Ok I figured now that its winter a lot of people let there cars idle and warm up before driving off. So I figured why not figure out how much each person idles there car, if they even idle it at all in the morning.

 

I start it up, then put on the seat belt, do whatever with the nav/radio, idle out of the driveway, and ease down the street at just over idle for the half-mile to the stop sign. I take a little more time with this in cold weather. I figure it's wasteful to warm it up before moving, as the speed limit in my neighborhood is just above idle anyway.

 

"I dont I just start it up and go" but I do take it easy in the winter by slowly accelerating and stopping to let the engine temp get close to the mid point, then i drive normally after 2-3 kms.

 

I usually let it warm up for 1-3 minutes. Mainly because I dont wanna sit in the car shivering the whole time. I go to the car, turn it on and turn the heat on, walk back to the house, make a simple sandwhich and take the already made tea or coffee, then go back to the car and usually the engine is somewhat warm by then. But thats only in the morning, after sitting at a friends house for awhile, I let it warm up for about a minute and take it slowly.

 

Usually, I wait 1-3 minutes till I put the car in Drive. Morning same routine...Run outside, turn on the car...run back inside make a sandwich, grab coffee or tea and then run back outside...by then the car is perfectly ready to be driven.

 

Hah nice, us Baltimorians are all the same. But in a few days I will have remote start set up so things will be a bit easier in the morning.

 

usually 3-5 min because i hate sitting on leather cold.

 

usually 5-10 mins, sitting on cold leather is like sitting on a bag of ice, ill wait til my car is pretty warm til i get in.

 

auto start rocks!!

 

Remote Starter...........I think it shuts itself off after about 15mins or so. Best thing is I can sit in my house - have a cup of coffee - look out the window and start the car a few minutes before I am ready to leave.

In snowy weather leave the defrosters on high, side mirrors on defrost and the seat heaters on HIGH.

 

Usually more than 5 min when i dont park in the garage or depending on how cold it is out

 

My TL is parked in the garage nightly and is 50 degrees even when it's 15 degrees outside. I usually run it for about 30 secs. and usually a little longer if it's parked outside at work in the cold. My father was an airplane mechanic and always told me to run it for a 1/2 min. then take off slowly till it warms up. Since both of my last 2 cars ran to 300,000+ miles=I guess that works ok.

 

Since I bought the car, regardless of outside temp, 95% of the time I let the car warm up for at least 5 minutes. Even in today's day and age, motors are still made of metal. expanding and contracting etc. And now, at 8 years old, with 145,000 miles on the car, I still can't tell it's running.

 

No matter what the temp I let it idle for one minute to make sure the oil is flowing everywhere. Then I drive being sure the RPM's don't reach 3k until the car is fully warm. In extreme cold I wait 3 minutes.

 

I park my vehicle in the garage, but i usually start up and wait 30 seconds, pull out of my garage and close the garage door... then i usually start rolling and don't exceed 3000RPM until it's warmed up or the needle has moved.

 

15-30 mins

 

for me i usually get in and just go, but that also depends on the weather too right?
if the windows need scraping i do that after the cars started, same for brushing off the snow. the other thing for me is the temp. if is -40 C then yeah i let it warm up 10 minutes or so! maybe more? allways depends on the weather.

 

I have automatic starter which warms up 10 minutes then turns off.

 

What are you doing, cooking your breakfast on the hood?

 

Same here. It's always garaged, so I figure it's warm enough by the time I answer OK on the Navi, lock the doors, and plug my phone's headset in. I then drive ~ 25 mph for the next mile or so, then I'm off!

 

My father always emphasized to me when growing up that I give the car several minutes to warm up, so even to this day, this is what I do when it's cold out. My remote starter just makes it much easier to do this.

 

Once I get in the car, I do my usual routine...

1: Turn the car on (2 secs)
2: Change to DC101 (5 secs)
3: Turn on the heated seats because my butt is frozen from the leather
3: Cry for a little bit, because work sucks (3 mins)
4: Buckle my seat belt ( 5 secs)

Then I finally cry my way to work

 

"Cold" in FL is like 50 degrees. I'm like the others that let it idle while I'm putting on the seat belt, turning on the radio - etc. but within 1 minute I'm going down the road. My neighborhood is big enough at slow speeds that the needle will start to move before I get to a major road. After that, I just take it easy on it for a few miles.

 

It wont hurt the car to idle that long. Mine idles ALL DAY while im working. Last motor had 200k on it and it was in perfect shape when i pulled it out for the swap

 

Usually I start up and wait for 5-7 minutes til the needle reaches to C or above, then drive slowly and do not exceed 3000RPM for the first 10 to 15 minutes.

 

I know it won't hurt, but it's certainly a waste of gas.

 

im usually always late to work so no time for waiting...im a bad employee...and whats an engine block heater?? never heard of that...anybody use that oil (forgot which brand/type) thats designed for startup?? im thinkin about gettin that, since my routine consists of being in a rush.

 

Just wondering what do you for work that your car idles all day long?

 

My car burns less than 1/4 a tank all day, and it would cost me alot more to shut off and restart as often as i would have to.
Appraiser

 

I used to wait until the car warmed up but now I just start and go. It actually drives better when I warm it while driving instead of letting it idle for a few minutes. The only downside is that the tranny is really harsh when cold and when I put it in reverse with the RPM's at 1300 RPMs, it usually hits really hard (not sure why it's doing that now... never used to happen before).

 

When it is cold I have to take it easy on my way out in the morning or else the tranny doesn't shift nicely for me. So I usually sit for about 1 min before I actually put it into drive.

 

i keep it under 2000k for a few i use SS to keep it under and i dont exceed 30 the whole way to work. i only go a few miles to work but its not going to hurt your car to drive when your engine is cold just dont excelerate fast.

 

Turn the heated seats on before going in for the night, leave defroster on about 78 or 80. In the morning remote start it for about three minutes when I'm about to leave out the door. I like for the Hot Cold level to start moving, before my car does...
I voted 1-3... probably should have voted 3-5... same thing though.

 

I normally don't have time to let my car idle (or the patience because my ADD starts kickin in hardcore) but I drive nice and controlled and don't push it until it's fully warmed up

 

2~3 minutes............... I like my car to be nice and ready before I drive.......
especially with a blower in it.............

 

Are you talking about it having a kind of thunk and the car physically shaking when you shift into reverse? I have seen on other threads that this is from your transmission starting to go. It could also be the motor mounts.

 

Well no $hit you keep it under 2000K!! Thats like 2 million RPMs.

 

remote start FTW!

i'd let it sit for about 10 min with the heater on so it'll kick in whenever it's ready, and the butt warmers on too. then when i go, i don't exceed 2500 rpm for first 5 mins.

hey, i saw this somewhere so i'm gonna do a search, but just wanna ask anyways =P.

when my car goes for the first time of that day, when i put the car in reverse, it goes into it kinda hard.... goes like.. KACLUNK. feels like it hurts, and i hate it cuz i feel like my tranny is gonna jump out of my hood like a hot potato. does anyone else do this? it still does it even after i've warmed it up for like 20 mins. doesn't do it in drive but does it in reverse.

 

X 2

 

Doesnt that normally mean your tranny is on the way out?