Warming up
 

so i've been wondering and reading around about different people allowing their cars to warm up before they drive. However, it also seems that that majority are in hellavula cold temps like 20 below......

.....so i'm wondering if its absolutely necessary to warm up ur car....especially if your engine is up in the years.{around 150,000}....but its not very cold here in jersey....i'd say around 30's-40's lately.....

...for now, when I first start up in the morning {and after school} it'll start up to about 1500 rpms and then i try not to move till its around 1000rpms.....totally warm the engine runs around 600-700rpms..{but that's after you've been driving}....so is it good to warm up? or is it a waste of time/gas??

i never juswt jump in the car and go. I usually wait at least a minute, after starting the car in any weather

It's really only necessary to allow the car to warm up for 1 or 2 minutes at most. Just enough to get the oil flowing.

I am probably one of the folks you saw that warms thiers up forever. But I am not warming up the engine. I'm warming up the cabin. I'm a big ol' wussy when it comes to cold, so I'll waste the gas and risk the "wear and tear" so I don't have to shiver while driving.

If it's really cold I'll wait a few mins. In a mild or warm temp, I won't wait. However, I don't let the car rev over 3000 RPM until it's warmed up a bit.

I remember reading (a few years ago) that 30 seconds to a minute is enough time for most late-model autos. As long as you don't push the engine too hard (until it reaches normal operating temp), anything after that is just wasting gas.

Now on my '69 Executive it takes a good 5 minutes before it is running smooth enough to drive, but that's another era.

Some mornings I allow it to run for 5-10 minutes, but thats only to warm the cabin and defrost the windshield (my gets icy on the inside, it's a PITA :( ). And as said before, I don't push it past 2500-3000rpm's till it nice and warm.

^ agreed

You wuss! Get yourself a seat-heater. Keeps you nice and roasty toasty while you're waitng for the cabin to heat up. :D (Course, in my Park, there's two levels of heat for the seats. Bun-warmer :) , and contraceptive mode! :shock: )

Agreed. There is no reason to let the car warm up after you first start it in the morning unless you want it nice an toasty inside before you drive it. I guess that's why they are starting to include Remote Starters in cars today.

I remember my father's 1961 Star Chief had a COLD indicator light. In a way it was a good idea for those times when you had a passenger that said "Turn on the Heat" so they could physically SEE that the engine was still COLD!!! In fact, my friend's VW New Beetle has a COLD Indicator light. I use to have a Tornado that had Automatic Temp HVAC and would not turn the fan ON, in the winter, until the engine was somewhere around 120 degrees F

i let mine warm up for about 7min or so before work but only when its cold out and it to get the ice melted off the windshield. yeah it burns a lil bit more gas but it beat getting to a freezing cold car.

I always start mine up and let it idle for about a minute or so, not having heat isn't a big deal to me, I'd rather have it but I can live without it until the car warms up, its really not a big deal. If it has snow/ice on it, I will start it up and then scrape all that off, then get in. However, even when the engine is warm I let it idle for a minute or so because you are supposed to with a water cooled turbo to allow the turbo to warm up before driving. Its bad to just start it up and get full boost right away...you could damage the turbo. It is also bad to shut it off right away as well, you are supposed to let it idle for a minute or two to cool down as well.

Shawn

I'd be lost without my remote starter.

:stupid: But only in the winter. In the summer, I just leave the windows down when I can...

remote start baby

yeah, i'm thinkin' about gettin' a remote starter soon too.....as soon as i have $150-$200 to kill....

Exactly....it's SOO nice! :wink:

Actualy it is not good to warmup modern fuel injected cars more than the time it takes to back out of the driveway.

When the engine is cold it runs a little rich, the excess fuel gets into the cat an can overheat and damage it. Putting a light load on the engine (driving) warms it up faster.

And to add to that, it's not about 'warming up' at all. The issue with a pushrod motor is to get the oil circulating to the valvetrain. That takes about 10 seconds, tops. Even in cold weather.

I always wait untill my car hits 160* before I hit 3000 rpm. I ALWAYS wait for my trans to be warm enough to lockup TC before I go WOT. This usually doesn't happen until the engine is at 180* on stock T-stat.

I always turn my car on, and as soon as it kicks i floor it, then i slam it into drive....








JK :lol:

ha, i first read that and cringed....good u were just kidding, but i know a girl @ my job that does that....you can almost feel the car's pain when she does.... :cry:

I also noticed that if I start my car, then back it out and shut it of for a couple minutes it has a VERY hard time starting back up.

MOS you ain't no wussy - you just don't want folks to think you be dancing up in the car. :wink:

I let mine just warm up for a minute or so. I usually fiddle around with the radio and get the seatbelt on etc, while I'm waiting. On the few days of the year when it gets pretty cold I might warm it up for a little longer so it's nice and toasty inside. I usually don't wear a coat ever (part of the benefit of living in the South) but I will throw on a sweater and jump in the car.

my bro does that sometimes, he busted a motor mount once like that... he drives like a maniac too...

My poor Bonneville and Blazer get the worse from me. I always have to get going if I get a call. Theres no warm up or anything, its in gear, lights on, and down the road. Poor baby... :cry: :oops:

ill let mine warm for a minute or so, mine lives in the garage but still.... HEAT?!? whats that? i never took my 180* stat out and i have a 40-45 min highway drive to work, most i get is a mild warm breeze... but thats ok, it keeps me awake for the drive to work.

Yeah, a short wait to build oil pressure is always a good idea. In my old VW bus, I've gotta wait about a minute for the trans fluid to realize the motor is running before I can go anywhere, anyway. (LOL)

And, one thing you NEVER want to do is high rev the engine immediately after it starts. I can't believe how many people I see and hear do this. Had a neighbor lady once destroy the engine in a new Mercury this way - just clueless!

Pending on weather.. if its -15C or below I will let it warm up for 10 min. But I park underground @ work.. so I have enough time to light a smoke.. put seat belt on, change the radio.. roll down the window and drive.. then stop @ the car station underground clean the windows * maybe check tire pressure* then go.

I keep my RPM under 2500 RPM for at least 25 miles or more till I know the oil is up the operating temp. Easiest way for me is if I stop and the oil pressure drops compared while runnin, the oil is close to or up to operating temps ( since I don't have an oil temp gauge ).. after that I would only consider going WOT.

Ooooo! You must have had one of them new fangled buses that was water cooled and had heat. I drove a '67 Microbus(air cooled) that NEVER warmed up (the cabin) in the winter. And they say "those were the good ol' days?", I think not!!!

C'mon, those were good days. You could fix anything on a 60 something VW with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers

Sorry to continue to be slightly :roll: off topic....but Yes you could fix 95% of those original VW's with a 10 & 13mm wrench/socket(and a screw driver and a pair of pliers). So, yeah that was the good part of owning one of those cars. And don't forget the match book cover trick to set the points when you didn't have a feeler gauge(.016"). But I don't miss clearing the ice & snow off the windshield while driving with my hand out the window with my ice scraper because it had no defroster to speak of. BTW, included with the tool kit of the New Beetles, they include a 10 & 13mm open end wrench. But, rest assured, it's just for laughs. :)

Yeah, we're drivin an '87 now - water cooled, a/c, automatic, pop top Westy. We've had a long list of pop tops including a 66, 71, 73, 75, 81, and 84. Owning these has always been a love/hate relationship and trips must be planned with proximity of import parts houses as a primary consideration. (Would be funny if it weren't true!) The '66 would probably be worth about $8k now. (Sorry for the off-topic :oops: )

[quote="dblack1"]I always turn my car on, and as soon as it kicks i floor it, then i slam it into drive....

: :hit it:

JK :lol

I usually let mine run just until the needle starts to move on the temp gauge and keep her under 2000 rpm until it is at operating temp.