The Healthy Long Winter Warm-Up

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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
It's only 1.8 miles from the house to the supermarket.


Why not walk to the supermarket?. It's not that cold and you will be fitter and in better shape for it, and you won't be hurting your car by constantly running a cold engine.

Claud.
 
I never warm my engines any more than 5-10 minutes, I just drive easy (under 3,000 RPM) until the temperature gauge is at the appropriate level. Trips to one town are about 18-20 miles round trip. The other town I travel to more often is about a 25-40 mile round trip depending on where I go. I have the occasional 6 mile round trip short trip, but I don't think I need to worry about moisture in my oil. I'm not a believer in long warm up times, the engine warms up fastest when you DRIVE.
 
Everything around a 3800 (body, interior, etc.) will be long dead before the engine itself is, assuming proper maintenance.

Typical GM programming is to not run the HVAC very aggressively until the coolant temperature is 60 deg C.

I had a bad T-Stat on a 3800 once, it made a dramatic difference to fuel consumption and interior temperature.
 
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Thinking it doesn't make it so, at least not in real life.


I think it's good for the engine by burning off all that excess moisture that could cause the oil to sludge up.


I use M1 0-20 so sludge isn't ever a concern. I just start the engine(even in very cold temps). Put on the seat belt and drive away.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
LOL at 47F being "winter"
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That's at 9:00 O'Clock at night. It got as low as 31 F in the morning last week.
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LMAO! Thanks for the laughs.

For us in So Cal anything below 70F is cool so we put on sweater or light jacket, below 60F is cold sweater and jacket are needed, below 50F is too cold so we avoid going out if possible, if we have to go out for something importance then heavy jacket on top of sweater and glove are needed, below 40F forget about outdoor activities.

My cars high idle went down to less than 1000 RPM within a minute in winter months, less than 15-20 seconds in summer.
 
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I was routinely driving very original 1968-1969 Plymouth V-8's with carbs and points distributor in the 1993-2004 period. Even on the occasional winter startups around 25 deg F I could get them off high idle within 2-3 minutes (coolant temp in the 100-130 deg F range). My 2002 is off high idle within 15-30 seconds down to 0 deg F. The 1999 comes off high idle in under 10-15 seconds, always.
 
Originally Posted By: TFB1
I call B-S, no engine should be at more than normal idle after a minute or two, no matter what the temp...


I was standing right next to the car yesterday watching the digital water temp gauge through the driver's window while it was on high idle. I was expecting it to go off high idle at 196F, but yesterday, it went off at 198F. But in the warmer weather like during the Spring and Summer, it comes off high idle sooner and at a lower water temp for some reason.
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Once the oil pressure is up, you can drive. No need to warm it up. But I would not romp on it until is somewhat warmed up. But 47F is not winter. Maybe late fall.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I'd replace the thermostat, and use an OEM replacement only.


Depending on what's available for his car, there are still good aftermarket ones available for some cars. I got a high quality "made in Japan" thermostat for the Geo Metro (Suzuki Swift) I had. It was clearly suprerior to ones costing only $10-15. It cost about $25. (Should have went with a cheap one given the engine's issues but oh well).

But then again, getting OEM for that car is difficult anymore since Suzuki left the US car market. GM carries pretty much nothing for it either.
 
I start my car up, let it run maybe 10 seconds and go. I keep RPMs below 3k until it gets closer to operating temp.

It's a waste for me to let it sit and run. My little 1.5l 4cyl takes so long to warm up its not worth it to sit and run to get heat. I'd be waiting 20+ min.



Also FWIW on Mazda3(with 2.0l at least) and Mazda2 1.5l, if you run the HVAC fan on full blast at idle it will never get up to temp when its freezing outaide. It will actually drop the temp idling if it was previously all the way warmed up. Will throw a P0128 code too if you do it a few times.

The heater does not get thermostat controlled coolant, it flows through at all times. Many other cars are like this too. Most 6cyl+ generate enough heat this isn't as much of an issue in my experience though.
 
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Originally Posted By: flatlander757
I start my car up, let it run maybe 10 seconds and go. I keep RPMs below 3k until it gets closer to operating temp.

It's a waste for me to let it sit and run. My little 1.5l 4cyl takes so long to warm up its not worth it to sit and run to get heat. I'd be waiting 20+ min.



Also FWIW on Mazda3(with 2.0l at least) and Mazda2 1.5l, if you run the HVAC fan on full blast at idle it will never get up to temp when its freezing outaide. It will actually drop the temp idling if it was previously all the way warmed up. Will throw a P0128 code too if you do it a few times.

The heater does not get thermostat controlled coolant, it flows through at all times. Many other cars are like this too. Most 6cyl+ generate enough heat this isn't as much of an issue in my experience though.


My Focus - same engine - will drop temp if the heat is too high , and won't make a lot of heat if I leave the heat on when I start it cold. I generally let it warm up a bit before flipping on the heater.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
My playing with an inlet hose thermostat proved that even a 0C winter here, the heater and block were enough to shed all the heat my 253 ci V-8 could make at 100km/hr.

That used to be more common up here, too. Along with seasonal oil changes, there were winter thermostats, and winter fronts put onto vehicles. I did have winter fronts for the Town Car and still have one somewhere for the F-150, though neither of them actually needed it. The G37 has phenomenal heat in the winter, too. My F-150 or the G37 will roast you out when it's -40, if you turn the heat up. If I'm driving in -40 in my G37 on the freeway, and I'm at operating temperatures, the first time I stop at a traffic light, the electric rad fan will kick in almost immediately.

Back in the day, you could fare quite well with heat, but it would usually require one or two of those maintenance items to ensure things went smoothly when winter hit.
 
The thermostat is stuck at LEAST partially open.

My 190D would take probably half an hour to get to operating temp if I just cold started it at freezing and let it idle. I give a really good glow, start it up, and let it idle for 30 seconds to get oil circulating and some heat into the pistons and prechamber. It will blow some smoke for a few minutes once I first pull away and I drive gently until it's up to temp.

The other cars in my sig get the same treatment but I don't let it idle as long since gas engines don't care as much about heat. Start it up, give it a few seconds to get oil circulated, and go gently. The engine will warm up much quicker under load, and the burn will be much better while underway.

If the engine temp goes down at all before you hit the tstat opening temp, it's stuck open. The tstat should block coolant flow to the radiator totally, until it opens to cool the engine.
 
Originally Posted By: qwerty1234
I hope no one is starting the car to warm up and then going inside the house?? Thats a common way cars get stolen.

Okay, when it's -40 outside, do you volunteer to sit in my vehicle and watch it for me? I am going to warm it up, and I'm not going to sit in it. If someone wants to break into it and steal it, go right ahead.

Here, there aren't spikes in car thefts in the cold, aside from people who leave them unlocked when they do this. In -40, people aren't wandering around outside in the hopes of going for a joyride, or searching for a vehicle to chop.
 
I live in Chicago and thankfully so far we have been a mild winter. Mostly in the 30's. I think a good warm up helps the engine in the very long run.
 
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