Yes, warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine
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I wait until it comes off the high idle and drive easy. I've been doing that for close to 5 decades now, no problems to report.
Same here for almost the same time.
Now when I used to drive my hot rods with a manual choke, that's a totally different BEAST.
This don’t warm your car up thing comes up every year. One year I tried to go deep down the rabbit hole to see if I could find any actual data. I found countless articles that referred to other articles and eventually I found a few that referred to a report published by “automotive consultant” Based out of Northern Virginia where one person said, who is supposedly an expert in automobiles, that warming up was not required. All these articles seem to refer to this person, and I could find no study or actual data. If anyone knows of such information please point me in the right direction.
This is yet one step further. Making the argument that you don’t need to warm your car up is one thing. Saying that idling actually hurts your car, with a closed loop controlled engine Is to me utter nonsense.
This is yet one step further. Making the argument that you don’t need to warm your car up is one thing. Saying that idling actually hurts your car, with a closed loop controlled engine Is to me utter nonsense.
I had a few manual choke vehicles. That and a stick shift can cripple and sideline a entire generation. 
Yep, but try telling that to the wife.
"You will have to drive in a cold car for 120 seconds before the heater starts blowing and the seats warm up, so we can get an extra 500 miles out of this car"
Let me know how that works out
'Extra wear' - I have no doubt.
Enough extra wear to make a measurable difference over the life of the car? Not so sure. Maybe if it was a chronic warmer upper that let the car run 30 min at idle every single day.
"You will have to drive in a cold car for 120 seconds before the heater starts blowing and the seats warm up, so we can get an extra 500 miles out of this car"
Let me know how that works out
'Extra wear' - I have no doubt.
Enough extra wear to make a measurable difference over the life of the car? Not so sure. Maybe if it was a chronic warmer upper that let the car run 30 min at idle every single day.
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I'm not saying is DISAGREE..... EXTENDED cold weather idling is pretty hard on the engine.... There is a balance. just starting up the engine and redlining it is also hard on it.
Personally I like to warm up the 2.4L for 2-3 minutes if below freezing.
Personally I like to warm up the 2.4L for 2-3 minutes if below freezing.
When I start my trucks engine then start to drive away slowly my fan clutch/fan sounds like a wind tunnel. 
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I usually wait until it comes off high idle. But if my car is covered in snow and ice, the car is running and warming up while I clean it off.
=33 deg C here as I type this, what about wear and tear on the driver and passenger in a car with no heat for several minutes? I let my cars warm up a bit (5 - 10 minutes) while I stay warm in the house in this weather.
Closed loop controlled engines can still be plagued with severe fuel dilution of the oil. Does it matter is another question
My one ex's mom has a 94 Lumina van with the 3.1. She went overboard and let it warm up like half an hour on winter mornings. It had 350k miles when it got scrapped and the engine still ran perfect and didn't burn a drop of oil.
My opinion is it won't hurt anything to take off almost immediately and drive it gently, but on my 2005 work truck that has 235k miles and 10,300 hours (and needs to last another 10 years years) I try to give it 5-10 minutes depending on how cold it is. Winter here can be between -10c and -25c.
Transmission fluid temp is probably more important than the engine temp for taking off right away.
Edit: should have mentioned my truck also used to get half an hour plus warmup out behind the office, melting all the ice and snow off while the crew inside prepared for the day's work. This was before I took over that truck (and eventually bought it). It also doesn't burn a drop of oil (just leaks a little). Sometimes it feels like it's not even running at idle (gm 4.8 LR4).
My opinion is it won't hurt anything to take off almost immediately and drive it gently, but on my 2005 work truck that has 235k miles and 10,300 hours (and needs to last another 10 years years) I try to give it 5-10 minutes depending on how cold it is. Winter here can be between -10c and -25c.
Transmission fluid temp is probably more important than the engine temp for taking off right away.
Edit: should have mentioned my truck also used to get half an hour plus warmup out behind the office, melting all the ice and snow off while the crew inside prepared for the day's work. This was before I took over that truck (and eventually bought it). It also doesn't burn a drop of oil (just leaks a little). Sometimes it feels like it's not even running at idle (gm 4.8 LR4).
“Do the roar!”When I start my trucks engine then start to drive away slowly my fan clutch/fan sounds like a wind tunnel.
Call them spoiled, but I ain’t putting my kids into a frozen car if I don’t have too. Mostly for the benefit of the 1 year old and 2 month old. 10 minutes ain’t gonna hurt a thing.
How does your car know if it's being "warmed up" by running, or by driving? Or how much of each or either? Running is running, and temperature is temperature. Regardless if it's Orlando in July, or Fairbanks in January.
I find for safety purposes, the engine needs to be warm enough to defrost the windshield. Once that is done, drive on.
Am I the only one who uses a heater to warm the cabin of my car that’s parked outside?
Defrosts the windows, too.
Defrosts the windows, too.
In the cold (I say cold, -10°c is about the minimum temps we get here) I start my car up, scrape the windows of ice/snow then get in and drive after a few minutes.
That said, I can't imagine any damage being done idling your car in the cold for 20 mins before you leave.
That said, I can't imagine any damage being done idling your car in the cold for 20 mins before you leave.
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