Do you warm up your car on cold mornings?

[mik]

I let them run for about 20 or 30 seconds while i fiddle around putting my phone in the dock ,wallet in the console, put on seat belt/s , adjust everything , turn on radio , then just drive off gently until it warms up a bit .

[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.

[Jess1992]

Originally Posted by Olbucko

Must be something wrong with it, needs servicing or low on fluid, I have a Falcon and a Territory, both with ZFs, they have never clunked, even at -6 start ups, and the Territory has had an air cooler for years.

You maybe right but I dunno. The ZF uses a heat exchanger because it has an optimum temperature range in which it performs. If you start car and drive straight away, it hasn't had a chance to heat up to temp, so it is clunkyish until then which is only 2-3 mins or so usually

[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?

[nstg8a]

I live in Brisbane, haven't had a cold morning since I moved here in '08

[Express]

I warm up the ones with carbies and the injected ones I drive off as soon as I’m settled.

I just had a quick read of a couple of my owner’s manuals and they couldn’t be any more different.

My Merc says as an environment issue ‘not to warm up the engine with the vehicle stationary’.
As part of the normal driving instructions it says warm up is not necessary and at low engine oil temperatures below 20 Celsius the management system restricts engine speed in order to protect the engine.
It says the engine oil temperature reading will continue flashing until it reaches 80 Celsius and to avoid full engine output during this time.

The VF Commodore says ‘do not subject the engine to full throttle acceleration or high speeds until it has reached normal operating temperature as premature engine wear or damage may result’.

It makes no mention of not warming the car up while idling and I guess that is because it goes on to discuss remote starting for vehicles fitted with automatic transmissions.

With remote start the vehicle can be run for 10 or 20 minutes by pressing the remote once or twice.
If you wish to run it for longer you have to press the engine start button in the vehicle to on then off before the remote start can be used again.

Obviously Holden doesn’t have a problem with idling cars.

[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.

[Express]

Originally Posted by vztrt

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.

Heated seats make me want to go to the loo.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Express

Heated seats make me want to go to the loo.

Lucky you can turn them off then.

[Express]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Lucky you can turn them off then.

Luckily I can.

In my car when you switch them on they count down and cycle down through the temperature range until they switch themselves off.

It indicates on the dash as the temperature decreases.

They are also way too hot for the Aussie climate and never get used.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Express

Heated seats make me want to go to the loo.

We had heated (and Airconditioned) seats in our Euro Trucks.
They're good... unless your smartarse changeover driver turns the heated part on when he gets out and I get in and it's the middle of summer

[Express]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

We had heated (and Airconditioned) seats in our Euro Trucks.
They're good... unless your smartarse changeover driver turns the heated part on when he gets out and I get in and it's the middle of summer

All Aussie sold cars should come with AirCon seats, it's the perfect climate for them.

[Blue Shadow]

Originally Posted by Sabantien

No, the closest I come is on a hot day, turning the engine over so I can open all the windows and let the aircon blow some of the hot air out before I hop in. Generally doesn't idle longer than it takes to pull the sunscreen off and fold it up and pop it in the back window.

I do have 'fond' memories of living in a reasonably cold place, and the morning ritual in winter was me pushing the old Corolla station wagon down the driveway so Mum could clutch start it because it wouldn't turn over. If I was lucky it would start in the driveway and I wouldn't have to keep pushing down the road.

Yep thats me too, thinking more about getting the inside cool than getting the engine warm. By the way at least you pushed the corolla down the driveway and not up and it was a corolla and not a falcon lol, happy days

[Blue Shadow]

Originally Posted by Express

Heated seats make me want to go to the loo.

They might dry up your aggets too

[LG17]

I warm my car up every morning that I drive it.
I don't just sit in the shed idling though.
I get out on the road and trundle along slowly into town (about 12km) and let it warm up easily.
No I don't hold the traffic up as there is never any. One of the advantages of living in the bush.

[turbodewd]

Ive never warmed my cars up. just drive 'normal' until its warm

[blackf6]

I run the air compressor, to build up air. Brakes don't come off otherwise.
I just start up. Let the idle stabilise. And move off gently, so the engine doesn't chug, or lug.

[V8Crazy]

Start the car, fiddle around (ipod/music/radio/whatever), back out, shut the garage door, by then the idles already dropped off and temp gauge reading, then i just back out and drive her lightly/under 2k rpm mostly - live in sydneys west so in winter it can get relatively cold (well cold enough to ice up windscreens anyway, usually heading off round 7am, though my car lives inside )

I live in a housing estate with a fairly long entrance road with a 60kmph limit and enough cars to keep you to that speed.

By the time i get to the lights at the end the oil temp normally just starts reading on the gauge (lowest reading is 50Deg) and the water temps nearly ready for the thermostat to open then i'm off and driving normal

[jpblue1000]

Those that let their car idle warm, how long do you keep em? I'm pretty sure no dramas show up in 3-5 years up to 100k km's.
JP

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

Those that let their car idle warm, how long do you keep em? I'm pretty sure no dramas show up in 3-5 years up to 100k km's.
JP

This also can be said for driving off with cold engine.

I have had a few cars up to 10 to 15 years old, I don't think the warm up has had much contribution to engine wear, after all they are designed to run hot not cold.

[MITCHAY]

These days I'm not sure anymore. I have tried to pay a little bit of mechanical sympathy as it is getting old and as much as I try to resist I usually put the boot in hot or cold.

I know I have a bad synchro and now sounds like it is developing a bit of ping but over 10 years of flogging and still running relatively good says a lot.

My immediate problem is my clutch pedal has put a hole in my work shoes

[03 GHIA]

All this reading about glazed cylinders, surely it can't be that common? A couple of years ago I left my dads company car idling for maybe 10min every so often while they were on holidays to keep the battery in good shape.
Until one day I forgot about it. Went to work, then out after, came back 24hrs later to it idling in the driveway. Still ran perfect, though it was replaced 2 weeks later.

However back to the topic, I do let the XR idle for a few minutes before driving as the ZF is a bit lazy first thing when cold.

[Twinkles]

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

I tried to once, but it didn't fit in the microwave.

Did you try the oven?

[Shonky.]

I just idle through the gears until either a car is behind me, or the engine oil starts to get a bit of movement on the gauge.

Then short shift and light throttle until warm

Would not bother disrupting my life too much, but just a little mechanical sympathy when cold

[Beastie]

I just let Global Warming take care of mine....

Just get in there and drive it (admittedly, gently at first).

[fps_grandma]

The last gen BMW M3 had a variable redline that stays low and goes up until the engine has warmed up:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...ormance-page-3

http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/m3/2009/l...indicator.html

By this point we should now be settled the debate on idling an EFI or carburetted car and also:

I'm discouraged from idling for more than several seconds from my EFI car especially when the cat converter hasn't warmed up and I'm still in the garage. As per:

Originally Posted by castellan

The only glazing of the bore that I have seen is only due to old people who only plod around town taking it real easy all the time mainly and never make the engine work.

And new engines where people believe that you have to take it easy is a major one where they glaze the bores.
Fact is no one will destroy a new engine by driving it to hard and it's a fact that driving to easy it can bugger it up due to glazing the bore.

Cop cars I have seen sitting for hours idling with the aircon on at road works, and such have never glazed a bore. because they get driven hard they don't glaze up. if you did hours of idling and then only pussy foot it sure it will eventually glaze up.

The car that is driven by a little old lady to church once a week is the worst type of engine that most likely will be glazed.

I sigh when the nearby elderly couple spend 10 minutes idling their EFI BL Mazda 3 in their garage that's barely open and the toxic pollutants fill it up pretty quick.

But I have to admit seeing the single (inline 6) exhaust slowly billowing out from behind in my rear view mirror is cool while waiting at a red light.
It would look even better with dual/quad exhausts but only for cars with a V, VR or boxer engine configuration.

Originally Posted by Express

Heated seats make me want to go to the loo.

I'm glad it's not just me feeling like an old fart when sitting in someone else's car with heated seats.

[mitelsx2000]

I always let the engine idle for several minutes in the morning and when back from a long trip.
Never had any issues with the last 2 cars

[Sox]

Originally Posted by Olbucko

Another reason for not warming an engine up by idling it slowly for a long period is that when it is cold and idling slowly the oil pressure can be low and very little oil would be pumped out from the oil hole on the big end of each conrod that sprays oil into the bores, causing the pistons to run without lubrication.
I read once that some V8s can seize if they are idled for long periods at very low revs.

Not really true.

Oil builds up very high pressure in literally a couple of seconds when cold.
Massive amounts of oil is pumped through a cold engine these days.

As for pistons squirters, they're not really needed anyhow.
We've built many engines without them using custom rods.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Sox

Not really true.

Oil builds up very high pressure in literally a couple of seconds when cold.
Massive amounts of oil is pumped through a cold engine these days.

As for pistons squirters, they're not really needed anyhow.
We've built many engines without them using custom rods.

Anyone that has taken the rocker cover off and started the engine will see just how fast the oil starts pumping everywhere instantly, the old holden red motors etc were much less so as oil just dribbled out the pushrods at idle.

[GO FURTHER]

Thanks to everyone for their responses and insights so far, much appreciated.
I did a tally up of all who responded up to this point and here are the results so far;

Of the 56 members who responded and answered the original question...

- 21 or 37.5% said they warm up their car before driving off.

- 35 or 62.5% said they never warm up their car even for a few minutes and drive straight off.

I also get the feeling that if someone owns an old car, is the family hack, a company car, or a runabout that is no longer "loved" then these cars are not "warmed up" before driving off.

It would be interesting to see how the results would differ if it was a brand new car that one wanted to keep for a long time and belonged to an enthusiast owner.