Editor’s Note: The following article contains recommendations from the Car Care Council regarding proper cold-weather warm-up procedure for your late model, daily-driven vehicle. Based on feedback, we realize this is a controversial topic and invite you to read the comment section below for opposing viewpoints from some of our readers.
Are you old school when it comes to warming up your vehicle in cold weather?
The idea behind letting your car idle for an extended period of time before driving comes from a time when carburetors ruled engine compartments. The folks at the Car Care Council contend most of today’s cars are ready to drive in cold temperatures without an extended warm-up period.
“Unless you are trying to defrost the windshield or warm the interior of your car, idling is not required for today’s vehicles,” said Rich White, executive director of the Car Care Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating vehicle owners about the benefits of regular vehicle maintenance through its “Be Car Care Aware” program. “In most cases, idling longer than 30 seconds is unnecessary. The best way to warm up your car’s engine is to drive gently at the start. Remember, a vehicle gets zero miles-per-gallon when idling and the result is lower fuel economy and wasted money.”
With new fuel-injection technology, complex computer systems and thinner synthetic oils, drivers don’t need to warm up their cars for an extended period before hitting the road. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “When a car idles for more than 30 seconds, it has several negative effects, such as increasing air pollution unnecessarily, wasting fuel and money, and causing excessive wear or even damaging a car’s engine components, including cylinders, spark plugs, and the exhaust system. Contrary to popular belief, idling isn’t an effective way to warm up most car engines.”
While warming up your vehicle may not be necessary or ideal, there are a few maintenance items you can monitor to keep your car or truck running well all winter.
This guy is on something good.try to live in northern ontario and do what he said bye bye engine transmission if u don’t let warm up for atless 5min it’s -40 most of the time then u add the wind chill to it. It can be -50 out. So what I think is his guy lives in southern USA and u can let it run for 1 sec and drive
Big three auto manufacturers agree with this.
So carbs didn’t leave any pollution? Lol
Glad there not working on my Car.
Get in a diesel and try to start it up and go without warming up first. Just try it and see what happens. All I have to say is good luck!
I do drive a diesel its a PITA in cold weather
The author of this article has some good points. However he/she is not totally correct. An engine in a cold climate such as the northeast or even further north need to be warmed up before being driven. Engine oil when cold does not flow very well and needs to be circulated and warmed up to protect against engine wear. Synth engine oils may provide protection against this but not everyone can afford or uses Synth engine oils such as Mobil 1. Very cold temperatures will also affect the very metal that the engine is made out of. When an engine has been through a extended cold soak outside over night. The metal components inside the engine will shrink to a certain degree and as the engine is started the temperatures will affect the rate at which metals expand both are contributing factors to engine wear. Not to mention if you have an older engine with higher mileage your engine is already going to have significant engine wear already and the cold temperatures will certainly affect the wear and tear on the engine. for example I have a 2004 Ford Explorer with 160K with a 4.6L V8 engine. In the morning if I am running late and cannot afford to sit and let the truck warm up I notice the engine making slightly louder noises than if I have the time to let it warm up. I also have a 30 min ride to work in the morning so the faster I get heat the happier I am.
I think you are right. To the point with the shrinking parts inside the engine: I am almost done studying internal combustion engines at the TU munich germany (europe) and got told that especcialy the temperature differences between the moving parts in the first few minutes are a problem. Particually the Piston heats up very fast and expands a lot more than the cylinder does (that was worse on older engines). Also the oil makes a very big difference like you said. I tried a mineral 15-W30 and an 0-W50 full syntetic and the difference was huge (cold starting as well as noise and running smoothness)
Im sure he wasnt talking to people who are dumb enough to live where its -50 below.
None of these comments mention a temperature near 50 below douchebag. Dont be pussy because big words confuse you.
That was supposed to say pissy
I agree with most of these comments. It was a nice attempt with the article but a half assed one. There are many factors not mentioned and his information on vehicles is very vague. These professional writers that write these online articles are really slacking on their professionalism lately.
I still let my cars idle, I run conventional oil and i can hear it noticeably when its 0 degrees. i want the oil to thin out some and start circulation around better. as it thickens up in the cold I still feel letting the car idle for a little while until the revs drop down to normal is a good thing to do. My truck runs full synthetic and In the cold idle is always the same even in -10 degrees so i would imagine If running conventional oil id recommend idling some to prevent extra stress on the engine. apart from that its spot on. carbs needed to warm up due to the choke systems.
I jump out of bed and immediately run to work. Do you know anything that doesn’t run better when it’s warmed up? The only reason why I let my car warm up is purely for comfort.
In most newer GM cars, like my Saturn, if you don’t let the car warm up to op temp, it throws a check engine light that states the engine isn’t up to regulating temperature.
That is because the factory thermostat is what they call a fail safe unit. If the engine ever gets above about 225F the thermostat will never close all the way and when it is cold out the engine takes longer to warm up and never fully gets warm. If you get that for an engine code it is time to change the thermostat.
Thanks for chiming in, everyone. A couple of points to be made on our part and then we’ll let the debate continue: 1) This article is targeted at the types of vehicles that would be driven in the winter time. So no hot rods or classics. 2) We are not advocating that anyone hop in their car and then gun it from a cold start up. As the post points out, cars should be driven gently to start out.
I don’t think everyone was talking about there classic or hot rods we can definitely tell u guy r from the Farr south where the winter time is still in the plus
Well no one up here in Minnesota drives their hotrod or classics in the winter sir, and even newer vehicles still would have the need to warm up. When it’s -30 to -50 below your gonna have to wait a good chunk of time to let it warm up. Regardless of how good the engine, and transmission oil is, it’s still gonna be like molasses in that kind of cold. Also, your most likely gonna be replacing a transmission before it gets to 30,000 miles cuz it’s not warmed up.
Power steering pumps, and Automatic transmissions hate extreme cold. Not to mention my ass. I’ll keep warming my truck here in Minnesota.
I couldn’t agree more with this whole statement!
Your WRONGwrong wrong!! REASON 4 WARMING MOTOR IS TO ALLOW OIL TEMP 2 RISE 2 PREVENT SLEGE!!! GET IT RIGHT !!!
Oh, well, the EPA says it’s okay, so yeah no worries then I guess – LOL!
Sorry, I’d like to NOT have to rebuild my tranny any time soon, so I’ll be idling and letting my fluids move around and warm a little bit before throwing it into drive on these lovely MN mornings/evenings. You do what you want tho with your vehicles, I could care less. Goodluck.
its actually illegal to leave your car idling for extended amounts of time where i live but my jeeps 4.0 warms up very quickly even in sub zero temperatures check the laws in your county or state to see if you can get in trouble for the idling
I’m guessing the author of this article lives somewhere warm and has never experienced cold weather with his vehicle. The last thing I want to do is drive my truck without a warm up. Even in the summer here in Minnesota I like my vehicle to warm slightly. Especially if I’m towing anything. Maybe the author should look through these comments at all the good points people have brought up.