Winter Idle to "warm up" Car

[LenovoTurbo]

Originally Posted by Qmx323

I get the "moisture absorbers" from Daiso for like 2 bucks each.

I stick them under my seats and they really do wonders especially when it rains.

But they wear out really fast cuz of the fact that its "Vancouver" and it rains 7 months out of the year.

I tried looking for that a while ago and couldn't find it. What section/area was it located at? lol

[Qmx323]

its in the laundry section where all the air fresheners are... its like a plastic case with these little powdery balls in the case.

its called like "carbon moisture absorbers" i dunno lol.

[blacK20]

Cold start warmup is not needed on modern cars for the weather we get here. Start vehicle, wait 5 secs, drive light and smooth until it gets up to temp. A cold engine while in open loop runs like a dirty pig. That's partially why fuel mileage drops in the winter time because vehicles take longer to warm up. Remember fuel does not evaporate as well when it is cold. Liquid fuel doesn't burn which causes varnish buildup and ultimately increased engine wear. Turn key, drive off smoothly to help decrease warmup time.

[blacK20]

As for diesels while they sip very little fuel at idle, it's actually not that great to idle for long periods of time. At least not for light duty applications ie 1tons. Soot is always an on going battle with diesels. Light dutys still have to meet certain emission requirements so alot of them are still equipped with emission devices like egr, exhaust burners etc. which are prone to clogging and eventually leading to drivability issues. A REAL diesel on the other hand is a different story.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by Lomac

The way I used to combat that with my old cars was to go for a 15-20 minute drive before I went to bed and kept the heat and a/c blasting the entire time. Minimal ice buildup on the outside in the morning,

seems it's the same effort, if not more than waking up 15min earlier to 'defrost' the interior, no? Unless you are really not a morning person

[SkinnyPupp]

I like to warm up the car, not for the engine, but because it's too fucking cold to drive. I don't want to start moving until the heater is working

[Teh Doucher]

this thread made me lol.

[ronald55555]

Not that I'm against reducing idling time, but the article is crap. Seems like it's written by someone with no engineering background who knows a little bit about engines but thinks he's an expert.

He claims that idling will "cause serious damage to your engine and emission system." He then presents his arguments and say that the cat and spark plugs' life will reduce. Reduction of spark plug life is NOT "serious damage to your engine". As for plugging up the cat, sure, idling has a higher ppm of HC, but in terms of absolute amount, it's not any higher than when the engine is at higher rpms.

He fails to mention anything about heating up of the fluids and thermal expansion of critical engine components. Oil has a very high heat capacity, and takes a long time to warm up and reach its normal viscosity. In cars with higher mileage, the crank bearing can knock when cold due to the extra slop. In a new car when the components are still nice and tight, the engine does not get proper lubrication since the viscosity of the oil is too high. This won't cause any immediate problems, but problems will start showing up later in life. I hope the guy with the 08 civic and 10w30 is on a lease and not planning to keep the car for long. The original author of the article might disagree, but I would rather change my spark plugs more often than to have to change my crank bearings more often.

I think most people here have the right idea, you don't have to idle the car until everything is at full temperature, but just take it easy for the first couple minutes. Like someone else mentioned previously, it's take it easy, not necessarily low rpm. Low rpm high load operation is even worse for your engine.

[fliptuner]

I warm up my cars til the windows defrost. Sometimes it takes 1-2 minutes, sometimes it takes 10-15. Extra unburned HC, sure but I'm not going anywhere til I can see. My commute is 35km each way so I'm comfortable knowing everything gets burned off by the time I shut it down.

As for my 3/4T diesel, I agree with ronald555. There's so much cylinder pressure that if I drive it cold, I'd just be hammering all the bearings. Down the road, soot would be the least of my problems. I usually plug it in and warm it up til the temp guage moves before I go.

[MugenRevolution]

summer time i use auto start to warm up for 30 seconds


winter time i usually let it idle for 1-2 minutes if its cold than drive off slowly

[hchang]

Not to derail this thread here...

But doesn't the way MugenrEvolution post kind of remind you of someone?

[silva95teg]

Originally Posted by godwin

I thought people put cardboard things on cars mainly because they are forced to park outside and the cardboard on the windshield reduces frost build up on glass areas?

I doubt putting cardboard in front of the car can actually reduce cooling efficiency that much; especially at start up. Since the system is cold anyways. Actually modern cars the grills are for aesthetics as much as they are for functionality. In fact if you look at the latest cars like the Volt etc, they close off most of the vents because closing them reduces drag Cd.

The Volt might not be the best car to compare with as it is electric with a gas motor used only to generate electricity after 40 miles. I doubt it needs much of a radiator to cool it :P

[DenKare]

i warm my car for 10-15min so the oil comes up throughly to the cams and lifters so it doesn't sound like my moms car >.> "lifters going tick tick tick tick tick making it sound like a diesel"