I can say from plain observation this is wrong, On many engines you can audibly hear piston slap, older worn crank bearings make a banging noise when the engine is cold. The article cites fuel efficiency, but fuel efficiency is not what most people are concerned with, they care about the longevity of their vehicle.
Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
171–180 of 200 posts
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're even using a car at all, then you have already decided that comfort and convenience are necessary.
Ah yes, a two-hour commute to work is just a minor inconvenience. One should ride a bike in such circumstances.
yes, obviously I meant exactly that
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
That specifically talks about using the AC, because it's dehumidified air. The AC also requires the engine to be running, so blasting the windshield with hot air or air-conditioned air will require running the engine for roughly the same amount of time.
I don't know about your car, but it takes less than a minute to defog my windows. I don't think anyone is claiming that running the engine for a minute is bad.
It was -15 degrees F the other morning and the inside of my windshield was ice. It took far longer than a minute to clear. Also took far longer than a minute to reach a tolerable temperature, even in decent garb!
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're even using a car at all, then you have already decided that comfort and convenience are necessary.
Let's not make the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I'm not sure how this is supposed to apply.
I am asserting that the function of the car is to provide a comfortable environment, not merely to physically transport. Otherwise why does it even have a heater or an air conditioner?
I don't think there is any valid argument for austerity on this tooic. I am saying it's perfectly valid to warm the car up simply because you want to because it's more comfortable and makes clearing the windows easier, because the only reason the car even exists is to be a tool to make your life easier. If that warm up time consumes some of the device's life, so what? Every minute of use consumes a minute of it's life. These few minutes of use are no different than any other few minutes of use.
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#175I'm sure the cited expert really is an expert, but this article fails miserably at conveying any cohesive understanding from them to you. It's full of conclusions that don't follow from their leading statements. My understanding about warming up an engine before putting load on it had nothing to do with fuel or power steering fluid, it was about thermal expansion of all the machined parts that suffer wear if they are…
I have the same recommendation on my car user manual, don't warm the engine, but take off after start up and take it slow for a few minutes until the engine water moves off the base. I know one of the engineers that worked at the car design and when questioned, he explained (going off memory here) that people used to warm the engine, then started driving normally, and while the engine is hot, the trasmission and diff…
Yeah, from my understanding, basically try to keep the engine load light until at least you’ve warmed your coolant to operating temperature, but ideally 5-10 minutes beyond that as your oil(s) will take longer to heat as they’re more viscous than coolant.
Basically, drive like a grandma for ~10-20 minutes before even moderately giving it the business.
The flip side of this is that, especially if you’ve got direct port fuel injection, you’ll actually want to give it the business on occasion (once properly warmed up) for best operation, as the detergent from an increased fuel spray can help to break up carbon buildup on the top of your pistons. Either way you’ll likely want to book in carbon cleanup as a periodic maintenance item.
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#176Don't listen to this nonsense as it's absolute baloney. I would ask the experts that design engines and oil rather than a one-off op-ed piece from a news source with a questionable reputation, a history of sensationalism, and zero applicable scientific qualifications. The primary reason you warm up your engine is because oil is more viscous at cold temperatures. All engine oils have cold flow characteristics and modi…
Modern synthetic oils are plenty viscous at subzero temperatures. Warming your engine isn’t necessary in a modern vehicle beyond taking it easy for the first 5-10 min of driving. (Nor will it appreciably decrease your engine’s lifespan.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWuKvnCq1js
I don't think that's the case at all. The manufacturers don't say that, the oil companies don't say that, and testing doesn't show that.
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
That specifically talks about using the AC, because it's dehumidified air. The AC also requires the engine to be running, so blasting the windshield with hot air or air-conditioned air will require running the engine for roughly the same amount of time.
I don't know about your car, but it takes less than a minute to defog my windows. I don't think anyone is claiming that running the engine for a minute is bad.
Yeah; this is going to depend heavily on local conditions.
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#178I don't doubt that the expert consulted for this article knows way more about gasoline engines than I do, but the article itself contains some flat-out falsehoods. In particular the line "But don't confuse warm air coming from your car's radiator with a warm engine." is just wrong. The engine temperature sensor actually senses the engine coolant temperature, and if your dash is blowing warm air, then the coolant is w…
ICEs will also use recycled exhaust to warm intake air. There's a separate sensor for intake air temp and I think a separate oxygen sensor that should inform the fuel mix. At least in my performance car, there are separate gauges for engine oil, transmission fluid, coolant and air intake temperatures. Those are all exposed to me in dash. I think traditionally, the only temperature exposed to the driver is the coolant…
I am not current by any means with many makes of contemporary cars, but those I have had anything to do with used the coolant temperature sensor as the input to the fuel adjustment. I'm not saying that's universal, but it certainly is common, and makes a lot of sense if you're looking for a reading on the engine operating temperature, since that's what the coolant regulates.
Re: Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the engine (2016)
#179I don't doubt that the expert consulted for this article knows way more about gasoline engines than I do, but the article itself contains some flat-out falsehoods. In particular the line "But don't confuse warm air coming from your car's radiator with a warm engine." is just wrong. The engine temperature sensor actually senses the engine coolant temperature, and if your dash is blowing warm air, then the coolant is w…
Many new cars have electric heaters for the air venting into the cabin. In that case their statement about confusing warm air with a warm engine would be true.
Could be. I've never encountered one, and I think they would be a dead loser where I live. In fact, the thing I dislike most about our electric vehicle is that it's heaters are so wimpy. Probably wouldn't matter if I lived South of the Mason-Dixon line, but at -20F, they are awful.