Poll

Do You 'Warm Up' Your Vehicle?

This poll has expired. Voting is no longer possible.
55 votes were received.

Yes	17		31%
No	36		65%
I drive a diesel, it has to warm up.	1		2%
GET OFF MY LAWN, I drive a carburetorated CLUNKER!	1		2%

---

Reading cbelt3's post got me thinking of another topic concerning "Modern Vehicles".

Warming up a vehicle in cold weather. Road & Track says no!
It takes longer, wastes fuel, and actually increases the wear and tear on your engine.
Watch for yourself and let a real engineer explain why you should stop warming up your car.

edit: doh, that should be "carbureted"!

---

39°36'17"N 75°44'43"W

The search engine that doesn't track you.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2019 11:30AM by MrNoBody.

Cars have been designed to quickly warm up since EFI became the norm. The only exception I make is unrelated to the engine; if the car has been left outside and clearing ice would be a hassle or still take a lot of time.

There’s a Shell advertisement from the 1970s ... shows still images of two cars (magazine ad.) One is idling and the other is turned off.

One car gets about 13MPG and the other ones gets 0MPG. Even I can do that math.

I let my car run long enough that it just starts to fully recognize that it's running and starting to warm up, 15 seconds to maybe 40 seconds. I try not to run it over half the redline until the water temp gets over 160 F.

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map

My wife likes heated seat to warm up. I use them occasionally, but usually just wait for the car's heater to start working.
Then I warm up.


We don't live in a super cold climate (Atlanta), so I really don't worry about driving a car as soon as it's started. But I do try not to stress the engine until the temp gauge shows it's in the normal operating range.

As deckeda suggested, times I've been where it's snowy I'll sometime start a car and let it sit for a few minutes to get the defrosters going before driving.


Good luck.

- Winston

---

------------------------
Be seeing you.

Don't waste the fuel unless the windows are covered with ice. Just start out slowly and don't rev the engine until the temp gauge starts to move. Stay under 50 mph for the first mile or so. You want the oil to be warm enough to circulate everywhere it should before you put any real strain on the engine.

On startup, the only lubricant available is the film left by the oil when it drained into the oil pan after it last stopped.

---

Ed (modelamac)

I think I will just put an OUT OF ORDER
sticker on my head and call it a day.

30 seconds or so to get the oil completely circulated through the engine after the car has been sitting overnight (my Golf has a fast idle that runs at 1400 rpm or so for about that long), and then I’m off. I pay close attention to the oil temperature (not the coolant temp) and wait until the oil hits at least 160-180 degrees before any hard acceleration.

---

In the colder weather, yes. When it's warmer, or hot, not so much.
==

Quote
Buzz
In the colder weather, yes. When it's warmer, or hot, not so much.
==

Yeah, prob a regional thing. Coldest it ever gets here is 30ish, and thats in the dead of night early morning only for a few days out of the year.

meh.

---

----


Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

If the windshield is not easily scraped, yes. But not for the engine, it is so the defroster can help me out.

Quote
TLB
If the windshield is not easily scraped, yes. But not for the engine, it is so the defroster can help me out.

^ This. My most recent car before the current one was my first-and-only "fastback", so between the extra-large rear window that was a magnet for even the lightest frost and and an equally large windshield, that was a lot of glass area to have to scrape without a bit of thermal assistance.

I was spoiled by the car prior to that one because it was a station wagon with an air deflector on the rear. Although I must have at some point, in 13 years of driving it I don't recall having to scrape the back window on that car even once. It was, however, carbureted, so I had the choice of either stumbling and balking at every red light or letting it warm up a bit before setting off.

---

WARNING- If I posted a link in the above message, assume it is at minimum "NSFW- Language". Occasionally you'll be wrong.

Lie to me if you must, but don't lie to me and insult my intelligence in the same sentence.

Resist the Thought Police: George Orwell's book 1984 was meant as a warning, not an instruction manual.

"Political correctness is just intellectual colonialism and psychological fascism for the creation of thought crime" - Steve Hughes

Stop and think about this: If you're able to shout the words "I CAN'T BREATHE!!!" at considerable volume, then you have just proven to anyone listening that you can indeed breathe.

"I don't see color, I just see ugly" - Joe Jitsukawa

During bad or cold weather I usually start it, clear the snow/ice off car as needed, then get in and go.
I always try real hard to not go over 2,000 RPM's for the first couple of minutes driving when cold. That's easy going to work in the morning, at 4:45 AM there is very little traffic on my road.

Dave

---

Welcome to Dave's BBQ!

Many have eaten here....

Few have died

Only reason I remote start is to make the interior the temperature I want. Has nothing to do with letting the engine get up to operating temp before moving.

---

C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Throwback Thursday Signature:

Lubrication requirements for the valve train in my QX70 (and the G37 before it -- same engine) are more stringent than is typical, so after starting the engine I let it run for about ten seconds before taking off to give the oil enough time to provide sufficient lubrication. I can literally hear when it is ready to go.

---

It is what it is.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2019 04:13PM by N-OS X-tasy!.

30sec and easy driving until the temperature gauge needle gets off the peg.

I also keep the fan and heat off, until the needle moves.

I've done this with my FI car and bike.

Previously, with all my carbureted cars, I let them warm until they were close to the fast idle dropping. Then I'd ease on down the road until the needle was off the peg.

Prior to having FI, I always dropped the warm idle lower than factory because I hated having cars do 15mph on idle alone.

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Poll needs more options.

---

Help MacInTouch: Buy from Amazon? use this link [amazon.com]
Mac News & Info: [macintouch.com] [macnn.com] [tuaw.com]
Mac Benchmarks: [barefeats.com]
Used Mac Stuff [FS/T]: LowEndMac Swap List
Mac Software Updates: [macupdate.com]
Fonts: [dafont.com] [fontspace.com]
Online Computer Store With Mac Support: [macsales.com]

Quote
SDGuy

YES!

Hide spoiler

Haha, I knew it before I clicked!

Quote
M A V I C
Poll needs more options.

And FrankX wins the meta award!

Quote
C(-)ris
Only reason I remote start is to make the interior the temperature I want. Has nothing to do with letting the engine get up to operating temp before moving.

Yes. For me, not the car. Honestly, I usually just go right away and freeze until things warm up due to impatience and a lack of planning ahead, but this is such a dumb argument. Anyone who lets the car warm up for the car’s sake is misguided, but if its cold enough to warrant that (even if unnecessary), it’s cold enough that the car will be more comfortable once warm.

About 90 seconds. OTOH, Modern Mazdas take about 5 minutes for the heating system to warm up! I've looked online, spoken with other Mazda owners. It seems to be a side effect of the SkyActiv system

---

San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

The manual for the three VW's I've owned over the past 21 years have all stated NOT to warm up the engine, but rather drive gently for the first few minutes.

Quote
M A V I C
Poll needs more options.

Yep. Didn't answer.

What others said, drive gently until fully warm. Don't have an oil-temp gauge, but would be a good idea. Do have an oil-pressure gauge in my Expy, so I make sure it's up.

Years ago, in the '70s, a neighbor had a big white GM station wagon, which he used to go out and warm up by racing the engine loudly. I kept thinking, "What a fool; he's racing a cold engine; probably will kill the rings." But we moved away, so I never knew what happened.

/Mr Lynn

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!
Lubrication requirements for the valve train in my QX70 (and the G37 before it -- same engine) are more stringent than is typical, so after starting the engine I let it run for about ten seconds before taking off to give the oil enough time to provide sufficient lubrication. I can literally hear when it is ready to go.

About the same with my car. It sounds kinda janky until things get going after some seconds. I typically will open the passenger side first (as it sits closer to my house) put in my bag, start the engine and then walk around to the other side.