Do you warm up your car on cold mornings?

[GO FURTHER]

Would like to know members opinions on this.
On a cold morning, do you warm up your car before driving off, if so how long, or do you drive off straight away?

I've always made it a habit to idle the car for a few minutes before taking off.
Obviously, since the most engine wear occurs when the engine is cold.
Since recently installing my oil pressure gauge, it has made me more aware of how long it actually takes for the oil pressure to drop inline with the oil temperature and reaching normal engine operating temps. On a cold morning, driving at between 1500 to 2000 rpm sees the oil pressure start at around 82 psi, and after 10 to 15 minutes of driving will settle down to an average of 50 to 55 psi (using new fully synthetic 10W - 40).
On my next oil change, and coming into winter, I'll run 0W - 40, and it will be interesting to see how much lower the oil pressure will be on cold start ups.

Interestingly, I've been researching this topic, and it seems motorists are divided on this issue of warming up a car (not talking about cars that sit out in really cold climates and snow conditions).

Some say that modern cars, (since fuel injection took over from carburettors) don't need to be warmed up, as the ECU will compensate in the air / fuel ratio and timing, etc), where as older cars needed to be warmed up especially those with manual chokes before they ran smoothly.

Others say that idling a car to warm it up is not the best way, since you are not warming up the gearbox, diff and other components at the same time, so driving it straight off is better.

Then again, some say that warming up a turbocharged car is more important before giving it the boot than a naturally aspirated car, which seems obvious.

So what do you guys do?
What's your daily start up procedure ?

Thanks

[290GTP]

I dont warm any of my cars up, but I don't flog them either, at least until their up to temperature.

[Grippy]

Whether it's needed these days or not I'm not sure, but I was always bought up to warm up my cars for a short period, and more importantly to never give them a hard time until they're up to temperature.

[vztrt]

This has been covered mant times. Modern engines dont need to be warmed up. Drive the car sensibly till the temps get up, the engines are also designed to warm up quickly while driving. Your doing more damage letting it idle.

Also while you get your eng up to temp the rest of the drivetrain is still cold.

[GO FURTHER]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Your doing more damage letting it idle.

Is this because, the fuel / air ratio is running richer on cold startups, and the extra petrol is "washing away" the oil on the cylinder walls, causing less lubrication and greater wear?

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by BAXRSIX

Is this because, the fuel / air ratio is running richer on cold startups, and the extra petrol is "washing away" the oil on the cylinder walls, causing less lubrication and greater wear?

excessive idling causes Cylinder Glazing

"The glazed cylinder wall causes rings to "skate" on the highly polished finish and discourages the minute amount of wear which is necessary to mate piston rings with the bore"

not sure its its more of a big diesel problem, But its really noticeable on old yard Trucks that never get on the road.

They Puff away with white smoke

[Sioso]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

excessive idling causes Cylinder Glazing

"The glazed cylinder wall causes rings to "skate" on the highly polished finish and discourages the minute amount of wear which is necessary to mate piston rings with the bore"

not sure its its more of a big diesel problem, But its really noticeable on old yard Trucks that never get on the road.

They Puff away with white smoke

I think this is what may have contributed to an engine failure I had.
Brand new car, used to let it warm up for 3-4 minutes every morning before driving off.
Engine failure at 7,000k's!

As others have said, no warm up period just take it easy until it comes up to temp.

[PHANTMXR6]

I do, and will continue to do so. I don't think the ambient temp ever gets cold enough in the topend to call it cold, but when the car is at ambient I do.

Nothing too drastic though, just start the car and idle for 3-4 minutes before backing out of the driveway.

Idling can't hurt as long as it's not for extended periods of time.
How long do you sit in one spot idling in peak hour traffic...

[XR6WGN]

I lived in Canberra for a couple of years and during winter I'd give all mine a couple of minutes - start it, put seat belts on etc then move off but most of my cars back then were carby, not fuel injected.

[Vesper Martini]

So long as your engine has the specified oil (or better) and its changed at the correct intervals.
Its designed to operate from cold right through to hot.

but keep warming up your old classics

[The Yeti]

my modern cars I just take it easy till the temp gets up a little, my old splash feed stuff I let warm up a little (just a few mins idling) then off I go

[Big_Daz]

Don't bother with my Mazda, but I don't give heaps until it warms up..

When I had my FG Turbo I would just not give it a bootful and use minimal boost until warm...

My first car was a Carby Astron 2 Magna wagon which I had no bloody choice but to warm up before heading to school... Was an absolute pig on cold mornings until you got some temp into...

[crainger]

Have always, hoped in. Primed the fuel pump (in my old VL) and started. Seat belt on. Mirror check and off I go.

My understanding is the ECU has warm up cycles. I know my old VL wouldn't shift in to OD until I'd been driving for 5-10 min. I just avoid spirited driving until warm.

A guy I worked with would warm his XR4 up for 10-15min of an afternoon. Although he did thrash the hell out of it.

Our neighbour would warm his Land Cruiser up from 0530 to 0600 every morning. If I wasn't already up at the time I'd be sneaking out to turn it off.

[DBourne]

Start, then let the car sit for about 2min, then drive sedately until temps are up, then she's good to go.

Also, drive sedately for the last few K of the trip home, before turning it off.

[Franco Cozzo]

In winter in my Focus i start it up and let the heater run for about 10-15 minutes to defrost the windscreen because its iced over.

Other than that get in and drive her.

The F100 is a PITFA when its cold so it has to warm up first.

[nuthin' fancy]

I do. Both my EL montys are high mileage. It is just sympathetic to the car.

[CoupeKing]

There was a similar discussion a while back. What I got from it was that with most older cars you have no choice but to warm them up a little for them to run properly, and with the newer cars, just driving them normally is warming them up.

[Ben73]

I warm mine up for about 20 seconds or so.
I will just drive easy until it's up to normal temp no matter what the outside temp is.

No way I would ilde my diesel to operating temp. It would take 30 minutes I reckon.
Gentle driving in the middle of winter takes about 10 minutes to get the temp up towards normal.

[xurbanx]

I warm it up for the same length of time it takes me to book the morning's parking - usually about a minute or two.

[Qwerty321]

I always aim to let it warm up for a minute or two before driving it in the mornings, but in reality this rarely ever happens. I'm always running late

[LyleXR8]

I hit the key and straight into it, my neighbours already hate my car at 4.30 am, they'd hate me more if I idled it for a couple of minutes

[Sox]

Idling an engine to warm up is worse than driving off cold.

There is no compelling reason to warm up a modern car engine by stationary idling.

We used to idle our engines because they wouldn't run well with carburettors when cold.
Modern engines are ready to drive immediately, and better for it.

Engines warm up much faster when driving than idling.
Not only that, the rest of the drive train, transmission, diff, tyres, also warm up at the same time.

Idling an engine to warm up is not only totally unnecessary, but wasteful of fuel.

Almost all car manufactures now encourage driving immediately.

Obviously don't thrash the engine until it's at operating temp.

[LTDHO]

I can't think of a quicker way to glaze up the bores than to let it idle up to temp.

I drive straight away but no hard acceleration, etc.

[Qwerty321]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

I can't think of a quicker way to glaze up the bores than to let it idle up to temp.

I drive straight away but no hard acceleration, etc.

A few years ago I used to keep my engine revved up at stop lights cause it made it heat up quickly so the bloody heater would start working. Looking back on it now I was a bit of an idiot.

Which brings me onto another thing, why the hell don't manufacturers put electric heater coils in the vents for the cold mornings. Waiting for the car to warm up takes bloody forever!

[Carrion]

I used to warm up the old DF LTD, mainly just to have a smoke before getting in the car. Such a lovely leather interior in that car.

My new cars owners manual says not to warm it up (turbo).


Lucky I gave up smoking before buying this car.

[Qwerty321]

Originally Posted by Carrion

I used to warm up the old DF LTD, mainly just to have a smoke before getting in the car. Such a lovely leather interior in that car.

My new cars owners manual says not to warm it up (turbo).


Lucky I gave up smoking before buying this car.

One thing I've noticed is my BA tends to prefer running cold. All other cars I've driven warm up till the needle is at the middle, then maintain it there. My BA however seems to aim to keep the needle just above 1/4, and the cooling fans (which sound like jet engines btw - the airflow is phenomenal. There's enough suction to hold cardboard to the front grill, I've never seen anything like it on a car before) kick in when it nears the mid point and turn off when it's back down to around 1/4.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Qwerty321

Which brings me onto another thing, why the hell don't manufacturers put electric heater coils in the vents for the cold mornings. Waiting for the car to warm up takes bloody forever!

Australia isnt even remotely cold enough to require that.

[Qwerty321]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Australia isnt even remotely cold enough to require that.

Yea but cars in general don't have them. Even cars which are marketed globally or in places with cold climates.

[Mercury Bullet]

My Volvo S80 will rev up to 1500 on a cold start, it will sit there for about a minute before settling to normal. The transmission is locked while it's doing this. Hot starts you can drive away immediately.

The XR8, I tend to just drive although the initial throttle application in gear gives a shove, no matter how lightly it's touched. It only does it once so I assume it's in some kind of warm up mode?

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Qwerty321

Yea but cars in general don't have them. Even cars which are marketed globally or in places with cold climates.

Maybe it was looked at but doesnt work, uses to much power to work, unreliable. Or maybe heated seats are just a better way of doing it. Most cold climate cars have a fair bit of heating in the driveline.