I have heard mixing theories about whether it is necessary to warm-up your engine before you start driving first thing in the morning (or whenever you drive first after the night)

Want an opinion from other TL owners out there and what they do.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93182
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70105
https://acurazine.com/forums/car-parts-sale-361/cls-mufflers-wanted-110481/


Those threads should help. Bottom line, 30 seconds is all you need, when idling, only the engine heats up, you want your engine and tranny to heat up at the same time... start, sit for 30 seconds and drive normal, but not hard. Thats it!

 

 

 

Agreed.

A rule of thumb I use on my TL (since I live in a relatively warm climate) is to take the car out of Park after the Navi has booted and I select OK. For those of you non-Navi owners, you'll have to upgrade to the Navi or count to 30.

 

:silvercup

 

i agree with you on the 30sec rule, but i do not agree about your tranny claims.

case in point:

for 6mt, the oil inside is churning when the motor is running and the tranny is in neutral with clutch engaged (a clutch is "engaged" when friction is meshed with flywheel).

for 5at, as soon as the converter starts spinning the tranny fluid is pumping.

in both cases the moving fluid will begin to heat.

 

The owner's manual says not to, so I don't. I was very use to letting my cars warm up in the a.m. so not doing that with this one took some getting use to.

 

I get in, start the car, fasten my seat belt, check the radio, and drive. (15-30 sec max). I don't get on it for a couple minutes/miles though.

 

If the car is warm, I will idle it for perhaps 5 seconds, then drive off. If cold, I'll idle it from 15 to 30 seconds, then drive. My neighborhood has a 10 mph limit, and the next 3 miles a 35 mph limit, and by that time the coolant is hot. However, I won't really "get on it" until I feel that the oil has reached optimum temp.

 

Where does it say that in the manual, It doesn't. I still disagree with everyone on this. I warm up my car for minimum 5 min. when it's cold. The whole tranny thing, that's false since the tranny fluid is already pumping when the car is first turned on. I've been warming up my cars since I first started driving and they all have performed perfect and smooth.

 

Read it again. Actually, it may be stated in the little guide that comes with the owner's manual.

Now, prove me wrong.

 

No need to warm it up. You just need to avoid quick starts & stops until engine reaches full operating temp.

 

IMO,

Most of time, I don't warm it up... we had temperature around 10 degree last month, still, I just start the engine as usual, and wait for 5-10 seconds, then slowly drive my car out of my garage, and will not rev high until the engine reaches the 1/3 or 1/2 of temp gauge. (depend on temp, this procedure could take 30 seconds~2 mintues)


I only warmed it up twice, when I went to Vermont for skiing, the morning temp was below -10, I had my car idle for a few minutes...

 

Wow, that's all of what...4 years? LOL

 

You said what I was thinking...

 

Basically, I don't warm up my car 5 mins in most of time, but I guess there are reasons for some car owners to do so. I only could think of two benefits for this matter, which prolly could make sure the fluid of Engine and Tranny would pump and circulate everywhere as well as have your engine to reach the ideal working conditions/temp prior to your drive-away.

IMHO, it's just the preferred behavior out of some of owners...

 

I don't warm it up per se, but I suppose in essence it gets a short warm-up. I bought a house with a garage precisely because I didn't want to park outside and deal with scraping the windows, the rough idle that comes from the cold, etc. So I am not so concerned about the car sitting outside. But when I back out of the garage in the morning and hit the button to close the garage door, I stop in the driveway and wait until I see that the door has gone down and stayed down (this is because every once in a while the electric eye obstruction sensor gets knocked out of position and the door will reverse itself, so I want to make sure it stays down). I also take this time to hit the "OK" on the Navi nag screen. So I suppose my car gets a brief 30-second warm-up in the driveway, although warming it up is not my intent.

Stopping to look at things on the way out isn't a bad idea. Last week it was windy and when I stopped out front on the way out I noticed that the ridgeline vent had come loose on the roof. Wouldn't have seen it if I just hopped in the car and zoomed away the way that some of the neighbors do.

 

It's a funny expression. 'Warming up', in the traditional sense, will actually increase the time it takes for the engine to reach normal operating temperature. This results in increased fuel consumption, the release of more pollutants, and increased wear - which is pretty ironic because many owners probably think they are doing the opposite by letting their car warm up for a few minutes. The car will warm up a lot faster driving down the road at light to moderate load.

 

I was gonna say this, but didn't do so... besides the waste of fuel and pollutions, what else "bad" things does this "warm-up" come out with?

 

You math might be off becuase last time i checked 21-16=5 but I could be wrong. Besides that I've owned 4 prior cars, some with some higher mileage. They just seem to last longer, perform better if the car is idle when cold. I think of it has it not being good for the engine to increase RPM's while it's still in the process of warming up. Just makes since that until the engine is warm the car should have less stress rather then just driving off. About the owners manual, I still don't see what your pointing to. Do you want to direct me to a certain page? Also, they wont tell you to warm up you car in the manual because the average consumer won't sit there while the car warms up. They'll have some strong critics. G'Luck!

BTW, I didn't see myself bashing anyone with my previous post but it seems your guys took it the wrong way. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

The only thing con with warming up your car is the extra gas that your using. That's the only negative downside I see.

 

I remember learning somewhere, don't recall where, that one should be careful not to rev above about 3500 rpm (unless necessary in an emergency) until the engine has fully warmed up, but that it's OK to drive if one keeps the revs lower. So I've always followed this rule. May not be necessary, but it can't hurt.

 

I look at it this way. I wouldn't want to wake up first thing in the morning and quickly come up to operating speed. I like to ease into it. So, I let mine run while I put my shoes on and take care of anything else before I head off to work. Between 1-5 minutes.

 

I wait till my tush warmers have had a chance to heat up, then I am outa here

 

well my dad told me that after long periods of not driving that the oil in your car has had time to settle down, you should let your car warm up for like a min or just drive lightly just so you can let the oil splash around and get back into place or you'll end up damaging the car (in a way kinda like driving w/o oil) . something like that

 

ludicrous. oil will drain down, but has anyone taken apart a motor that has been sitting for awhile? there's gobs of oil all over everything!

if you have to wait 1 minute for oil pressure to build, then you're gonna be replacing the motor very soon.

the "wait" is not to get the oil hot, it's to allow oil pressures to build in the places it needs to before you go and try to force internal metal surfaces to scuff together by racing off down the road. with proper oil for the operating climate the oil pressure will build rather quickly within just a few secs.

as for motor being warmed up - the "system" operates best at optimal operating temperatures.

hogwash on all of this mumbo-jumbo about waiting. once that oil pressure builds the motor is ready to go without damage. get in, start the car, get comfy, foot on brake, get into gear, CAR IS READY TO GO.

 

This poll is narrow in results