Warming Up Our Cold Engines

CLightning · December 13, 2005

How does everyone warm up their car in the morning (...or the first start up of the day)?

1. How long do you let the engine run before taking off?

2. With respect to #1, how do you drive the car when you first take off? Easy? Moderate? Hard?

I was just wondering because there are times in the cold morning when I'm late for work, and i'm just too anxious to wait for the car and warm up. A few times I let it run under a minute, then take off and drive like a mad man trying to rush for work.

I especially see this quite often after work when people are just so anxious to get home, they don't even bother warming their car.

Thanks in advance.

Abear · December 13, 2005

I just drive my car easy till the temperature gets to the middle, then I drive it normally...80mph 3000rpm. It seems to me, it might just be me though, that it waste more gas when I drive it 75+mph when its cold and ESPECIALLY when I drive it above 3500 rpms on take off. I have a 96 GS300, same engine though so I thought I'd give my 2 cents.

Maximaboy1 · December 15, 2005

I didn't know we had to let our cars warm up...i believe the manual does not condone it.

melhadri · December 15, 2005

1-2 mins in Cold weather; ~1 min. Warm weather.

Drive easy til engine is warm. Never understood why but it seems to be the norm.

SuperCoupe400 · December 15, 2005

On really cold mornings (below 25) I let it idle until the Tach goes below 1000rpm (about 2-3 mintues). Any temp above that (up to about 45), and I give it about 45 seconds to a minute to warm. Above 45 degrees, and I don't give it a second thought - soon as my wheel telescopes down, I'm off.

It would be interesting to here some professional (from an automotive engineer) opinion on this though. I know that all hoopties (cars from the 70's, 80's and a few early 90's - for the un-initiated) require warm-up to acheive a normal engine life span. But I kind of figured that the newer cars had advanced lubrication systems that either cut down on or completely elliminated the need to "warm up" an engine - especially if you're using a high-grade full-synthetic motor oil like Amsoil.

Any drivetrain engineers out there who can chime in on this?