Warming your car up in cold weather

[Tesla]

I'm from old school on engine idleing,
so before I made comment, did a bit of fishing around and updated my knowledge.
Here's 3 links, I read amongst a whole lot more.
Vehicle Warm-Up | Office of Energy Efficiency
http://www.epa.gov/region1/eco/diese...uck_Idling.pdf
http://www.ytcleanenergy.org/docs/idlefree.pdf
I am still a bit sceptical as all the information seems to be one sided, driven by the green movement, and opposing voices in these political environments tend to be just a dull whisper.
In all cases when you take off, start slowly and don't push the vehicle too hard for the first few km/miles to let the drive train (gearbox, diff, wheel bearings) warm up as well as the engine, the colder it is the longer you should take it easy.
As for starting cold:
In normal mild weather, you can pretty much start moving as soon as you start the engine.
In cold weather, give it up to 30 sec to get oil moving properly.
In very cold weather (freezing or below) give it a few minutes to lube up a bit, if you use a block heater, obviously you can avoiid this time.
One thing I noted in a few places regarding hot idle and shut down, for cars generally, 30sec is the breakeven time for fuel saved vs fuel & maintenance cost to start up again.
So I will adjust my own behaviour appropriately and keep seeking relevant information.

[SentraSE-R]

Opposing viewpoints that are not backed by science, have no credibility. The first link cited above mentions -18 degree C testing. Where is the science from the opposing side?

[Tesla]

Originally Posted by SentraSE-R

Where is the science from the opposing side?

I'm still looking for it, if I find something to the contrary, I'll post it, until then I'll make an informed decision based on the iformation that I have available to me.
The science that I have tells me that all matter changes characteristics with temp changes and in most cases a gradual change in temp are less damaging to their intergral structure. Components are designed to operate in a certain temperature range because that is where they spend most of their time.
From the information I have read too much idleing is bad and so is too little, so it's up to the individual to decide what is appropriate for their circumstances.
Healthy debate is good so that individuals can gain access to new information which can help them make an informed decision.

[Frank Lee]

Canada governments have lots of data on idling and warm-ups. Seems the Canadian motorists aren't any smarter than the Uhmericans when it comes to such things though. :/

[gone-ot]

...dumb is universal...

[pletby]

I'll second that. I live in Winterpeg and my neighbor always remote starts her car and about twenty minutes later stumbles out the door, scrapes off the ice then drives away. I could have driven halfway across town on the gas she wasted. I only let my car idle about the time it takes my hand to move from the keys to the gearshift, then drive gently until temps come up. Makes a big difference on -30 days.

Though this winter we are blessed with very weird warm weather hovering near freezing. Today at -3 I took a walk with no jacket and was actually too warm in the sun! T-shirt time!

[Bmak]

thanks for asking that question I often wondered the same myself and thanks to all those answered it was very insightful

[vacationtime247]

If my windshield is iced or snowed over, I use an electric ceramic heater with an extention cord. Place it in the passenger side foot well with the seat back. Instant heat and melts the ice & snow in a hurry. Much cheaper than idling the car.

If it's just cold, I hop in and go. So what it's cold? It'll warm up. Plus the car will warm up faster being driven rather than idling. Not really worried about the engine or tranny, I rarely ever shift over 2k rpms anyhow.
VT247

[k-vette]

I get in, release the break and roll down the driveway. Once to the road, I start the engine. From there I accelerate gently to 45, then coast a mile or so to the first stoplight. In the 30 degree range the car almost gets warm when I get to work.

I didn't read all posts, but didn't see one trick I learned growing up. Put a beach towel over the windshield at night. It will freeze over and your windshield won't. Pull it off and drive.

[99metro]

Start and go with the Metro. I keep the speed low -35ish tops- through the 2.5 miles of dirte' roads, then 45 mph on pavement. Warms up completely in about 4 to 5 miles total. The Cummins is start, wait about 30 seconds, then drive easy. Takes a little longer to warm up, maybe 10 miles.

There are puffing (idling in the driveway) laws here and they pass out tickets as much as they can. Car thieves really LOVE the cold weather - just pick and chose what vehicle you want and drive away.