think about the oil. when you do an oil change, you do it at least 15 minutes after you stopped the engine. then all the oil goes into the oil pan. how is an engine supposed to function without any lubrication, IE oil.

so think about the first time you start a car in the morning when all night it has been sitting in that oil pan. weather temperature does not matter as much if you use the right vicosity.

when you start it up in the morning, it will take a few minutes for the oil to fully lubricate the whole internals. then taking it slow rpm wise to let it circulate completely over all the internals. then it will be warm enough to redline to whatever choice you wish.

 

moreso in the mornings, when i first the start the car, it idles at 2000rpm, i let it warm up and drop down to 900 before driving.

 

If you really want to do it right, you first have to get an oil temp gauge. Then you start the car, allow it to idle for 30-60 seconds, and begin driving slowly (putting some strain/rpm on the motor cause warmup to occur more quickly). Shifting is gentle, at low rpm, with an eye towards the oil temp gauge -- slowly increasing rpms for each shift at the oil temp increases. NEVER run to redline until the oil is up to 160+ degrees, which generally takes 20-30 minutes in a modern engine. That plus good clean oil all the time, plus never shutting the engine down until the oil has been hot enough long enough to boil off all the water (about 45 minutes from cold start) makes an engine last *forever*. Anything less than that the engine will probably last the life of the car, but will wear more than it would otherwise.

 

Seriously now, when was the last time Iowa had temps that cold? You might have a stretch or two of sub zero weather, but we have those in Massachusetts also.

 

I get in, start the car. Then mess with the seatbelt, and CD Player. Then I hit the road. Usually try and do a 2 minute warm up.

 

Well, if you owned a '57 Corvette, it better not be sitting outside in the cold

 

I used to have a CRX HF. The thing ran fine but had 230k on it.

Took a good 15-20 minites to warm up while driving in Tucson winter morning (i.e. 40 degrees).

Thought I'd through it out there.

All you need to do is NOT beat the life our of the vehicle until it warms up. That's it.

I hate it when poeple get into a cold car on a test drive and take it to 6k the first chance they get... Makes me cringe.

 

Yeah I have to agree, 15 seconds of idle and you are good to go. The first 5 miles should be taken easy though as the oil needs to reach right temp and viscosity...

 

that comes from a VW manual? oh man...

 

Probably already said...but warming up your car gets your catalytic converter warmed up so it works more effectively. A cold catalytic converter isn't as effective as a hot one. Save the environment! Yeah okay it won't make a difference...

 

i have noticed a few people mentioned that they let it warm up to warm the transmission. But that doesnt exactly work.... you need to drive to warm up the transmission and differentials and all. THe movement of the gears only happens once in gear and moving......I usually let it finish revving its self (aka idling down) and then go!

 

I do the same... takes about 1-2min for me to accually get going...

 

Here's my warmup - get in and go, drive gently the first few miles until the engine is at regular operating temperature.

In winter, I wait about 30sec-60sec and do the same.

 

BTW, driving gently does not necessarily mean <3k rpm, it means going easy on the throttle as well.

 

I start up my car, and wait maybe 2-5 minutes until the temp guage gets to the middle. Maybe a little longer in the winter depending on how it sounded when it cranked.

My manual never said anything about not warming up in idle(but then again, I dont drive a tC) as for the gas, its not drinking 2 gallons a minute, and I dont know about you, but I dont think I'm going to miss the .002 gallons thats going to be wasted at a stop sign anyway.

 

ah, but that's precisely why oil filters have anti-drainback valves these days. it keeps alot of the oil from flowing back down into your oil pan.

io333, I sincerely doubt that it takes 20-30 minutes to fully warm up your engine oil. granted, it will warm up a little slower than water, but the engine is at normal operating temp after 2 or 3 minutes. oil that's flowing all through it won't take 10 times that long to warm up.

dskinner, the crx does take a looong time to warm up! I can attest to that! still miss my b18a crx though.

as for the tranny, it won't really heat up at an idle, because the only heat going into it would be ambient heat from the rising under hood temp and any heat that might transfer through the metal case from the engine. your better bet would be to switch to Redline or something.

 

Perhaps I needed to dig this post up from surfcity40. He actually looked in the manual and stated it word for word. Modern engines should NOT be warmed up in idle. It actually takes more than you think out of an engine sitting there idling than it does driving it normally. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I don't understand. How does it use more energy at a constant 700 RPM(is it different for tCs?) then it does when your driving at 1-4000 RPM?

 

i know u don't really have to warm up for cars thesedays
but i do it anyways
i never drove not even once without warming up.
i let it drop below about 700~800 rpm then i drive slowly and never hit above 3000 rpm when its cold

 

It doesnt take more energy but it doesnt mean its good for your car... Idling for a long time is not recommended (its even stated in the tC manual somewhere) Guys, with modern cars you turn it on, wait 15 secs, and take off. Drive carefully for first 5 miles and your done. Dont accelerate fast and keep it under 3k rpm, thats the best way to warm up your car. If you live in Minnesota and sitting below 0 degrees in the winter then you should wait maybe a min, at MOST before moving...