How important is it to warm the car up in the morning?

[Praxis]

I warm up for a few minutes just because I am old fashioned.

[Roger427]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Nothing personal, just grabbing one of a number of posts that express this same view... which many experts in the field say is incorrect.

For example, here's Tom and Ray, from Car Talk

TOM: If it's bitterly cold out, like 10 or 20 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, you can let it warm up for a minute or two to allow the oil to thin out a bit and circulate completely. But other than that, if it runs, driving it gently is the best way to warm it up.

This goes to show how little those dorks know. The oil won't thin out in a minute or two. Check out Bobistheoilguy for facts. It's all about oil flow and pressure. You want the flow at normal pressures but when oil is cold, it will not flow as well so you will either have low flow or excessive pressure; neither of which are good. It's perfectly OK to drive slowly until oil is at operating temps but I wouldn't do any heavy acceleration until oil temps are over 180. Running with a load will increase oil temps much faster than idling. Oil temps rise much slower than water temps. My heater will blow warm air in a few minutes where it takes 15 mins for oil to get to 150 with 40 ambient.

[Malloric]

Also, read what the Cart Talk article says. It says you can. It doesn't say it serves any purpose because it doesn't. You're not really going to do any appreciable harm by letting it idle for a minute or two. It doesn't set the oil will warm up or flow at normal pressures. It says it will thin out a bit and circulate completely. Both are true. It'd do the same thing if you were gently driving down the street as well, it'd just do it faster.

[Hiromant]

I live in a climate similar to southern Alaska and usually only warm the car while scraping snow and ice off of it. During cold waves the inside of the windshield can be frozen as well, that warrants additional warming as scraping it will leave hard to remove smudges. I've seen some people rev cold engines in frigid weather or take off like a rocket three seconds after starting, well it's their loss.

[southernnaturelover]

Mine always runs at a higher rpm when it's cold, so I sit there a minute and wait for the rpm to fall before putting it into gear.