Warming your car up in cold weather

[Electictracer]

I'm convinced. My MPG as dropped so much this winter I have got to do something. I normally warm my truck up 5 mins prior to taking off.

[Sven7]

I P&G with no EOC until it warms up, then I start P&EOC'ing. My '65 Ford truck needs 5 minutes to warm up before driving (or it stalls easily) but the '81 VW and the Probe need no time at all. Start and go. I put the Probe in first gear before starting it. If I'm parked nose up on an incline I back out with the car turned off, stop at the side of the street, put it in first, turn it on and go.

[Superturnier]

My "Plastic spaceship" which is my all year round family transportation vehicle has an 2L gasoline engine and according to MPGuino it consumes 1,15L/h at idle when totally warm.
After 1-2hour preheating it will take about 2,2L/h right after start.
And cold start at freezing temps it can take about 5L/h at idle

[Frank Lee]

Re: anti-idling laws: We need to be more like Finland. Yes, I don't like more and more laws but the people have proven incapable of common sense on their own.

[Superturnier]

Well, the most stupid behaviour, I have seen, is that a guy comes to his car in the morning (temps above 10*C ,50F and absolutely no need for pre-heating) opens the door, starts the engine, gets outside the car and smokes a cigarette before leaving. And this happens every morning.

Why does he want to spend extra money for... what? What's the benefit?

[Frank Lee]

See it all the time. Was at a gas station the other day and watched a guy shut it off to fill (well, gotta give him a bonus point for that at least) then start it up again only to sit in the passenger seat waiting for what seemed an eternity for his fat-a$$ed girlfriend to come back outta the C-store.

And then there are the autostarts. Ooooooh, the autostarts.

[SentraSE-R]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Re: anti-idling laws: We need to be more like Finland. Yes, I don't like more and more laws but the people have proven incapable of common sense on their own.

IIRC, the USA does have an EPA 3 minute idling law on the books, going back ~30 years. I'll search for it.

Edit: Looks like I was wrong. There's an EPA model idling law available for state adoption since 2004 limiting idling to 5 minutes.

[Frank Lee]

I'd fall over from shock if I actually saw it enforced!

It would follow that autostarts that allow more than 3 minutes of operation are illegal right?

[jakobnev]

Originally Posted by Superturnier

Why does he want to spend extra money for... what? What's the benefit?

It's a cultural thing AFAIK, the worst thing you can do socially in America is to come across as a cheapskate.

[euromodder]

Defrost the windows, start the car and get going right away.

In winter it takes my car 10 minutes of driving moderately to reach the normal operation temperature.