warming up the car

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Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
Easy rule: 1 sec at idle for every degree below freezing F.


I wish. My older van needs a little time to run or it won't. My rule is once the tach dips below 1000 I go.
 
Originally Posted By: Stockman
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
You're doing much better than the morons who use their remort start then get in their car 20 mins later.


oh you mean the morons with kids, the people who kids' health is more important to them then any amount of gas could ever be...
yeah, what are they thinking....


Kids have survived without being panzied for millenia before remote starts and warm cars came around. I can just imagine who will be alive and who won't when the great "world ending apocalypse (read-electricty goes out)" comes around!
 
It just depends. I've always warmed up my cars 2-5 Minutes in cold weather, sometimes a bit longer in really cold conditions.

Usually by the time I am done cleaning off the car, it's ready to go.
 
I usually remote start my car about 5 minutes before I leave for school in the morning. Gives the car to settle down to idle, and the heat to get going a little bit. Othertimes I let it sit for about 30 seconds or until bad noises stop.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I always idle until the temp needle begins to move,then I drive off.


What is the goal there? To keep you engine running as long as you can while it's cold?
 
I wouldn't go by time because the amount of time it takes to warm up will vary. Watch your tach or ECT gauge instead. I wait until the ECT gauge starts to budge. And even after that I go easier on it at first.

Everyone who drives off right away must have a new car. I drive a '96 with 210k miles and it lets me know when it's not ready. It runs perfectly once warm.

If you're not warming the car up for your comfort you can close the valve to the heater core so the engine keeps all its heat until warm and gets there a little faster.
 
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Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I always idle until the temp needle begins to move,then I drive off.


What is the goal there? To keep you engine running as long as you can while it's cold?


Actually says to do that in the manual.
 
If I can put a set of solid aluminum subframe bushings in the freezer over night, and the next morning they pop right into place with my hands vs a usually required 2-ton press; that tells me the horrible noises going on in -20*f only mean one thing.
 
IT is against the law to drive with frosted window here and the police are thankfully enforcing that. In the morning my Work Truck gets 6-10 minutes of idle to defrost the windows(It has b een single digit temps every moring for two months.
This morning before going out for breakfeast with my wife I just started my jeep and drove off(it was 13 but the vertical jeep windshield does not frost up. I will admit my manual transmission shifts like crud until the entire system warms up.
 
My 2008 Aveo runs high RPM's for about 20-30 seconds then drops to 800 or so. Then it's off we go!
 
Depends on how cold. It's currently -4F or -20C outside where I live.. The car (a 1996 Saturn) is getting minimum a few minutes before driving in those temps.

As some others have said, since its older, it tends to probably complain more than cars several years newer.. Hence the longer warmup time.

Not to mention, at those temps.. [censored] the shifter and steering wheel are COLD.
 
The excuses some give here are truly pathetic, just admit your laziness and be done with it.

Idling for more than 5 mins will not help the engine last longer, maybe some old clunkers need to warm up before they run right, but it's because they are out of tune, not because they need to. If some like their car warm, so that they don't have to dress for winter or scrape the windows, that's OK, but don't hide behind laws or kids. And if the car is started routinely in -25C or below, a block and oil heater will be much more beneficial to the engine than idling will ever be.
 
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Originally Posted By: holla


Everyone who drives off right away must have a new car. I drive a '96 with 210k miles and it lets me know when it's not ready. It runs perfectly once warm.



+1 the new cars aren't that difficult at all, some older cars need a little time, mine needs about 2 minutes then its GTG. I'm working on an injector issue and believe once I resolve that my warm up time will be cut down to about a minute with that vehicle. But I won't take off until the tach settles down to about 1000 rpms. It won't be easy to convince me that a 1500 rpm take off with a stick is better than a 1000 rpm take off, same goes for an AT. JMO
 
Originally Posted By: Bryanccfshr
IT is against the law to drive with frosted window here and the police are thankfully enforcing that. In the morning my Work Truck gets 6-10 minutes of idle to defrost the windows(It has b een single digit temps every moring for two months.
This morning before going out for breakfeast with my wife I just started my jeep and drove off(it was 13 but the vertical jeep windshield does not frost up. I will admit my manual transmission shifts like crud until the entire system warms up.


Get a can of spray de-icer. That removes frost 98% of the time.....
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
The excuses some give here are truly pathetic, just admit your laziness and be done with it.

If some like their car warm, so that they don't have to dress for winter or scrape the windows, that's OK, but don't hide behind laws or kids.


Why not? Do cars exist to serve people, or, is it the other way around?
 
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