Sitting in a frosty vehicle is hard on me. So I’m warming it up and the environment and vehicle are just going to have to suck it up.
About 30 seconds until you hear the idle drop to normal. Then you’re good to go.
Just use the remote start from inside the house.
(This does remind me that we sprung for the $95 engine block heater option in our F150. Hadn’t even thought of that.)
This is the real story. Don't let your car warm up because you'll pollute the air!
Pfffft... no detail on what is supposedly damaged on the engine. This is total nonsense. The only thing the article mentions, several times, is pollution. So yeah, basically a eco-climate change propaganda piece disguised as harming your engine. Tell me, how exactly is a modern engine harmed by idling it to warm up?
I idle the car for at least 30-40 seconds to get the oil circulating, then I take it easy for the first mile or two until there’s some warm air coming from the heater.
Dang!
Been driving for 80 years the wrong way...
oh well, it does then...
I once had an old Ford LTD with a blue light on the instrument panel and the operator was not supposed to drive other than very gently until it went out.
I learned that years ago in Alaska. My husband doesn’t believe me.
This article is BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is never good to stress the engine before the oil warms up and the engine is being lubricated properly. When the engine is idling with no load then those stresses are at their minimum. This has been a known fact since the invention of the internal combustion engine. Now a bunch of know nothings with a political agenda are trying to redefine the known laws of science. It also not a good idea to drive around with ICE and frost on your windows. Scraping the windows damages the glass and does not clear them well. Modern ice scrapers break the first time you use them anyways. Cold drivers are also more likely to make mistakes as they shiver.
That’s BS.
And just part of the “environmental concern” BS agenda at that.
Actually, once the engine starts and runs for a couple of minutes, it will actually heat up faster by driving it. Don’t hammer it when it’s cold, just drive it as one normally would.
But to let it warm up by sitting there doesn’t harm the engine. These pukes put that garbage out there to hide their “environmental concerns”....screw em...and oh, FJB too..
There’s nothing damaged by a slow warming of the engine. Rapidly changing the temperature is where differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion may result in damage, say between aluminum heads on a cast iron block, Stainless steel bearings in aluminum casting housings, etc. Going slow in that expansion reduces stress on the material interfaces. If you get rapid thermal expansion combined with reaction forces introduced by vehicle operation of acceleration/deceleration, hills, turns, etc, you increase the probability of damage. How hard you drive the vehicle of course increases/decreases that probability.
i’ll bet we can find thousands of OLD articles telling us to warm up the car first....
“Firestone Complete Auto Care explains on its website that cars with modern fuel injection systems can be driven by simply starting the engine without the car warming up.”
Sounds like Firestone is still thinking they make Firestone 500 tires - the ones that they didn’t bother gluing the tread on.
Anyway, the purpose of warming up the engine gently has nothing to do with the carburetor (which, Firestone implies here, but they, to their credit, know that cars don’t have carburetors anymore) - but rather that the oil is VERY THINK and needs some time to get into its usual spots in the engine, to prevent melting of the bearings.
That's not good advice at any time. Give it a minute or so at least. In the winter we've always let the car warm up before driving.
The damage is done when you put a load on the engine before the oil has warmed up enough to properly lubricate the main journal and connecting rod bearings.
Start the car, then clean off the windows. When the car drops from fast idle, or the temp needle moves off the low peg, take off.
>> Several auto experts believe this may not be conducive to preserving the engine
Some say...
BS story
Every commercial engine I ever operated had a minimum oil temperature requirement before putting a load on the engine. In other words, you have to leave them idling until they're sufficiently warm before operating them. That is done for longevity purposes. Now firestone is saying the exact opposite but offering no justification for it at all. I'll stick with what engine manufacturers say, not some climate change propaganda piece.