starting the car

starting the car

do you guys actually warm up the engine? i know i try to at least hit the cold line but i see a lot of people around here do not even warm it up (20 seconds, then gooo) and right now it's about 13 degrees here.

would that mess the engine up in the long run?

^I try to warm up my car but most of the time, its near 5am, I cant wake up earlier enough to give me that much time, and I need to get to work. So usually, I just start and go but I dont go over 3k rpms until its warmed up. I dont even do that after its warmed up.....unless im running late of course, lol..

it doesn't get cold enough to warrant more than a few seconds of warmup time, particularly since i don't have anything special done with the motor.

i use to just to get it warm inside the car, but i dont even do that anymore, i just live with it.

Unless you need to have the car warmed up - there is really no advantage in letting it idle for extended periods just to get the engine up to some temp. You're just going to burn up extra gasoline and increase engine wear that way.

I usually run a full synthetic motor oil anyway - I jump in the car, start it, wait till the revs settle a bit (couple of seconds), and then drive off - being easy on the gas until the temperature gauge starts moving (car itself will be fine, as long as everything is mechanically sound). If you run conventional oil - the engine will just rev a bit longer, but shouldn't be more than a minute, unless we are talking artic temperatures here. In that case, you should really be running full synthetics anyway.

If you don't like the cold - then invest in a block heater. They are realatively inexpensive - plug the heater into a switched AC outlet with a timer - have it come on a preset time and warm the (block) coolant in the car. When you are ready to roll - just unplug it. start it up, and drive off - enjoying the immediate warm air from the vents. Had one on my Camry - worked like a charm in the winter, when I had the car garaged outside.

I warm up my car for 3mins or more. If your planning to keep your car for many many years, I suggest you warm up your car.

Remember, about 90 percent of engine wear and damage occurs during startup.

In the winter I start with my handy dandy remote starter for at least 5 minutes because I dont want to freeze my butt off in the car. If the car is in the garage or if its the summer time, I dont not wait around. Start and go. I only do this on the winter time.

except, in modern vehicles, warming it up is unnecessary, and merely wastes gas.

Found this on a site:

Under no circumstances should your rpms go that high (4k+) when ur engine is still cold newayz..

I warm mine up for 5 mins before driving. If I'm in a hurry, I wait until the car goes into closed loop mode (RPMs drop to normal) before going.

Your car will tell you when it is ready - no need to run it up to redline at low temps. The 8th and 9th gen Corollas are normally pretty noisy - regarless if it is cold or not. Just keep the revs high enough to get you going - once that temps needle starts to move, engine should have quieted down enough. Some engines need to rev up - I need to get the Matrix up to 4K RPMs just so I can get around. So I make sure it gets the right oil in the winter-time - no higher than a 5w-30 synthetic. Modern fuel injected cars don't need to warm up to work - people are a different story. Like my kid - he won't even sit in the car unless it is 70-80 degrees in there - just doesn't dig the cold.

I don't know about you guys...but when it's below 0 outside, I'm not about to jump in and drive away..too cold for me. If I'm running late, though..I'll go anyway.

It was cold enough the other day that my truck's starting idle was maybe 1600rpm..as soon as I let the clutch back out (still in neutral), the tranny was so cold that the idle dropped to ~1300..heh

thats the case with hybrids...sometimes, such as when the come to a stoplight, the electric motor will kick on and turns off the gas engine. Although there is another force at work, the gas engine is still shut off nonetheless...

well here's the weather here right now...
http://www.wunderground.com/US/NY/Binghamton.html

and about the myths post, i thought that constantly shutting off/restarting the engine drains the battery a lot faster?

all i do to warm it up,is drive under 3K rpm's once the (ETS light) turns off then i can drive normally. but once i leave my house it takes about 6-8 minutes for it get to normal temperature, other than that, i don't stay at idle.

i agree on u vamp i do da same thing.

I do as vamp does as well.

I just wait for the rpms to go down...

yeah thats what i do, i wait for about 1100rpm

After I start the car, I remove the snow and ice from the windows and side mirrors, takes me about 5 mins and when I get inside the car and warm, toasty and ready to go.

thats what i doo

Lmao..

if cold it not like i can drop the idle on it its stays up very high, and if turned down it starts to bog, so it idles at 2K rpm when cold. when the ETS warms it up and it opens the thermostat then it goes down to about 500rpms.