Warm up idle or drive and go?

[Bjorn]

Hello there ! If you alow me- here´s some input from Scandinavia and our polar climate...
In Sweden almost 50 percent of all cars are fitted with an electrical "engine heater". This is an electrical device mounted (mostly) in a frost plug and through this you can pre-heat the water in your radiator. At the same time most people also have a so called " cab-heater" (?) so you do not have to worry about ice/snow and a cold seat when starting up in the morning. Not to talk about avoiding scratches on your windows...Most people have this kit connected via a timer - so at approx 0 degrees Celcius you start pre-heating say 1 hour before you want to drive away. At-10C you need approx 1.5 hrs and at -20 and even lower temps. you need ca. 2 hrs preheating. By avoiding cold starts -especially in the winter- you cut down on fuel consumption,resulting in reduced carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions. As we all know - most of the engine wear occurs at cold starts why this of course also is an important factor. Engineers sometimes classify a "cold start" as everything below approx 85 degr.C !
But the best thing of course is that you can start your engine at all - a frosty snowy morning with -30-35 C and maybe even colder temps...
These engine heaters are even more useful when talking about the new modern small diesel engines like the VW/Audi/Volvo/Peugeot and so on...since they are so efficient that it takes a very looong time before reaching normal working temperature - at extreme cold outside temperatures.
You need of course a parking space close to your house ( to get electricity ) so this is not an alternative if you live in a large city and park your car on the street.Most companies also provide electricity for their employees at the company parking (at work )via a pole ....

 

[02zx9r]

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I start the engine, and immediately start revving the ---- out of it to clear it up. Once the blue smoke really starts pouring out, it's my signal to bounce it off the rev limiter once or twice to clear it out some more so it will actually idle. Once it starts sputtering and wants to stall, 3 more bounces off the rev limiter. I then rev the ---- out of it while backing out of the driveway. Once I hit the street, it's my signal to FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR it and leave a huge cloud of blue smoke.

Actually, this is the daily routine for one of my neighbors who has a beater sing ray vette with a tired 350. If it's sunny, it gets driven around the block! Even if it's 20 degrees out. Sucker don't sound to good.

You should hear his Triumph Spitfire! ROD KNOCK.

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[02zx9r]

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Hello there ! If you alow me- here´s some input from Scandinavia and our polar climate...
In Sweden almost 50 percent of all cars are fitted with an electrical "engine heater". This is an electrical device mounted (mostly) in a frost plug and through this you can pre-heat the water in your radiator. At the same time most people also have a so called " cab-heater" (?) so you do not have to worry about ice/snow and a cold seat when starting up in the morning. Not to talk about avoiding scratches on your windows...Most people have this kit connected via a timer - so at approx 0 degrees Celcius you start pre-heating say 1 hour before you want to drive away. At-10C you need approx 1.5 hrs and at -20 and even lower temps. you need ca. 2 hrs preheating. By avoiding cold starts -especially in the winter- you cut down on fuel consumption,resulting in reduced carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions. As we all know - most of the engine wear occurs at cold starts why this of course also is an important factor. Engineers sometimes classify a "cold start" as everything below approx 85 degr.C !
But the best thing of course is that you can start your engine at all - a frosty snowy morning with -30-35 C and maybe even colder temps...
These engine heaters are even more useful when talking about the new modern small diesel engines like the VW/Audi/Volvo/Peugeot and so on...since they are so efficient that it takes a very looong time before reaching normal working temperature - at extreme cold outside temperatures.
You need of course a parking space close to your house ( to get electricity ) so this is not an alternative if you live in a large city and park your car on the street.Most companies also provide electricity for their employees at the company parking (at work )via a pole ....

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wow, i am glad I dont live there. I dont know how you guys do it.

 

[AFmedic]

you could do what my buddy did.he has an external oil pan heater pad that he applied to his oil pan. I was thinking about one of these to help with Oil and engine start up. It has a thermostat that heats to 100F and truns off. What do you guys think about this with winter already here. He got it from Napa and is pretty good quality so far.

 

[02zx9r]

interesting concept. Does it work as designed to do?

 

[ThirdeYe]

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I used to be one of those that would let it idle for 3 minutes or so in the dead of winter. Now I too just let it idle for about a minute to get the oil circulating around, then drive off slowly, although sometimes the cold tranny doesn't want to go into a higher gear until the engine hits 3000 rpm, so I try to get it there slowly.

Most of my wear and tear idling now comes from having to leave it run to run in somewhere if the wife is with me to keep her warm and toasty. So what I gained in less wear with the prolonged idling sessions, I lost some with the fully warmed up idling sessions with fuel washing the cylinders.

Oh well...

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My transmission does the same thing. When the car's cold, it shifts later. Not sure if it's normal or not, but my transmission has always been serviced regularly and the last 2 fills have been with Amsoil's ATF but it was doing that before that too, when I bought it (all Honda Z1). I think it's probably normal but maybe someone else could chime in

 

[Colt45ws]

Its normal. On my car the only thing on the trans thats electronically controlled is torque converter lockup. It waits until the water temp is above 125* before locking up, as read by a scangauge.

 

[BuickGN]

On my way to work in the TL I literally have 5+ minutes of residential neighborhood streets before I hit the highway. I let the idle go down, usually 45 seconds and then drive it through the neighborhood very gently. Leaving work I let it sit there idling for a good 3 minutes because I have to get on the gas pretty hard as soon as I leave the parking lot.

On the GN, it has .004" piston to cylinder wall clearance. The first 45seconds to 1 minute are spent idling until the piston slap goes away. I put it in gear but don't drive it for a few minutes. With the 3,500 stall convertor it will blow the oil filter off on a cold start if I try and drive it right away. Once underway I drive it around the neighborhood a few times until oil pressure starts dropping off and I know it has enough heat in it. In the winter the warm up procedure can take 15 minutes and sometimes 30 minutes before I'm comfortable making any sort of hard pass.

The girlfriend on the other hand in her Murano has it in drive and is near WOT by the time she's releasing the starter lol. It physically hurts me to watch her drive.

 

[AFmedic]

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interesting concept. Does it work as designed to do?

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hes had it on for 3 years now and no problems.

 

[DragRace]

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On my way to work in the TL I literally have 5+ minutes of residential neighborhood streets before I hit the highway. I let the idle go down, usually 45 seconds and then drive it through the neighborhood very gently. Leaving work I let it sit there idling for a good 3 minutes because I have to get on the gas pretty hard as soon as I leave the parking lot.

On the GN, it has .004" piston to cylinder wall clearance. The first 45seconds to 1 minute are spent idling until the piston slap goes away. I put it in gear but don't drive it for a few minutes. With the 3,500 stall convertor it will blow the oil filter off on a cold start if I try and drive it right away. Once underway I drive it around the neighborhood a few times until oil pressure starts dropping off and I know it has enough heat in it. In the winter the warm up procedure can take 15 minutes and sometimes 30 minutes before I'm comfortable making any sort of hard pass.

The girlfriend on the other hand in her Murano has it in drive and is near WOT by the time she's releasing the starter lol. It physically hurts me to watch her drive.

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Sounds like an awsome Grand National,love those cars!

 

[mxhdroom]

In the Miata (summer only), I let it idle until the revs come back to normal idle, and then take it easy until the temperature gauge is up to normal range. With the Sentra in the winter, I plug in the block heater at anything under -12 Celsius, let it idle for 20 - 30 seconds and then take it easy again until the temp gauge is in the normal range. What I can't stand are the people with the remote car starters, who insist on starting their cars from their kitchens, or living rooms, or bedrooms, or bathrooms, etc., and leave them running for 30 minutes so the poor darlings don't get cold when they go out to their car. Remote starters should be banned! People don't care about warming up their engines as much as they worry about warming up the interior.

My dos centavos.

G.

 

[02zx9r]

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In the Miata (summer only), I let it idle until the revs come back to normal idle, and then take it easy until the temperature gauge is up to normal range. With the Sentra in the winter, I plug in the block heater at anything under -12 Celsius, let it idle for 20 - 30 seconds and then take it easy again until the temp gauge is in the normal range. What I can't stand are the people with the remote car starters, who insist on starting their cars from their kitchens, or living rooms, or bedrooms, or bathrooms, etc., and leave them running for 30 minutes so the poor darlings don't get cold when they go out to their car. Remote starters should be banned! People don't care about warming up their engines as much as they worry about warming up the interior.

My dos centavos.

G.

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your

are well taken!

 

[Drew99GT]

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What I can't stand are the people with the remote car starters, who insist on starting their cars from their kitchens, or living rooms, or bedrooms, or bathrooms, etc., and leave them running for 30 minutes so the poor darlings don't get cold when they go out to their car. Remote starters should be banned! People don't care about warming up their engines as much as they worry about warming up the interior.

My dos centavos.

G.

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You'd probably kill my brother; does it everyday if it anything below about 40 degrees! And yes, he's started it and then dicked around and voillaaaaaaaaa, 30 minutes has passes. 30 minutes idling a cold engine could probably get you to work and back for a week in terms of fuel usage.

 

[Kestas]

In Germany, a person can be fined for such waste.

 

[byez]

Sorry for starting the annual "warm up vs. drive and go" issue haha someone had to do it.

Any problems with blocking the radiator with cardboard on extremely cold days. I did that on a few past cars and found that the car heated up faster but it could have just been in my head. Any thoughts on this method?

 

[Drew99GT]

In extreme cold climates it's commonplace. For commercial equipment; semi trucks and such, they make specialty rad covers that can be opened and closed or like 1/4, or 1/8th opened etc.

 

[Cutehumor]

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You'd probably kill my brother; does it everyday if it anything below about 40 degrees! And yes, he's started it and then dicked around and voillaaaaaaaaa, 30 minutes has passes. 30 minutes idling a cold engine could probably get you to work and back for a week in terms of fuel usage.

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sounds like you need to show your bro the right way to do things.

I agree, remote starters were created for excessive idlers!

 

[John K]

Old Volvos and Opels used to have a venetian blinds or curtain to close over the radiator. The biggest problem is it gets overheated if you forget to open them. (How do I know this??)!! I think it is a mistake to let a car idle unattended for a long period of time. Cars get stolen, or if a malfunction occurs you can damage an engine. Oil and coolant circulation are very inefficient at idle.....

 

[Benzadmiral]

Down here in The Swamp, of course, extreme cold is very rare, and I idle only long enough to put on my seat belt, switch on the radio and headlights, and off I go, with a 20 mph easy drive through my complex and out to the street.

When I lived in Denver, though (also not extreme cold, but it could get chilly), I would idle the 420SEL for a bit while I scraped snow off the windows and got enough heat for the defrost function to clear the glass.

I'd move fast, though. Even when gas was half (or even one-sixth) the price it is now, I didn't want to waste a drop/penny of it!

 

[nixon]

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In Germany, a person can be fined for such waste.

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It's good to see they've made some progress .