Morning pre-heat

[almightybmw]

mmmm. I idle my truck or car for a few minutes. its zero out, and I'd rather the steering and shifting not be stiff and slow.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by almightybmw

mmmm. I idle my truck or car for a few minutes. its zero out, and I'd rather the steering and shifting not be stiff and slow.

LOL - Wife found out about steering stiffness yesterday on her way to school... she had to use both hands to steer the car coming out of the parking space, which is parallel to the road.

Also, the she had to work the key switch a little bit to get it to turn... it was frozen. Guess I'll have to get some locklube soon, see if I can get it to stop doing that.

[mavinwy]

Starting the car cold, you should at least wait until the oil pressure gauge evens out before revving the engine. Then there is lube to the whole motor (providing the oiling system is in good shape). Sitting overnight the oil does drain down into the pan and it needs to get to the top end to minimize friction. Those that EOC, have hybrids or turn off their cars at lights are likely not doing any damage as there would still be a coating of oil on the parts that would not have had the time to drain into the pan yet.

Either way, when it is cold, oil thickens even if it is multi-viscosity. Running the engine long enough to get oil pressure and provide lube to the parts has always seemed to be a good idea. In my case, I also idle it while I scrape/brush the windows this time of year. Usually less than 2 minutes

Jim

[Formula413]

I never warm up my car in cold weather anymore, I just tough it out. I do let it idle until the valvetrain noise goes away though. Usually about 15-20 seconds.

[Christ]

My wife warms up her car for a few mins in the morning before she goes to school, and I don't say much about it, b/c her car is probably going to get the D6 anyway, and it keeps her focused on the road rather than being cold, which is more important to me right now, since she's only been driving less than 6 months.

(We fast-tracked her licensing so she could go to school.)

[gascort]

I agree with the first start idling for a few seconds thing... Once it got cold this winter, I noticed I couldn't just start and go anymore - the car dies, I have to use the starter again, which totally ruins the objective of saving fuel. When it's below 0 C outside, I've decided not to P&G for the first 45 seconds of drive time, after a ~15 second warm-up.
When it's hot outside, I can probably get 2 miles with a minute of engine run time.