I was wondering if it is good or bad to warm up the car in the winter. My car still only has 150 miles on it; so, I figure it's not good to let it idle. At the same time, cars seem to run better when warmed up. What do y'all think?

 

Read you owner's manual. It actually tells you that you can drive away within 1 minute. Your car warms up much faster when you drive it. Idling for prolonged period of time in the winter will only waste gas and takes longer to warm up the engine.

 

I drive a couple of miles at slower speed (around 30mph) on the city strees before I get on the highway/freeway. I also use Mobil 1 0w-30 in the winter and that helps the engine to warm up sooner too.

 

when below 0 degrees celcius, try to idle for one minute before drive and not to over 2500rpm until it's in the normal temp range

that saves a bit gas and the trans won't feel jerky...although it will happen when it's cold.

 

not necessary at all to use 0W-30...this car uses 5w-20 already and it's designed for winter and it provides faster warmups.

but i found out it's quite annoying coz it cools down quicker than 10W-30...

usually it's totally cooled down after an hr parked at the mall....

 

I idle for 3 minutes, set the heated seat on high, get the newspaper in from the driveway, grab coffee and head to work. Then the needle on engine heat is on the lst mark of C. It drives well.

 

You definitely don't want excessive idling when the car is new (under 600 miles). But you *should* let the car run for approximately 20-30 seconds *every* time you start it (summer or winter) to make sure oil has been properly circulated and all other systems are up and running as expected. And you don't want to get into the higher RPMs until the temp gauge has reached optimal operating temperature (usually a tick or two under halfway). On real cold winter days, you may want to extend this time to 45-60 seconds.

As for idling to warm up the interior, once the car is broken in (over 600 miles), you can safely idle the car as long as 20-30 minutes without any real adverse effects (other than using gas). I've found that even on 15 degree mornings the interior will warm up enough within 10 minutes of idling. Note that excessive idling without lenghty driving thereafter potentially can damage the exahust system because the water vapor that is normally forced out of the end of the tailpipe when in motion can pool up inside the pipes and exhaust and cause premature corrosion. Of course, this will only occur after extensive, repeated idling. If you have longer than a 15 minute commute one way, any ill effects of idling will be cancelled out by the drive to work.

 

I usually like to let her idle down to 1000rpms before I head off. I don't know where I get that number, but it just seems like a good one to follow. Takes about 45 seconds to get there so no biggie. I usually do not gun it either until the engine warms up.

 

i dont like to drive off until the RPM's lower to around 1000 or under.

 

I wouldn't let my car sit on idle if I'd you simply because it tends gives your engine more pressure. What I do is let the car run really slow at first until it warms up to the 1st notch in temp.

 

why dont you want your car to idle for a long time during the break in period?

 

During the break-in period, you don't want to run the engine at a constant RPM for a long period of time (doesn't matter if it's low or high). If the car is idling for 15 minutes at 1200 RPMs, that's just as bad as running at 70mph in 5th at 2100 RPMs for 15 minutes. Ideally you vary the driving and RPMs as much as possible. After the break-in period this is not an issue.