Yes, warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine

[gathermewool]

My Nissans it’s until the A/F sensors warm up. There right in the exhaust after the manifold so it takes seconds in my case.

Also even in open loop it’s pulling mix based on your latest fuel trims. Open loop for a properly working engine should still be awfully close to 14.7 :1. It’s still basing mix on MAF and historic trims.

Even if that were the argument - how would sitting in open loop harm your car while driving in open loop not? Like I said I can’t find actual test data one way or the other regarding needing to warm up - but as for sitting being more harmful than driving, I find that quite a stretch.

I’m not touching the old “will idling damage my engine” with a 10’ pole! I posted about the OL/CL thing only.

I’ll have to check my old data logs, but I recall that long-term fuel trims were not added while in OL and that OL was out (edit: pig) rich. The AFR was recorded, but the AFR was set at the OL cell in the ECU table. It‘s been a while, so that‘s a lookup for me.

 

[wander2039]

I warm the Dakota and Focus for at least 5 minutes before leaving, the Escape and Festiva have heat and warm up pretty quick. If I don't let those two idle they won't even get off the cold line when I get to the highway. I'd think that would be more harmful. Lot's of cars in junkyards with good engines..

 

[aquariuscsm]

This part of the article would make me have serious doubts about the expertise (in asterisks):

It’s true that warming up gas-powered vehicles before driving in cold weather can cause damage to the engine, according to *Firestone Complete Auto Care*

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Electric golf carts that catch fire.

Yep

 

[tbm5690]

You're an anomaly here if you don't have or use remote start. Depending on temp I let mine warm before leaving work anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Yesterday was a 15 minute warm-up and today will be the same with temps around -10. Many people also let them idle for 20-30 minutes when running into the grocery store, etc.

 

[tbm5690]

Am I the only one who uses a heater to warm the cabin of my car that’s parked outside?

Defrosts the windows, too.

Sounds like you are tongue in cheek, but someone who parks near me at work plugs in a space heater and runs that in his pickup all day to keep the interior warm

 

[JavierH19]

I've never seen so much baloney in an article. No data whatsoever just moron contrarian opinions to sound different for the purpose of garnering attention. Which it has done so successfully.

 

[tmorris1]

I don't care what the article says. We got 6-7 inches of snow yesterday and it is -13F and the wind is supposed to start blowing about 40mph. We are in a Blizzard Warning until Saturday morning. You will have to run your engine to get heat to clear windows, etc or it isn't safe to drive. Cars are machines that are meant to help people. If I was worried about engine wear I would walk.

Engines wear whenever they are started and ran and each of us is one day closer to death every day we wake up!

Just think how long my Focus with 280k on it would last if I never warmed it up.

 

[Greasymechtech]

Improve your life by not reading msn

 

[bullwinkle]

Interesting. How do you see that it’s closed-loop? In my older Subie (2008) I had a data logger that showed OL/CL. I have a BT dongle and the DashCmd app, but never thought to check if it can display that for my newer Subies.

Well the (admittedly cheap) Actron scanner I use shows "closed loop" on cold start on both the xB & Corolla, and "open loop" on other cars/trucks. I was admittedly confused by the instant O2 CEL on the xB, because I always thought O2 sensors were ignored in open loop & then monitored once temp came up-guess I was wrong on that one!

 

[wpod]

It is amazing people believe anything the media tells them. Strips the oil from the cyl walls ? fine.. Sure drive the car with frozen / frosted windows it is safe.

 

[justalubetech]

I doubt it causes any measurable difference either way. I do let mine warm up a bit on super cold days (currently 4degF). Most cars get a bit of piston slap noise when stone cold and given some rpm, and I like to be warm lol.

 

[bullwinkle]

This part of the article would make me have serious doubts about the expertise (in asterisks):

It’s true that listening to *Firestone Complete Auto Care* can cause damage to your engine!

Had to FIFY & rearrange it, every time I've had a company vehicle to a Firestone they've messed up somehow!

 

[Capt W]

Saying that idling actually hurts your car, with a closed loop controlled engine Is to me utter nonsense.

...and getting advice from Firestone Complete Auto Care is probably akin to getting pet care tips from Dr. Fauci.

 

[Capt W]

“Do the roar!”

Awesome movie quote!

 

[jeepman3071]

LOL I think the author got "warming up the car" confused with "running with no oil pressure".

Idling the car in the driveway won't help or hurt anything engine-wise, it is more for defrosting the windows and making the interior warm before you drive it. The engine will warm up faster being driven, this is why multi-viscosity oils exist.

The best thing you can do is start driving it right away (or after the idle settles in a few seconds) and drive easily for the first few miles until the oil comes up to operating temp.

 

[Jim K]

This guy is warming up his car . Yep , I think he is damaging the engine.

 

[LDM]

There is a reason why my truck has a remote start on it and I'm going to use it for my comfort. And as others have said, getting advice from Firestone care isn't exactly a great choice in the matter. Besides, if idling was such a bad thing on engine, why do so many taxi and fleet vehicles end up with 150K+ miles on them? When I used to have a fleet vehicle for my job, it didn't turn off until the end of the day, especially when it was hot or cold outside. My company ran them until 150K or they broke to the point they were not fixable (like the time that deer decided to commit suicide on the interstate while I was driving 70 mph). Sometimes those vans would idle 7-10 hours a day and engine failure was not one of the reasons why they were replaced.

 

[Greasymechtech]

I am surprised that the greeniehyprocritenvirocrowd didn't try to outlaw remote starters.

 

[Hall]

I refuse to give the article any cicks for advertising money and will just say what I say in all of these type of threads: If you think you can just jump in your car that's been parked outside in cold with freezing rain or snow and drive away in 30 seconds, you're absolutely unqualified to comment on this type of scenario.

Let me a 2nd comment too: If warming up a car is soooooo horrible, why do automakers have built-in remote starts with available runtimes of up to 20 minutes (or more) ? This is where skeptics will insert dire warnings of "as long as it makes it past the warranty, the automaker doesn't care".