axleback

I have a 2002 TL-S. I'm just wondering if it would hurt the car if I just start the car, hop in with the heat on for like 15 minutes and then turn it off. I do this for a few times a day during cigarette break. Does that hurt our engine in anyway by idling our car like that without driving off?

axleback

bloo_tls02

Dont think it would?
Just stop smoking and you should be ok

ferizzo

Just rev the car a few times to get the carbon build up out of the engine!

doopstr

Idleing your car like that is doing to your car what smoking is doing to your lungs. Killing it slowly.

Starting a car cold and letting it idle makes warmup slower. Thus it takes your oil longer to warm up. Cold thick oil doesn't lube like warm thin oil.

Like smoking, you probably won't even realise that it killed the car. Maybe you only get 180k out of the engine instead of 200k.

Enjoy.

ArN 2000 TL

So your saying when its cold you should start it, throw it in drive and speed off? All my cars I always warm up (via remote start) especially during the winter for at least 5 minutes before I drive off.

By warming it up you are warming up the oil, maybe not as fast, but your giving it time to lube all the necessary parts.

BlackTLS420

Its right in the manual, u should never let your car warm up for more than 60 seconds, no matter how cold it is, so yes basicly start in up and take off after a max of 1 min, sounded odd to me at first too, but like i said came right from the owners manual.

LiQiCE

On fuel injected cars, warming up the car is not necessary and can actually be bad for the car. IIRC the reason is because you want the oil to be flowing, which doesn't really happen when you're idling the engine in Park.

In the winter time, I usually only warm up the car for around 30-60 seconds at most. This doesn't mean get on the gas like crazy when you start moving the car. You should still go easy on the car until the temperature gauge says that its warmed up. (My goal is usually to keep it below 2000-2500 rpms).

pianoman41

Our engines can idle for quite a long time without any real detrimental effects to the engine components. Hondas are famous for running at one temperature regardless of what the engine is doing or what the temp is outside. They are great at managing cooling. After all, once the car is up to normal operating temperature, how many of you have ever seen the temp gauge move *at all*? The manual recommends no more than 60 seconds of idling before driving because after that time period, the only benefit achieved is occupant comfort (heating/cooling the interior). The engine and its fluids are running at a temperature that is sufficient to minimize any abnormal wear and tear to the components. Idling for longer than 60 seconds just hurts fuel economy. The longer you idle the more fuel you use and the more your MPG goes down. If Honda told everyone to idle for 5 minutes in the winter before driving, everyone's gas mileage would be in the toilet. I know using my remote start during cold weather really eats into my gas mileage because of the excessive idling.

Now that's not to say that idling is totally harmless to the mechanical parts of the car. The part that really takes a beating is the exhaust system. When a car first starts, there is a high percentage of water vapor in the exhaust (often seen as dripping out the exahust pipes). Getting the car up to full operating temperature at speed helps "dry out" the exhaust system in that the exhaust pressure is higher while driving than idling, the temperature is hotter which encourges evaporation and also the air flowing over the system while moving encourages evaporation. Long idling (or even just continuous short drives) can lead to premature corrosion of the exhaust and related components.

The short answer is, it will hurt your wallet (in lowered MPG) more than your car.