Warm up engine before driving?
 

Another article confirming what we know. The best way to warm up is by driving.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...-harms-engine/

"We asked Volvo, which conducts cold-weather testing in the Arctic, whether their new cars need any sort of warmup, and the answer was an ever-so-slightly qualified no. According to Volvo, "It’s best to just give the engine a few seconds to build oil pressure before driving normally. Good oil quality and condition are crucial for protecting the engine in cold start conditions." "

I let my engine warm up...for as long as it takes to scrape off the windows; under a minute usually. Engine isn't as sluggish and the defog is just starting to kick in.

Sometimes is isn't enough and even if I wipe the window down, it fogs up again in moments. But it defogs within a minute if it's had the time it takes to scrape the ice off to warm up already. Can be pretty sketchy at times and sometimes requires pulling over to deal with it.

Doesn't get below freezing most of the time, so idling is not usually a big issue. But it doesn't get well below freezing where the air dries out either, so foggy windows are a regular issue. Sometimes makes me wish my DD had A/C...

I am in a very mild climate. They very coldest mornings in my neighborhood are in the low 30s *F. Most January mornings are high 30s or low 40s (*F). I "warm up" in two stages and both are while moving. My very slow backup out of my one car-length, short driveway, and then downhill on the bluff road (in neutral). The first warm up cannot be avoided, and th second is mainly for the catalytic converter, which I want hot enough to burn efficiently before I start much hypermiling.

Plug in year round.

I'm evil, I just put a remote start on the minivan for my wife. Pretty cool $125, took 20 mins, plug and play, uses the factory keyless just push lock 3 times. We have a big garage but it's downstairs on the lower driveway and she has a bad knee so likes to park in the upper driveway by the front door. I'm thinking of building a carport there but otherwise the remote start is nice in Montana. Even 10 mins, 5 days a week is what 3/10 of a gallon? Happy wife, happy life.

AC sure works good for defogging the windows. Was up north in October hard frost overnight after it had rained had to scrape the windshield on the rental, first time in a can't remember how long. Used basically your technique.

99% of the time my car gets backed in. We get one or two days out of the year in the 40s.

Happy wife isn't that an oxymoron. lol

The author of the article gets it wrong about carbureted engines -- even those were better off driven than idled to warm up. VW manuals said to drive off right away long before they got fuel injection. :)

The thing about carbureted engines is that sometimes you CAN'T drive off right away. Well behaved carbs will let you drive off right away, but sometimes carbs kill the engine just touching the throttle if it is cold and the choke isn't set right.

Well, anything won't work if it isn't set right. My VW Thing was a champ all winter. :D

my 63 D200 truck was set to run lean, it needed a little warm-up before it was drivable and it had a heat exchanger between the exhaust manifold and carb
it just didn't have any power until it warmed a little

I always wanted to add an insulated hot water tank to shorten the warm-up

A small tarp and some bungee cords keep the ice off the windows. A circulating block heater is what the municipal snow plows use.

I question the cost of using a block heater regularly compared to 5 mins of idling. If you put the heater on a timer because you know exactly when you will be leaving and then maybe it's less. Some of those things use some serious watts.

Unless the windows need defogging, I don't idle it.

With heating on full, it hardly warms up anyway during idling.
Needs to be driven to warm up.

The degradation to engine oil & ring life is what you’re missing. The amount of acids formed is prohibitive.

Year-round, cutting the total time (not distance) to engine op temp is key. The “winter penalty” is somewhat offset by year-round attention to the problem.

The insulated garage is the answer.

In the meantime it’s making best use of tools: pre-heat, trip plan for initial miles, and recognizing the difference between empty and loaded (wherein not entering a highway from cold start on a cold day be offset by several miles of lower speed warmup).

(Cutting potential vehicle life by objecting to electricity use makes no sense).
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Maybe, but I have never blown the lubricated part of an engine in any car or truck I have ever had. Even at over 300,000 miles on some of them. Every other part of the drivetrain will fail 3 times or more before you get to that point of worrying about rings and bearings. I did have a flat lobe on a camshaft once at 175,000 miles but it was a known metallurgy issue with a small window of cams manufactured that year.
I agree the garage is best and you don't even have to full on heat it. I have a furnace in the garage but only use it I'd I'm working in there. Most days the process of parking the fully warmed up car in there and closing it up keeps the temperature inside above freezing even when the lows get down in the teens and that's just one car in a detached 24x36 space.

Agree, I'm not talking about short trips where water could be an issue. If your drive is that short I think you'd be better off making a 20 mile run every weekend. I doubt a block heater would ever get hot enough to solve all the issues that short drives can cause. I also haven't had an oil related failure on anything but yard equipment since my 1975 XL175.

5 minutes of idling my Acura would have it to full operating temperature. 5 minutes of idling my truck wouldn't move the temp needle. It would take an hour of idle to get to operating temp in my truck.

But you’re speaking of empty vehicles when it comes to longevity, aren’t you? Driver-only. Not a vehicle expected to do any work. In which case cylinder pressure is still key.

Extended idling isn’t ever recommended for that reason. One cylinder starts to go south and it quickly drags the others with it. THAT I have seen plenty of times. Vehicle relegated to grocery-getting (needs to be dumped, IOW). Useful service life was diminished by poor operating habits. It’s no longer A FAMILY CAR.

Average annual MPH is still the bellwether

.

The #1 reason most anyone me included needs a car is to get to and from employment. Now I chose something that can also serve me in other needs and wants. I wish I could have a tool chest of cars and trucks perfectly matched to every task but instead I have a compromise. I'm not talking extended idling, to me that is measured in hours not minutes, maybe 10 mins tops. After 40 years of vehicle ownership and no failures if something hits me in the future on those lines I'd be more likely to blame a poor design at this point. Maybe it would be wrong on my part. I've also come to the point of appreciating the simple and reliable engineering. I'll take something that can be rode hard and put away wet that still lasts 30 years over something that goes faster, hauls more, or gets better MPG but has to me handled with white gloves.