Warming up your car in the winter bad for it?

[Sam Mac]

I let all of my stuff warm up before I put a load on it. I'm old school and I'm not changing what has worked for me all my life. My big Cat diesels always went 20,000 hours before overhaul and even at that most of the parts were still good to re-use. I think this article is BS.

[j4c11]

Originally Posted by bill682

I'm sure it has the same idle speed as it would starting it with the key.
The important thing is engine oil. Synthetic or semi-synthetic of the proper viscosity and I like to have it fresh before the cold weather starts.

Yes it is. I looked it up, it's because it's PZEV, it idles at higher RPM(1800) at startup because it needs to heat up the catalytic converter so it can do its job. It heats up the engine faster in the process too. Once you put it in drive and drive around it idles at 800 rpm as usual.

I warm up the car for 10-15 minutes every morning.

[bbrown8]

Originally Posted by j4c11

Yes it is. I looked it up, it's because it's PZEV, it idles at higher RPM(1800) at startup because it needs to heat up the catalytic converter so it can do its job. It heats up the engine faster in the process too. Once you put it in drive and drive around it idles at 800 rpm as usual.

I warm up the car for 10-15 minutes every morning.

My Subaru WRX does something similar (key only no remote start on manual) and I believe its to help heat things up faster. However, if you tap the throttle it will idle back down. I don't make a habit of doing it because the car wants to idle high until things get warmed and moving. My Dad's Power Stroke would do the same thing in the cold. Its part of modern day ECU's and EFI - so I let it do its thing.

[J-Mech]

Yes, engines idle faster to warm them up.... and because to run in the cold they have to dump a lot of fuel down their throat... little extra RPM helps burn the fuel and warm it up. All engines that are electronic controlled do. Incidentally, so did the old carbureted engines. The choke had a cam that opened the throttle plates up to raise the RPM at idle. This is nothing new guys. Surely you guys are older than 30 and have to remember pumping the gas to start....

On another note, you may also notice that on most all cars since about, oh, 1996-1999 somewhere in there, it will not let the trans shift into overdrive until a certain trans temp is reached.

[j4c11]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

Yes, engines idle faster to warm them up.... and because to run in the cold they have to dump a lot of fuel down their throat... little extra RPM helps burn the fuel and warm it up. All engines that are electronic controlled do. Incidentally, so did the old carbureted engines. The choke had a cam that opened the throttle plates up to raise the RPM at idle. This is nothing new guys. Surely you guys are older than 30 and have to remember pumping the gas to start....

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by j4c11

Ok then...

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by j4c11

Ha,LOL, I remember pushing a peddle on the floor to engage the starter and being able to hand crank it if the battery was dead.
Don't know if I should admit that
Air was dirty and sex was clean, phones had a rotary dial and had party lines of @ least 4 families.
you picked it up and listened a minute to see if it was already in use before you dialed.
Sometimes us kids listened longer to catch up on the gossip but got our hinneys paddled good if caught!

[j4c11]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

Ok then...

First car I drove about 20 years ago was a Skoda Octavia, even that I just turned the key and it started

[OldSkull]

Pure EPA or CARB crap! This is what this article is! Almost all machinery were I work (Port of Montréal) Idle 24/7 a week! Some got so many hours on the counter you wouldn't believe it!

Since we normally get serious artic cold weather here (Not this year thank you El Nino) I have block heater on my 2 truck and one of them is a Diesel, I always let them idle at least 15 minutes and both use synthetic oil.

I did 400K with a VW golf diesel before I sell it to a young boy who did 200 more with it so like a good cook I don't change a working recipe....Those green pot smoker can kiss my A$$....

[darkminion_17]

I had a car that you had to pull the choke and do the tap dance with the pedal to start it.