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

[dfarr67]

Consider wheel bearings, transmission, etc.... The rest of the car besides the engine.

Warming up is for the driver comfort and glass defrost, the drivetrain feels like stiff sludge and you can feel it loosen up as it warms up- I baby it until loose, no need to take out some stiff oil seal.

BTW- the tires are square for a few blocks.

My personal Honda has the optional block heater, oil pan heater, and trickle charger- never a problem. But this was daily living in Yellowknife. People who didn't take their cars out on the highway in a regular way to get them hot ran a real risk of damaging the engine with the condensation in the oil pan freezing the oil pickup.

My work truck gets 1hr block heat, down to -25C 15min warm up and lately -40C 30min warm up. Not a happy start.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Article says:

"Smart Motors Toyota says letting your car idle in cold temperatures can shorten the life of your engine by stripping away oil from the engine’s pistons and cylinders — two critical components that help your engine run, Stephen Ciatti, Ph.D., principal engineer for battery systems at PACCAR, told Business Insider in 2016."

That's about the dumbest thing I've read in awhile.

I agree. Why would idling strip away oil whereas driving wouldn't? Oil pump is operating whether idling or driving.

 

[Pablo]

I agree. Why would idling strip away oil whereas driving wouldn't? Oil pump is operating whether idling or driving.

I mean it's pretty nuts............so maybe they are saying this might happen with mineral SAE 70 motor oil and therefor driving will be even better for the engine. Yikeys!!

 

[Hall]

BTW- the tires are square for a few blocks.

That's one I forgot about too ! Thump, thump, thump for the first mile or so.

 

[LDM]

I agree. Why would idling strip away oil whereas driving wouldn't? Oil pump is operating whether idling or driving.

Simple answer is that it doesn't. Again, there are plenty of taxi and fleet vehicles that spend a significant amount of their time idling for various reasons. Letting your vehicle idle for 10-20 minutes to warm it up isn't causing damage to your engine. Wasting some fuel? Yes. But I'll gladly waste some fuel to be comfortable in my truck when it is below 0F like it is right now. I didn't buy the truck to get good mileage anyway so letting it idle and warm up before I get in with my remote start makes sense to me. Its my money, I will spend it how I want to.

 

[gathermewool]

Vehicles equipped with Air Fuel Ratio sensor(s) (wideband) only take a few seconds to go into closed loop.

My ‘08 STI had a wide band and it definitely didn’t transition to CL in seconds. How many modern cars come with wide bands, btw?

 

[LDM]

My ‘08 STI had a wide band and it definitely didn’t transition to CL in seconds. How many modern cars come with wide bands, btw?

I can't speak to all vehicles but I do tuning on GM stuff and closed loop doesn't happen until the O2 sensor have warmed up and the coolant temp reaches a certain temp as well. There is more to closed loop than just the O2 sensors.

 

[Dinoburner]

After 64 years of warming an engine for 2 min or so I ain`t changing now. It`s possible the trans benefits also.

 

[Luftmasse]

My ‘08 STI had a wide band and it definitely didn’t transition to CL in seconds. How many modern cars come with wide bands, btw?

Wideband Air Fuel Ratio sensors came out since 1992. The Honda Civic was the first to use them.

But not all vehicles are equipped with it.

 

[vavavroom]

It all depends on how cold it is and what noises she's making. Once she's purring smoothly, I'm off.

 

[Skippy722]

Are there any modern cars that startup and run in close-loop immediately. As far as I know, cars operate in OL until the cat warms up.

My truck transitions to closed loop within a few seconds of starting, it’ll still be at 1,000rpm when it clicks over. Extreme cold may prolong that, but it’s currently too cold to go deal with all that to find out!

 

[billt460]

I suppose the wheel bearings will only warm up while driving, but consider that the transmission has cooling lines that route through the radiator and thereby when an engine is warmed then the warm coolant will begin to warm the transmission.

Same deal. The engine coolant is going to warm up the transmission fluid as well as cool it. That will happen faster if you drive the vehicle slowly, as opposed to sitting, and letting it idle under no load whatsoever for an excessive period of time.

Bottom line. You aren't helping, or gaining anything by excessive idling, over driving the vehicle at a slow and modest pace. The latter will warm up everything that can be warmed up much faster. And that's the name of the game.

 

[Exhaustgases]

In the old days of propliners if they didn't follow the manufactures recommendations to have the oil temperature at the correct point, then very likely they would have some ruined engines. Warm up is to bring the oil temperature close to its operating temperature. Warm up doesn't need to be excessive, 2 or 3 minutes for most modern vehicles with thin oil a bit more would be better but no one wants to wait.

 

[billt460]

........ Only exception was Toyota I had. I would start that for 10min before driven if in mountains and I did not have access to outlet for block heater. I always carried in that car 50ft cable so I can hook up. That thing was so slow to warm up that it is crime.

I have experienced much the same with my Toyota Camry. Granted I don't live in a "cold" climate. But in the Winter here it can get into the low 40's in the morning. It's about a 3-1/2 mile drive from my house downhill to get to town. The car basically coasts all the way down.

This time of year the temperature gauge won't move off "COLD" the entire way. As soon as I get to the bottom, and give it some throttle, the needle starts to climb rather quickly, because it's under a load, and not coasting and idling.

My other 2 vehicles don't experience that as drastically as the Toyota does. For some reason they just don't build up heat as fast as most other models.

On the Toyota forum there are numerous threads from people living in cold climates, complaining how it's difficult to get any heat out of them. And it generally appears to be a problem the dealers can't seem to do anything about.

 

[nomas]

After 64 years of warming an engine for 2 min or so I ain`t changing now. It`s possible the trans benefits also.

Yeah , don't you love it when people here tell you that something you've been doing successfully for decades is suddenly wrong ?

 

[350Rocket]

Suffi

What exactly are you going to consider? Your wheel bearings are going to be driven COLD when you drive in a COLD climate. There is nothing you can do about it. Friction and dissipating brake heat will warm them slightly, but you have to drive the vehicle for that to happen.

Driving over potholes and railroad tracks in sub zero weather is going to cause shock absorbers to leak, because the seals are hard and brittle. And the fluid inside them is thick. There is no way to warm them up either.

The transmission, engine, along with everything else will warm up faster if the vehicle is being driven, not sitting and idling. Start the engine, wait for sufficient oil pressure, (2 or 3 minutes), and get underway slowly.

In below zero Winter temperatures you are going to have more leaks, period. Radiators, water pumps, heater cores, thermostat housings, etc. Having an engine constantly going from below zero, to over the boiling point, then back down to a block of ice several times a day, is going to cause constant thermal expansion and contraction. That will generate more leaks over time, than a car that resides in a constant warm or hot climate.

And to frost the cake and light the candles, you are most likely going to be dealing with road salt that is going to corrode and rust your car, regardless of how you baby it in cold weather.

Years of driving in Midwest Winters proved to me, that regardless of what you do, your vehicle is going to have a limited life, when compared to one being driven in a hot and dry climate. The only solution is to move. Ask me how I know.

Sufficient oil pressure in the engine happens within like 5 seconds even when it's minus 20, it's the transmission that I find can feel sluggish for a lot longer than that. As soon as the engine is running the transmission is pumping and warming up so it's likely best to give it a few minutes when it's this cold, before throwing it in gear and driving away. Chances are you can't see our the windows for at least that long anyway.
If you choose not to oil spray your vehicle to protect it from the salt then that also is your choice whether or not you want it to last.

 

[i6pwr]

Here's my thoughts.......when starting a cold engine and letting it idle, you allow the pistons to expand and close the gap on the skirt to cylinder wall.

This way when you drive off, the increased load will keep the pistons from being canted when the pistons have expanded.

Mind you, we are talking ten thousandths of an inch of expansion...miniscule amounts of cant or tilt but it does matter.

Also, with adequate oil pressure at idle, I'm quite baffled how this can hurt an engine as opposed to driving under a load.

 

[skyactiv]

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

I did that once years ago. It’s was very cold out and a garage door spring broke making me park outside. Put a space heater in a VW GTI with the seats rear folded down. Didn’t have to scrape frost unlike my neighbors

 

[skyactiv]

As I grow older, I could care less. If I’m at work for 10 hours and it’s 5F out, I wanna get home and will gun it out of the parking lot 6K RPM if in the Audi, engine running for 30 seconds. Seems to hold up. I cared more when I was younger.

 

[repairman54]

I have seen cold seized 2 stroke snowmobile engines. Piston expands faster than cylinder.
We are talking about real winter temps and operator starting and hammer down riding squeaking pistons.
Both liquid and air-cooled engines.
I warm up all my motors and if short warm up easy on the throttle until temp gauge gets up to normal. IE I don't' start and pull out onto the highway or make the other turn and pull uphill for 1.5 miles on a cold motor. Taking the flat route, I'll short warm up and go easy on the throttle.
Time and money are a 2-way street in certain conditions.