Warm up idle or drive and go?

[byez]

Whats the general consensus on this? I usually start it up, wait a few seconds and take it really easy until the engine is warmed up.

I can't stand seeing people start up a cold engine and rev the ---- out of it thinking they are doing their car a favor.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

My owner's manual recommends a warm-up period for my car...but I think that's for the sake of the turbo. I normally let it idle until the needle moves into the normal bracket...then cruise slowly towards the highway.

 

[Iain]

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My owner's manual recommends a warm-up period for my car...but I think that's for the sake of the turbo. I normally let it idle until the needle moves into the normal bracket...then cruise slowly towards the highway.

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Wise move, but possibly overkill.

I usually idle for a couple of minutes, then drive carefully for awhile until engine/trans are fully warm.

 

[Eddie]

Depends on rpm the temperature. Here in Florida I wait until the engine drops to ~ 1000 rpm or about 15 seconds. In Illinois, in winter at say 20 F. I wait maybe 30 seconds. In ALL cases I do as byez does and drive easy until the water tempeture is up to normal.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

I live about 1/4 mile from the frontage road where I normally have to gun it and achieve 50mph from a standstill to avoid being run over. Warm oil is an asset in my case.

 

[XPR]

Get in and go

 

[PT1]

If you see my other posts you will know why I am considering just leaving mine run in the driveway all night.

 

[02zx9r]

I start it up, wait max about 30 seconds take it easy shifting at 2K until get to highway bout 7 minutes later then shift at 3K and set cruise at 70 for 25 miles.

 

[G_lo]

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If you see my other posts you will know why I am considering just leaving mine run in the driveway all night.

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Hey weren't you on "Ice Road Truckers"? You know that Discovery Channel reality show.

 

[D-Roc]

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Whats the general consensus on this? I usually start it up, wait a few seconds and take it really easy until the engine is warmed up.

I can't stand seeing people start up a cold engine and rev the ---- out of it thinking they are doing their car a favor.

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Sounds like a pretty good idea...I do the same on my diesel.

 

[Schmoe]

You "youngin's" won't remember this, but this was actually a pretty heated topic a few years ago. It was almost 50/50. I am a firm believer in warming up. Engines are not made of the same metals and thus will have various degrees of expandtion. You got to give it time for all that thermodynamics to take place. I'm also pretty sure that when they test the cars, the engines are at normal operating temperatures.

 

[Max_Wander]

For those of your who don't believe in engine warm-up here's a little story!

As a youth, during the dead of winter at something like -30 degrees Celcius, I had to scoot up the road, 3 minutes walking distance, but it was 1am and the ground was covered in a sheet of ice. So I started up my mom's '89 626, with probably 10w40 in the crankcase as I was oil-ignorant back then and thought 'the thicker the better', regardless of temperature. It was so cold that the engine was idling at about 2200rpm, I immediately threw it in reverse to back out of the driveway, then threw it in drive and barely touched the gas and, oh my word, the poor engine... In my years growing up with this car, I have NEVER, EVER made the engine sound so bad....like a hammer on each power stroke!! it sounded WORSE than if an engine were run DRY! Immediately it hit me, "wow that was really stupid, I couldn't even wait 5 seconds?" Let off the gas and sort of idled along. Less than a minute later, the engine stopped making that sound under load, although still frozen cold. From that day my inner struggle has been put to rest: it IS bad to load up cold engines, exponentially worse the colder it gets !!

 

[blueiedgod]

Start her up.

Let her idle 5-10 seconds, while I put the seatbelt on.

Drive. Make sure you shift around 2000-3000 RPM.

There is a reason why I use 5W-20 or 0W-20; It flows at cold temps.

By the way, many people, for some odd reason, think that the engine is warm when the heater blows warm air. Wrong!! Thermostat is closed until the inner loop has reached proper temperature. The engine is warm long before the heater blows warm air.

 

[dwendt44]

But Bluei, the heater is part of the inner loop.
It is on every car I've ever worked on.

 

[flatlandtacoma]

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But Bluei, the heater is part of the inner loop.
It is on every car I've ever worked on.

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Correct. Exactly.

 

[Merkava_4]

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I usually start it up, wait a few seconds and take it really easy until the engine is warmed up.

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That's what I do too; I just keep the R's below 2000 until I get the engine all the way warmed up.

 

[XPR]

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You "youngin's" won't remember this, but this was actually a pretty heated topic a few years ago. It was almost 50/50. I am a firm believer in warming up. Engines are not made of the same metals and thus will have various degrees of expandtion. You got to give it time for all that thermodynamics to take place. I'm also pretty sure that when they test the cars, the engines are at normal operating temperatures.

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Engines warm up much faster under load than they do at idle. So if you idle an engine it takes quite a long time for it to warm up. I just the oil pressure come up to normal and drive off.

 

[XPR]

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For those of your who don't believe in engine warm-up here's a little story!

As a youth, during the dead of winter at something like -30 degrees Celcius, I had to scoot up the road, 3 minutes walking distance, but it was 1am and the ground was covered in a sheet of ice. So I started up my mom's '89 626, with probably 10w40 in the crankcase as I was oil-ignorant back then and thought 'the thicker the better', regardless of temperature. It was so cold that the engine was idling at about 2200rpm, I immediately threw it in reverse to back out of the driveway, then threw it in drive and barely touched the gas and, oh my word, the poor engine... In my years growing up with this car, I have NEVER, EVER made the engine sound so bad....like a hammer on each power stroke!! it sounded WORSE than if an engine were run DRY! Immediately it hit me, "wow that was really stupid, I couldn't even wait 5 seconds?" Let off the gas and sort of idled along. Less than a minute later, the engine stopped making that sound under load, although still frozen cold. From that day my inner struggle has been put to rest: it IS bad to load up cold engines, exponentially worse the colder it gets !!

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Sounds more like the wrong oil than anything else.

 

[Max_Wander]

Quote:

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Quote:

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For those of your who don't believe in engine warm-up here's a little story!

As a youth, during the dead of winter at something like -30 degrees Celcius, I had to scoot up the road, 3 minutes walking distance, but it was 1am and the ground was covered in a sheet of ice. So I started up my mom's '89 626, with probably 10w40 in the crankcase as I was oil-ignorant back then and thought 'the thicker the better', regardless of temperature. It was so cold that the engine was idling at about 2200rpm, I immediately threw it in reverse to back out of the driveway, then threw it in drive and barely touched the gas and, oh my word, the poor engine... In my years growing up with this car, I have NEVER, EVER made the engine sound so bad....like a hammer on each power stroke!! it sounded WORSE than if an engine were run DRY! Immediately it hit me, "wow that was really stupid, I couldn't even wait 5 seconds?" Let off the gas and sort of idled along. Less than a minute later, the engine stopped making that sound under load, although still frozen cold. From that day my inner struggle has been put to rest: it IS bad to load up cold engines, exponentially worse the colder it gets !!

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Sounds more like the wrong oil than anything else.

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I realise the oil didn't help, but I'm sure the extreme temperature played a role in it too. This was back in the SH days!

 

[zoinks]

Let the engine run 15 seconds or so then go...maybe a little longer if it's really cold. The engine is running anyway, why not use it? Just take it easy until it's warmed up.