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My mom is convinced I will be damaging my engine if I don't let it warm up for at least 2 minutes on really cold mornings.
I've read that modern engines don't need this warm up time and it's better to just turn the car on and just go, rather than letting it idle.
I have a 2005 vehicle.
Also another question, do diesel engines need to warm up?
I noticed that the school buses at my former high school idled quite a bit and I always wondered if there was a reason they liked to waste fuel and cause me a huge headache for the rest of the day....or if this was necessary for engine health.
A 30-second warm up should be perfectly adequate, provided you don't start driving like Mario Andretti as soon as you get going. It also depends partly on how cold it is. I used to live in Minnesota, where it was 30 below some mornings. It took awhile just to get oil flowing at that temperature.
Regarding diesels... They're harder to start in extreme cold, so people tend to leave them idling instead of turning them off. Also, diesels burn virtually no fuel when their idling, and not pulling any kind of load. But you're right, they stink.
15-20 minutes of idling?
I don't think so, my car is lucky if I let it sit 20 seconds for idling...(aside from a traffic jam, stop light, etc) but even that does a number on my conscious...
I don't start out fast, the most I'll do in the morning is 15 and once I have gone about a mile, I go up to about 30-35 (depending on how fast I have to go to "get out there" on the main road by my house...). I'm not a huge jackrabbit driver.
My big issue now is my car starting in cold weather but it's more of a Saturn issue than an overall car issue. Today I was late for work, I ended up getting it to start by holding a lighter up to where I play my key...and it worked like a charm.
I usually just start it up an go. But the only time I sit in the driveway and let it "warm up" is when there is frost on my windows and I don't feel like scraping it off. So I just sit in the car as it heats up and the frost starts to melt. This usually all just takes 5 minutes.
I live in an area of high humidity, so every morning I have to take a towel and wipe off my windows, as well as the headlight and taillight surrounds. I do that while the car is warming up.
I don't warm the car up for more than a minute or two. It doesn't really waste gas, and it gets everything flowing good, reducing engine wear. A lot of younger drivers disregard the warm up, but eventually you realize it is worth it. I find it more important on larger vehicles and models that are 5+ years old.
The best analogy I have is a rubber band.. If you stretch a new one to the extreme, it will break. However, if you gradually increase over time it retains elasticity. In the same way, gunning your car on a cold morning ruins your engine and transmission over time. Warm ups ease cause your vehicle to retain its "elasticity".
I work for the railroad, and in the Winter we leave our locomotives idling when not in use, even overnight at times. You don't really waste fuel, but it sure beats trying to manually warm up the engine, probably to no avail, on a cold morning. When Hitler invaded Russia the factor that caused him to get beat down was the fact that the Germans failed to keep their engines running, and failed to warm them up. Granted, that was a long time ago, and technology has changed, but the principle is the same.
That said, one should drive a little easy, as in no hard acceleration, until the car is at or near full operating temperature regardless of climate.
Agreed! Unfortunately many people nowadays don't understand what "a little easy" is. I know in my vehicle the computer wont even lock up the torque converter until it reaches a certain temperature. I don't drive over about 50mph until it's warm enough for that to happen.
Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
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And if you drive a prius you know the engine only turns on when you need to recharge the battery or when the batteries do not have enough power for your acceleration~ than it shuts off! Warmup time before running under load ~ zero! Does that mean the prius cannot be used in the winter? According to most of you that is not the case!!!
And if you drive a prius you know the engine only turns on when you need to recharge the battery or when the batteries do not have enough power for your acceleration~ than it shuts off! Warmup time before running under load ~ zero! Does that mean the prius cannot be used in the winter? According to most of you that is not the case!!!
Kind of a different engine isn't it though. As for the gas one only coming on when needed, if it is -30 and it cools completely between times, I really don't give it that long of a life span. Are they usable? Yes. We will have to wait and see how dependable they are in real cold climates.
When oil is cold, it doesn't flow as well as when its hot. If you're driving before your oil gets up to a temperature where it flows easily, there's a good chance your engine isn't being lubricated as well as it should be.
You can drive it that way, but it might last longer if you let it warm up a little.
When oil is cold, it doesn't flow as well as when its hot. If you're driving before your oil gets up to a temperature where it flows easily, there's a good chance your engine isn't being lubricated as well as it should be.
You can drive it that way, but it might last longer if you let it warm up a little.
But an engine warms up faster when the car is being driven compared to letting it idle.
I do what the experts recommend... waiting no longer than 30 seconds to start driving and using light throttle for the first one or two miles depending on the weather.
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