The myth about warming up your car on a cold day

Globe & Mail ^ | February 25, 2015 | PETER CHENEY

[rickmichaels]

The Stegosaurus disappeared more than 100 million years ago, doomed by its tiny brain and a changing world. Then we come to the carburetor, a crude fuel-mixing device that once ruled the automotive universe.

Today, the carburetor is largely extinct, kicked aside by the modern fuel-injection system. Yet millions of drivers still seem to be stuck in the Jurassic Period. I thought of this recently when I watched a man spend 10 minutes warming up a fuel-injected Toyota that could have been driven seconds after it was started.

Few processes are as poorly understood as the cold-weather start. Back in the days of carburetion, a car couldn’t be driven until it was warmed up. Today, warming-up is a counterproductive exercise that wastes fuel, harms the environment and damages your car. Let’s have a look at the science, history and flawed folklore behind the automotive warm-up:

[snarkybob]

I’m not going to read this article.
However I drive an old high mileage 4 cylinder and I warm it up so the oil can warm up and thin out a bit and go ahead and lubricate all the moving parts down in the engine.
It rattles like hell when I start it on a cold morning. Letting it idle itself warm get’s rid of all those little rattles.
I guess I could crank it and drive away 10 seconds later like the article suggests, but I think I’ll keep giving it 20 minutes or so to get well lubed before I make it work very hard.

[IronJack]

It's a good idea to let the car at least approach operating temperature, since extreme cold thickens the oil and prevents proper lubrication. (I know, I know ... it's a setup line ...)

I have a late-model BMW that I keep garaged, and I still let it warm up for a few seconds before I throw it into gear and take off.

[unixfox]

I’m sure if we researched the writer he would turn out to be another “greenie”

[Safetgiver]

I do it to warm up the interior. .....Lately, I don’t give a shiite. I start the car, get what I need and get back in the house to bitch about the frigging weather.

[joe fonebone]

it is averaging 10 below zero in the mornings here..

i warm up my car so that when i get in it, IT IS WARM..

[snooter55]

I allow my 1985 full size Ford Bronco approx. 45 seconds of warm-up - before I drive her down the driveway and then on to a job that pays well enough to put gas in her massive tank. Temp. and time of year matters very little.

Snoot ;o)

[bunkerhill7]

Yes you did. I still remember the routine.

1. Shovel path to car; shovel driveway to road [might take 2 hours]
2. Plug the cord into the socket in the wall.
3. Grab handful of frost plugs and a hammer
4. Run outside with metal detector to find car in snow
4a. shovel off car
5. raise hood
6. plug cord into engine block
7. check for frost plugs and tap into place
8. go get breakfast for one hour
9. return to car
10. pull out cord from block
11. check frost plugs
12. go back to house
13. get 2 buckets hot water
14. run out to car
15 pour out water under wheels
16. throw one hot bucket into snow
17. get into car
18. put other hot bucket on seat and sit on it
19, put key in ignition and start car
20. if car does not start, get out of car
21. go to barn
22. get the stallion
23. hook stallion to cutter
24. go to town

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

We don't warm up the car for the engine. We warm up the car so we don't freeze.

ok?

[DesertRhino]

Of course piston engines don’t need a warm up. That’s why people start airplane engines and immediately add power and break into a takeoff roll./

A warm engine is a happy engine. And the engine matters to me more than a British view of the environment.

[Cold Heart]

The rule of thumb was that 50% of engine wear was at start up.
A lot was dependent on oil quality and time between starts controlling clingage to metal parts.

Do you have an oil gauge? Seconds after the gauge shows full pressure you have full flow.

Modern automobile engines have computers to indicate when to change the oil which is dependent on how the engine was used.
Longer idle periods will result in the computer indicating that your oil will need changing sooner.

[eyedigress]

and damages your car

Complete Bullshit. Let me guess again that 2.20 gas per gallon also damages my car.

[RandallFlagg]

Yeah.
Too bad that no one will install a remote starter in my 1995 Jeep.

[MD Expat in PA]

You can start driving immediately, but it’s a good idea to be gentle with your car until it’s ready. In other words, don’t go out and floor it immediately when it’s stone cold.

On Monday here in central PA, when I left for work the temperature was reading negative 4 degrees. My 2014 Nissan Rouge stared up just fine and on the very first time and since there was no frost on my windows and I was bundled up real good, I didn’t wait for it to warm up, but as I drove out of my apartment complex, I noticed that the engine was sounding a bit louder than usual, making a pinging noise and not nearly as responsive on acceleration. So I pulled into the shopping center parking lot and let it warm up a bit before driving the short distance to get on to the highway. I didn’t want to try to get on I-83 and the very short entrance ramp with limited power.

[Inyo-Mono]

and by the way- warming up a car has more to do with wear and tear on things like pistons, rods etc- the oil is cold, and will not flow well, and if you simply start up then take off and floor it. you are putting tremendous stress o n things like the piston because they aren’t properly lubricated due to the low flow due to being cold

Exactly! Which is why I warm up my Jeep every day before driving away. It may be an '05 year model, but it has a 4.0 6 cylinder engine originally designed in the 1970s.

[nascarnation]

Is it a manual trans?

[donna]

I went to Fry’s Food yesterday and I had to kick the AC on high to cool off.

(Phoenix AZ)

[McGruff]

What a hoser. Ey.

[Raycpa]

I thought oil is very thick at subzero temp

[Rodamala]

You should hear the Cummins in the Ram when it is started at 33 degrees below. Sounds fairly “agricultural”. I give it idle time to heat up the lube oil, and turbo. F the environment.

[nascarnation]

Depends on the oil “weight” rating.

The 0W-XX grades are pretty thin even at -20F

We used to run tests on tank transmissions with 0W20 synthetic oil at -40F because the Army figured they might wind up fighting the Soviet Union in winter sometime.