How long should I let my car warm up?

It's getting a bit cold out here in NY but anyways I've heard from 15-30 seconds in 30-40 degree weather? Is that ok?

Yep, should be fine. Newer Fuel injected cars dont need to be warmed up much at all, unless it's really cold (like under 15 degrees). Then i'd suggest warming up for about 2 -3 minutes.

cool thanks

cool thanks
mrrrrp...
haha,
he said cool... get it?

um yeah. i''m done.

to restate what was already said (because i have already bothered enough to start a reply)
warming up is not a necessity on newer cars. it is good to let the oil pressure come up tho, before you go racing off into traffic at 50mph.
if you listen you can hear the engine note change once everything is working right. if you are blessed with really good ears, you can tell when the O2 sensor starts feeding info to the computer... (closed loop)
of course, most people jump in and drive off w/o waiting and it dosent really harm new cars much.

i usually wait about 15-20 seconds in the summer, fall and spring. in the winter, or whenever it got cold overnight (like freezing temps) i wait as long as it takes to get a smooth idle, which is usually about 1.5-3 minutes depending on how cold it is, and how long the car sat.
then again, my car is 22 years old, so its a little different

How 'bout the idiots who start their car and continually rev it? Um, it started, right? It's already running at the cold start high idle, right? Well?!?!? Let the ECU do its thing and quit revving it!!

sometimes that may not be an option.
my dad has an old 83 S-10 that runs on 3 cylinders until it gets warmed up.
unless you hold it above 3K rpms, it backfires and sputters until it dies. then it is a total pain to re start because the cold start dosent kick back in.
it must be revved up to get it going, and i believe that it dosent have an ECU. i've never really bothered with it because its such a POS. it has a 1.3L Isuzu four in it for some reason. dont know why there was an Isuzu engine in a chevy, but thats how it goes i guess.

Here's maybe both ends of the extreme. I for years managed a small fleet of trucks,cars,vehicles and my own were all started at any temp down to below 0 and immediately taken out on road and very very gradually allowed the load to increase and get up to road speed. This went on for over 50 years and still continues today.

Fast forward to my new job allows my own vehicle to set outside at 0 or below temps and I always just got in , started it and took off. All the other employees prestarted thier cars/trucks at least 5 minutes. I asked one of the 30 year employees why and he said that that's the way they always did it. I started doing it with my vehicle too especially when it's below 0 and think it matters very very little and is kinda nice to have a heater lol.

I think that putting more emphasis on the number of cold starts is more significant than the proccess of the cold start. In otherwords, only start the vehicle if you will allow to warm up and drive it.

"starting your engine is a terrible thing to do" right?

No wonder so many vehicles have head and intake gasket failures these days. That kind of thing was almost unhead of years ago. Aluminum heads on an iron block really should be warmed to a point of some equalization before any kind of load is placed on them. Similar metal blocks have fewer problems with that, but aluminum blocks aren't as common as aluminum heads.

Lubrication on cold starts (or the lack thereof) is less of an issue unless the driver is just plain abusive.

The important part is not to thrash them until they're warmed up.
Drving a car gently will make it warm up faster than letting it fast idle.

There's one good reason to pre-start your car by 5min in the cold. Gets the heater working before you get in.:grinyes:

cant you disconnect the coil and crank for about 10 seconds to pressurize the oil.
i've heard that it will work, but i've never tried it because it sounds like hell on the starter. if you dont mind buying new starters once a month i guess you could try it.

cant you disconnect the coil and crank for about 10 seconds to pressurize the oil.
i've heard that it will work, but i've never tried it because it sounds like hell on the starter. if you dont mind buying new starters once a month i guess you could try it.

Why would you want to? Any engine I have cranked and watched gets immediate oil pressure. If not then it should be well before it even starts. (less than a second)

just something i've heard.
never said i'd do it.

No wonder so many vehicles have head and intake gasket failures these days. That kind of thing was almost unhead of years ago. Aluminum heads on an iron block really should be warmed to a point of some equalization before any kind of load is placed on them. Similar metal blocks have fewer problems with that, but aluminum blocks aren't as common as aluminum heads.

Lubrication on cold starts (or the lack thereof) is less of an issue unless the driver is just plain abusive.

I could see this happening real easy if you're talking about disimilar metals expanding at varying rates. Causing the gaskets to leak/deteriorate.

I could see this happening real easy if you're talking about disimilar metals expanding at varying rates. Causing the gaskets to leak/deteriorate.

Most engines these days are aluminium heads on an aluminium block.
Even the diesels.

cant you disconnect the coil and crank for about 10 seconds to pressurize the oil.



Common practice on race cars, (generaly there are seperate switchs for ignition and starter) and a good idea for any engine that has been sitting for a long while.

If you ever get to start a new Ferrari, or Lambo, or even an M5 or M6 BMW, or other very high performance modern car, you will notice it takes a few seconds for the engine to fire after its started cranking.
There is a delay built into the ignition circut that allows the engine to build oil pressure, before its submitted to the stress of compustion.

cool.
i guess you could run a remote switch in between the coil and the wire, so that you didnt have to pop the hood and disconnect it each time.
maybe have a button on the dash that diconnects the coil when pressed.
great anti theft device too.