting the windows cleaned off first, so starting it, then going out to clean the snow and ice off is fine (and will help if you have a rear defroster).

Get in the car, start it, put your seatbelt on, get your radio station set then drive.
But hey, what do I know, a really cold morning for me is 30°F.

 

[Kamele0N]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I start it, when the tach dips below 1000 rpms I drive. That's typically anywhere from 30 seconds to about 2 minutes or so in my climate.


+1

 

[4WD]

+1 ... we are only seeing 29F - but still like to take the long way out of neighborhood - mess with the radio etc - and then turn on heat before hitting the 50 mph loop ...

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: blupupher
I just love all these "keep it under 3000 rpm" lines.
Not everyone drives a small engine vehicle. 3000 rpms in my 5.4 is pretty excessive.


What's a small engine? My wife has a 2.5L engine. Is that small or is it large since it's half of a 5L V8? Likewise, is the 4.6L in my truck "small" since it's kinda small for a V8?

I'd think perhaps engine stroke might matter more than engine size, although how hard the engine is worked might be even more important.

Originally Posted By: blupupher
I don't understand the problem. Isn't the whole reason to get 0w and 5w oils to have good cold weather oil flow? Why would you need to wait for the oil to warm up (which will make it thicker)


Eh? Oil gets thinner as it heats up.

 

[rshaw125]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
I warm mine up so I can see through the windshield. It's a good idea to have some idea of where other vehicles are.


Get an ice scraper. Takes too long for the engine to warm up on its own.

Also, you should have the other windows defrosted too.

I have one I use while the car is running if the ice is thick.

 

[edyvw]

AGAIN? I thought in this digital age this ridiculous myth would die.
OP, you are running PP 5W30 in very, extremely, uber whatever simple engine.
What I do is that I turn on car, by the time I put seat belt on, turn on seat warmers, music, it is like 10 seconds. Then I back up from garage without touching pedal, that is another 30-45 doing it slowly.
My HVAC is ALWAYS on cold! I set it up on cold before I turn off car night before. What that does is that it cuts off secondary radiator, so outside air will not prevent coolant reaching temperature fast because there is a flow of air thru secondary radiator. Keep vent on off or min just to keep windows clear.
Stay up to 2500 rpms. After 5 min slowly start using heat. This method will warm up your car much faster then any idling in drive way.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: blupupher
I just love all these "keep it under 3000 rpm" lines.
Not everyone drives a small engine vehicle. 3000 rpms in my 5.4 is pretty excessive.

I don't understand the problem. Isn't the whole reason to get 0w and 5w oils to have good cold weather oil flow? Why would you need to wait for the oil to warm up (which will make it thicker) before driving?
Engines have cooling systems designed for cold weather (that is why you have a thermostat). No need to wait to get the coolant "flowing".
Fuel injection works wonderful in the cold.

You really should have no need to drive differently (as far as starting the vehicle and driving it) between summer and winter. Who in the summer time starts their vehicle then drives WOT within 2 minutes? Who here sees WOT with any frequency?
Now I agree with getting the windows cleaned off first, so starting it, then going out to clean the snow and ice off is fine (and will help if you have a rear defroster).

Get in the car, start it, put your seatbelt on, get your radio station set then drive.
But hey, what do I know, a really cold morning for me is 30°F.

I just cannot believe I read this.