Warm up idling

[MNgopher]

As far as the tranny issue goes, being a start er up, drop to regular idle, and go driver, I can safely report I've had exactly one transmission problem. I had a TC lockup solenoid fail on the three speed auto in my '89 Cavalier. Can't say it was due to cold weather habits or simple mechanincal failure. On that car, I figured I had plenty of miles on it for what was essentially a throwaway.

I think we have die hard idle it till whatever drivers convinced they have the better way, and drivers like me, who only know what has worked for ourselves. I don't think either method causes harm (I have no evidence to the contrary in my case anyways), but the extra fuel burn with all the idling is just a waste in my book.

 

[Lonnie]

Modern fuel injected engines idle and run pretty well even when cold, but they don't need much idle time. It's better to get moving and drive gently for a couple of miles. You are also warming up all the moving parts, not just the engine. In fact the best speed for a cold engine is a bit above idle and up to some where around 25 hundred rpm, but with as little load as possible. We have some standby generators that are started, held at a high idle for 60 seconds and then to 36 hundred rpm, the speed required by the generator itself. In 90 seconds, full load is applied. These engines have never shown any problems with wear numbers on a uoa. They only see temps down to 25/30F so I don't know if any of this would apply to sub zero weather. They used to have block and coolant heaters, but now with modern engine oil, the heaters have been eliminated, along with longer warm up patterns of past years.

 

[TomServo]

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You shouldn't run a block heater all night long.

Only two hours before you start it will getit completely up to snuff for a perfect start.

1500watt block heaters are not exactly kind to your electricity bill.

Get a block heater timer for 12 bucks and you will save hundreds in power bills over its lifetime.

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Most block heaters these days are 400 or 850 watt.... mine is rated to bring the engine to it's warmest temp in 4 hours, not 2. It's a 400w unit that plugs into a hole cast in the block specifically for a block heater (right by the oil pump). Very few people up here are willing to wake up or go outside to plug in a couple hours before they're gonna leave. It is often colder here than in most of alaska... Today it was colder than the north pole. Which isn't saying much, the polar bears up north are dying of heat stroke in the summer.

On another note, watching the fuel consumption on my scangauge, it draws 2.5x as much fuel while cold idling vs warm... and the fuel economy really doesn't get where it should be until the engine is completely warm - 180-190F coolant temp. Once it's hit 155F the economy is about the same until 176 or so. My block heater cord was out for a while so I haven't had a chance to see what the fuel economy's like after plugging in all night at work.

 

[Black Bart]

Before I retired I was a long haul trucker. I started the engine when I left home and it ran until I got back home.
Only shut it off while fueling to check the oil and a lot of times not even then. When I was sleeping it idled.
This engine had thousands of hours of idling on it.
While loading or unloading the engine ran.
How long did it last ?? I don't know I traded it at 885,000 and it was still running fine with nothing done to it.
My daily driver is a 85 Bronco that I have had since it was new. I have a remote starter on it and anytime I plan on driving it I start it and let it warm up. This has been used this way for the last 21 years and still will go 10,000 miles with out using any oil.
Yep I'm convinced idleing is hard on your engine in another 20 years of this kind of abuse and I will need to replace my old 85 Bronco.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

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That rodeo is not 6000lbs, more like 4000-5000lbs max.

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Why don't you come and tell her that

, she's been on 3 different scales cause I didn't believe it either. The door does in fact say that it weighs 5,000#, but I have MANY additional accessories on this truck, plus what I carry in this truck on a daily basis for work, play - stuff that never comes out.

So yes, it does weigh 6,000#'s with a 21 gallon tank, Isuzu's in general are heavier then most vehicles, even in stock form.

I currently have tires that are 3 sizes bigger then stock, a couple hundred pounds in replacement steel skidplates all around, a loadwarrior luggage rack, a winch, a front bumper that carries two sets of foglights, class 3 hitch outside.

Inside the truck carries about 500# in tools alone for work daily, 3 ladders on the roof, caulking, nails, screws, sometimes bags of cement, sand, and many other homebuilding items that get thrown in from time to time.

Believe me, I wish I could take much of the stuff out - but, it's a #@$%! good work and play truck, just doesn't get as good of gas mileage as it use to.

 

[[email protected]]

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Most block heaters these days are 400 or 850 watt.... mine is rated to bring the engine to it's warmest temp in 4 hours, not 2. It's a 400w unit that plugs into a hole cast in the block specifically for a block heater (right by the oil pump). Very few people up here are willing to wake up or go outside to plug in a couple hours before they're gonna leave.

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[DragRace]

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Before I retired I was a long haul trucker. I started the engine when I left home and it ran until I got back home.
Only shut it off while fueling to check the oil and a lot of times not even then. When I was sleeping it idled.
This engine had thousands of hours of idling on it.
While loading or unloading the engine ran.
How long did it last ?? I don't know I traded it at 885,000 and it was still running fine with nothing done to it.
My daily driver is a 85 Bronco that I have had since it was new. I have a remote starter on it and anytime I plan on driving it I start it and let it warm up. This has been used this way for the last 21 years and still will go 10,000 miles with out using any oil.
Yep I'm convinced idleing is hard on your engine in another 20 years of this kind of abuse and I will need to replace my old 85 Bronco.

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Awsome post man!

Like many others and myself have posted, there are no drawbacks from letting your vehicle warm up,all in personal preferance is what it boils down to.

 

[Patman]

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Before I retired I was a long haul trucker. I started the engine when I left home and it ran until I got back home.
Only shut it off while fueling to check the oil and a lot of times not even then. When I was sleeping it idled.
This engine had thousands of hours of idling on it.
While loading or unloading the engine ran.
How long did it last ?? I don't know I traded it at 885,000 and it was still running fine with nothing done to it.
My daily driver is a 85 Bronco that I have had since it was new. I have a remote starter on it and anytime I plan on driving it I start it and let it warm up. This has been used this way for the last 21 years and still will go 10,000 miles with out using any oil.
Yep I'm convinced idleing is hard on your engine in another 20 years of this kind of abuse and I will need to replace my old 85 Bronco.

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Awsome post man!

Like many others and myself have posted, there are no drawbacks from letting your vehicle warm up,all in personal preferance is what it boils down to.

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How does that prove anything? He's talking about a big diesel engine with a huge oil capacity. That's like comparing apples to machine guns.

 

[Black Bart]

How does that prove anything? He's talking about a big diesel engine with a huge oil capacity. That's like comparing apples to machine guns.

Poor analogy, it is more like comparing a BB gun to a machine gun.

I had the hood up and a guy at a rest area got out of his car and walked over and remarked man that is a big engine how much power does it make. I said 400 and he said 400 my car makes that much. He was not impressed to bad he did not ask about the torque

 

[Ramblin Fever]

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My daily driver is a 85 Bronco that I have had since it was new. I have a remote starter on it and anytime I plan on driving it I start it and let it warm up. This has been used this way for the last 21 years and still will go 10,000 miles with out using any oil.
Yep I'm convinced idleing is hard on your engine in another 20 years of this kind of abuse and I will need to replace my old 85 Bronco.

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How does that prove anything? He's talking about a big diesel engine with a huge oil capacity. That's like comparing apples to machine guns.

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True his first paragraph was in regards to a diesel; but he also has an old Bronco he referred too as well.

 

[Warlord]

So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

 

[BlazerLT]

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You shouldn't run a block heater all night long.

Only two hours before you start it will getit completely up to snuff for a perfect start.

1500watt block heaters are not exactly kind to your electricity bill.

Get a block heater timer for 12 bucks and you will save hundreds in power bills over its lifetime.

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Very few people up here are willing to wake up or go outside to plug in a couple hours before they're gonna leave.

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That is why I said SEVERAL TIMES to get a block heater timer and not be wasteful and allow it to run for 3 times more than it is needed.

All that you get out of it is a higher energy bill and nothing more.

 

[DragRace]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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Exactly!

 

[BlazerLT]

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Most block heaters these days are 400 or 850 watt.... mine is rated to bring the engine to it's warmest temp in 4 hours, not 2. It's a 400w unit that plugs into a hole cast in the block specifically for a block heater (right by the oil pump). Very few people up here are willing to wake up or go outside to plug in a couple hours before they're gonna leave.

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And that is why I said to get a block timer.

Pretty ridiculous for you to defend plugging it in for longer and therefore wasting electricity so you can whine about your bill at the end of the month.

 

[Patman]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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True, neither one appears to be causing engines to be ruined, but idling is without a doubt wasting a ton of fuel all around the world.

 

[BlazerLT]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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Driving your engine cold will do a lot more harm than idling it for 3 minutes will ever do.

 

[BlazerLT]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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You will burn more gas driving a cold engine than you will ever burn at idle for three minutes. The compression is low and the rings are not even really seated properly when that cold so in essence, you will be probably putting more gas into the oil than idling will.

3 minutes of idling is not a waste.

True, neither one appears to be causing engines to be ruined, but idling is without a doubt wasting a ton of fuel all around the world.

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[Patman]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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Driving your engine cold will do a lot more harm than idling it for 3 minutes will ever do.

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You keep saying this, but you have no proof of this. The UOAs posted on here prove you wrong. Driving your engine cold WILL NOT HURT IT! Every spring I prove that when I post my UOAs and the engine wear numbers are still very good, pretty much the same wear numbers as I see in the summer. If your theory was true, my UOAs would show this.

 

[BlazerLT]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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Driving your engine cold will do a lot more harm than idling it for 3 minutes will ever do.

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You keep saying this, but you have no proof of this. The UOAs posted on here prove you wrong. Driving your engine cold WILL NOT HURT IT! Every spring I prove that when I post my UOAs and the engine wear numbers are still very good, pretty much the same wear numbers as I see in the summer. If your theory was true, my UOAs would show this.

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Then explain to me why if I drive my truck 30 seconds after starting it up in the morning I get crank knock?

Is that normal and just because your UOA results are fine I should just ignore it and drive on destroying my engine?

 

[DragRace]

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So what have we accomplished here? Idling to warm up will not ruin your engine and driving slowly to warm up will not ruin your engine. Time to worry about something else I think.

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Driving your engine cold will do a lot more harm than idling it for 3 minutes will ever do.

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You keep saying this, but you have no proof of this. The UOAs posted on here prove you wrong. Driving your engine cold WILL NOT HURT IT! Every spring I prove that when I post my UOAs and the engine wear numbers are still very good, pretty much the same wear numbers as I see in the summer. If your theory was true, my UOAs would show this.

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Hate to tell you this,but most American people with automobiles, SUV's dont rely on UOA's. They simply warm their vehicles up,and continue onto their day to day routines without any problems.