I usually drive beater cars in the winter...but this year i dont have one...so i'll be using my TSX....

I get mixed responses of whether warming up the car is necessary in the winter...

SOme say just start it up and after 30 seconds shifting into gear and move as it'll warm up faster...others say u have to wait about 5 minutes before moving...

So whats the verdict?? Better to be safe than ruin the car in the long run....

 

You're best to start it and drive off after 30 seconds or so. Keep the revs under 4000 until the engine has come up to temperature.

 

No need to heat up your car for a few reasons:

- When you heat it up, it will idle at higher revs until the engine is heated up. There is no difference with driving off and keeping the revs low, the oil and coolant will heat up at the same rate.

- The tranny will not heat up until it is driven. You can leave the car running for 20 minutes, but the tranny fluid will always remain cold, so leaving right away will not change this.

- For fuel economy, you're better off driving right away, because cold idles consume much more gas.

 

I'm in the idling for 30-45 sec camp. Even if it's really not necessary, gas is still a lot cheaper than an engine.

 

Couldn't agree any more! Sounds like we are all on the same page. As a new register user, I'm glad to see that there is honest people still exsist out there.

 

You need to tell me in what way will it wreck an engine.

 

I'm not a mechanic or mechanical engineer.. But, one of my friends, who is a M.E. told me there really is no point of warming up engines anymore with new cars.. I forget what or why, he got into more details than I cared for, but at least that's what I'd been told...

 

OK, explain to me how a person should be considered "honest" simply for giving their opinion. Does that make sauceman dishonest?

Incidentally, I agree with sauceman. I personally believe warming the car up by driving slowly and keeping the revs low until normal operating temps is as effective as letting it idle until normal operating temps.

Just my honest opinion.

 

You don't need to do anything different in the winter than in summer. Let it idle a few seconds then go and take it easy the first few minutes.

 

Man, it is not the bimmer, the idling won't jumping up and down, it won't stall on your first traffic light, the dealer won't ask to warm your car for 5 min! just let it idle for 15 sec and then drive it as normal, it should be ok. I never warm up my 6 yr old Civic and 6 yr old Prelude and they all never have a single problem and they all drive like brand new when I trade them in.

 

If I remember correctly, it's all feul injected cars that you don't have to warm up. The injection process is what keep the cars from stalling out.

Stalling out is the main reason for letting the car warm up (besides not wanting to get into a cold car).

 

I let it warm up for 1 minute, then drive, just like the manual says. I cut off at 3 rpms until about 5 min after the engine is warmed.

 

 

One thing that has been overlooked is the definition of cold. If it is -30 or -40 and all the fluids are like molasses, then I warm the car up. Can't drive if you can't physically shift gears.

If cold means throwing on a jacket, then the car is fine without warming it up.

 

Actually I did notice the transmission was pretty hard to shift last winter on our coldest days. After a few minutes it was back to normal but it was a pretty hard pull from first to second for a while.

 

idle for a minute or so, this gives the oil a chance to circulate and lube everything.

 

That what i notice sometimes too....

IN the early morning when im in a rush, i just start the ar and pull it into gear....it seems sluggish turning the wheel and moving the vehicle....after a minute or so of driving it seems ok....

 

i usually let it idle 20sec to 1 minutes depend how cold it is. i believe(myself) oil and fluids need circulate and warm up a bit, and metals expand in heat at different rate, so i rather take it slow.. but definitely drive slowly for few minutes. i recently installed a black heater and wired a heater from household plug, although it is for my wife and the 4 month baby, i am sure it will make start up easier and save some gas during warm up at -20c.

 

chill man, your on warranty..

 

Well I have a tendancy to drive kind of hard right when I pull out of the driveway.

 

stop it. you're stressing the engine and that's not too safe.

 

the only warm up mine gets is the time it takes me to clear the snow/ice off.

 

 

Before joining this club, I read through a lot of other comments on other "subjects." Just complimenting other people who give their "Honest" opinions. I wasn't targeting on the subject of "warming your car." Sorry I wasn't clear on the subject.

 

u guys dont have to and shouldnt let your car sit for 5 min, bec it hurts the fuel injectors and other components of the engine more then it will help. u should just drive off after about 30 sec. also, the reason why you guys feel ur car being sluggish is the grade logic control helping the engine warm up, i.e. for autos the shift point will be higher.

 

I live very close to a train station, and no I can not drive slow the way I want or peep will honk me to hell.
So to warm up, I don't idle - I drive to the train station & drive in big circles in the lot (feel like a frigging idiot ), I don't give gas at all just let the revving move the car along. - is this right ?

 

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but in my TSX when I let it idle when it's cold (I mean under 40F), the RPMs will be near 1500. Then about two minutes, I hear a very low buzzing sound - it sounds like it comes from the center console area somewhere, almost like a cd going from the last to the first track. Then the instant that happens, the RPMs start to drop little by little.
So usually what I do is that I wait until I either hear that sound, or I see the RPMs start dropping. Like I said, it's usually anywhere between 1-2 minutes when it's cold.

 

i'm not letting them warm up for that long and i'm not high-revving them until their fully warmed up. most people warm it up within 30 secs or so, but i usually wait for it to come down to about 1.25 rpm or so. the needle is still on the "c," but it usually takes about 1-2 mins depending on temp outside. i know a lot of people would say that new cars don't need to warm up that long, but i'm just doing that because of past experience. i've had 2 other (early 90's domestic) cars i let warm up for about 1-2, and they haven't had any engine problems even after 100 and 150k miles respectively. however, maybe that happened because i also babied them or maybe i was just lucky i had well-built cars.

my suggestion would be 30 secs for the average person, over 30 if it's really cold (freezing) or you're just anal about it like i am. either way, do what you think is reasonable.

 

The main point is you need to let ANY vehicle idle enought to build oil pressure, that is the number one thing about immediately taking off after a cold start and not allowing oil pressure to build up. Remember that startups are hard on a engine because generally all the oil has been drained back in the crankcase, and taking off immediate on a cold start is really bad for the fact that not enough lubrication is around yet. Some of you are old timers and I imagine that some of you have rebuilt engine back in the day. Remember what you guys did (or where supposed to do) on a new engine when you assembled it back together? Hopefully, you placed some sort of preassemble grease/oil around contact areas (especially on the journals areas) because sometimes when we started it up, we missed something so we'd crank and crank and forgot something and generally that assembly grease/oil saved the engine for the hard cranking especially on a dry engine, when we'd have to go back and check something we forgot (it happens unfortunately). I bet some of you did a mixture of auto tranny/motor oil as preassembly grease...which is also not a bad idea too.

Some vehicles can take up to a minute to buildup oil pressure, 30 secs is good for this car and generally it has builtup enough oil pressure by then. So what do I do??? For my truck I give it about a minute and half on a cold start only because it's a V8 and has a longer pathway for the oil to travel through the passages. I give the TSX about a minute. Then I keep gentle until the temperature of the vehicle is at operating temp.