Warming up vehicles in winter

[Ucsdryder]

Do you warm up your vehicle before driving? If so, for how long?

I read an article that said it’s actually bad for your vehicle to warm more than a minute or so and the best thing to do is to driving immediately but slowly for the first few minutes. I’m curious if this is true or if this is part of a green agenda.

Also, what about utvs? On cold mornings hunting, I always let my engine temp get up and over 100 before driving. Am I doing my razor a favor or a disservice by warming up for 5 minutes?

 

[svivian]

As a diesel driver my truck always warms up for about 10 minutes when it’s below 40 out


My moms Toyota rav 4 went 400,000 miles with basic maintenance and was never warmed up and driven immediately at hwy speeds 5 days a week during winters. Even Below zero be damned

So

 

[SWOHTR]

What? At first glance, that's stupid. What reasons did they give for "it's bad to let it idle and warm up"? I warm mine up for 5-15 minutes depending on the temperatures. I do not advise simply starting and driving. Fluids are not circulated or up to temp.

On the ship, we start engines and let them idle, warm up, and conduct "idle checks" prior to placing online. The only times we will "online start" are in the event of an emergency (just lost a generator, torpedo in the water, etc.).

Do these same people advise skipping a warmup prior to a workout?

Edit: Please post link to article if possible.

 

[haywoodhunter]

I warm mine up if it’s cold. Probably 10 minutes or so usually. It would be a much shorter time but I have a 1 and a 3 year old in car seats and I like to have the inside at least warm ish before I put them in.

 

[S.Clancy]

The only one I warm up is the diesel.

 

[BuckRut]

What? At first glance, that's stupid. What reasons did they give for "it's bad to let it idle and warm up"? I warm mine up for 5-15 minutes depending on the temperatures. I do not advise simply starting and driving. Fluids are not circulated or up to temp.

On the ship, we start engines and let them idle, warm up, and conduct "idle checks" prior to placing online. The only times we will "online start" are in the event of an emergency (just lost a generator, torpedo in the water, etc.).

Do these same people advise skipping a warmup prior to a workout?

Edit: Please post link to article if possible.

Your engines fluid circulation systems do not operate the same at idle as they do at higher driving rpms. For example some camshafts rely on splash to disperse oil.

 

[9.3koolaid]

Warm up ~10 minutes. Plug in block heater with a timer if it's gonna be below 10 F.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Yep warm my diesel up for 10-15 before driving when below 35

 

[CCooper]

I always warm things up, the only one that has me wondering is newer diesels with intact emissions equipment- idling is no bueno. I still let my superduty warm-up though, It was beat into my head from a young age.

 

[KurtR]

I always warm it up. Driving a cold vehicle sucks

 

[Jason Snyder]

I warm it up for a minute or two. That’s it. It’ll warm up faster when I’m driving it. The seat heaters in the Tundra take the edge off pretty quickly.

 

[Ucsdryder]

What? At first glance, that's stupid. What reasons did they give for "it's bad to let it idle and warm up"? I warm mine up for 5-15 minutes depending on the temperatures. I do not advise simply starting and driving. Fluids are not circulated or up to temp.

On the ship, we start engines and let them idle, warm up, and conduct "idle checks" prior to placing online. The only times we will "online start" are in the event of an emergency (just lost a generator, torpedo in the water, etc.).

Do these same people advise skipping a warmup prior to a workout?

Edit: Please post link to article if possible.

I’ll see if I can find the article. It said that gas engines (not sure diesel) don’t need it. The oil pump lubricates the engine at start up and when it sits and idles the oil that was pushed in by the pump doesn’t continue to pump oil. Or something like that.

 

[CorbLand]

During winter. I warm mine up but mostly because I park outside and need to defrost windows and dont want to freeze my ass off driving.

During summer. I start it and let it run for a minute or so if its sat overnight.

 

[TVW]

I always warm things up, the only one that has me wondering is newer diesels with intact emissions equipment- idling is no bueno. I still let my superduty warm-up though, It was beat into my head from a young age.

That's one I always wondered about too, they say idling is the death of those systems.

I went ahead and deleted mine so I don't have to stress about it anymore

 

[Ucsdryder]

Here’s the article I saw…

Yes, warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine over time

Excessive idling can cause engine damage, and experts agree that modern gas-powered engines don’t need to warm up to run effectively.

www.verifythis.com

 

[cnelk]

I remember way back in the day, on our farm in N Minnesota, we used those quart paper oil cans. The ones you had to push in a metal spout to pour the oil out.

One morning it was about -40 outside and there was one of those quarts of oil in the back of my truck. It was 30W oil.

I actually unwrapped that quart of oil and held it in my hand like a quart of jelly.

Engines are pretty grumpy when left outside and get started at those temps.

I warm my engines up. Always have.

 

[Randle]

Gasser, I warm it up for a few minutes, and go. Drive it slow a few blocks and they are good to go.

 

[Gutshot007]

The article talks mainly about the engine . Wonder about the transmission when its -30° ?

 

[Ice-kub]

When it's cold, I support Alberta oil and gas, I'll run the remote start twice (30min) if it's below -15. Couple buddies of mine did an "experiment" in mechanic school with different oils put in a freezer. Apparently even synthetics don't flow/lubricate properly until approximately 7*C.

 

[BuckRut]

The article talks mainly about the engine . Wonder about the transmission when its -30° ?

I don't know that you would see any significant increase in transmission fluid temp just idling in park.