Is the letting your car warm up before driving in the winter meme true? First time car owner here and I'm not sure...

Is the letting your car warm up before driving in the winter meme true? First time car owner here and I'm not sure, my mom believed in it but she's a woman so she can't drive

That comes from the olden days when your engine block wound literrally crack under pressure, coldness and rapid heating due to shittier mettalurgy. Now with better antifreeze chemistry, mettallurgy and better engine building period you can drive off in as little as five minutes. I usually pull off as soon as the RPMs level back down to idle speed and Ive never had a problem. That was hiw I did it even in Alaska and Ive never had a problem.

30 seconds is plenty of time. Just take it easy for the first half mile.

You don't really have to wait for the engine to warm up to standard temperature but it wouldn't hurt the car if you ran it for a minute before driving, new cars have smart computers that stop you from going to redline while the car is still cold

it was to warm up the oil, so it flows better throughout the block. I doubt you need to do it with modern cars using synthetic 0w-20 oil or the like. 10w-30 conventional(the common oil for older cars) is pretty fucking thick when it's cold, especially winter cold. So it wouldn't flow as well and the oil pressure would be spiked like fuck.

I get 80psi oil pressure at idle during a cold start, that's with 5w-30. I usually let the engine warm up until the temperature needle just starts to move off it's seat, by then the oil pressure is down to 60psi. fully warmed up it's at about 20psi idle.

>coldness and rapid heating
>crack under pressure

That's a negative, rubber duck. Old cast iron blocks had no problems with cracking from just starting it up and driving it immediately. But starting it up and driving it immediately means you're either getting no oil to certain parts of the engine, or really cold, thick oil that doesn't lubricate properly, either way is bad for your bearings.

I have heard of people cracking iron blocks from driving through a puddle, though. and if your iron block cracks from just starting it up and driving it cold then there's a flaw in the design. A regular iron block like a small block chevy, you'll have no problems with this.

if it gets cold enough for the antifreeze to ...freeze inside the block, or if you're running straight water in winter, you'll most likely pop a freeze plug out. If not then yeah, the hydraulic strength of freezing water is pretty impressive, this would even crack a modern aluminum block.

I have explained this before but I don't have the energy to type it up again. The single best way to "warm up" any engine is to drive it lightly. Turn it on and go.

Modern engines with modern oil suited for the temperatures, modern filtration and better materials means that there is no real measurable effect to it

If so we'd see tons and tons of cars in the colder parts of the world having catastrophic engine failures all the time, and thats something I think we would've noticed or atleast heard something about

for past 8 years of my driving in ne europe where temps drop to -20+ regularly I have never let a car warm up. Nor taken it easy because the second turn onto main road usually requires accelaration.

Not a single goddamn problem with the engine ever. Only problem is rust.

Now tho when I've gotten into cars I take it easy and try not to get above 3k revs

Turn the engine over, let it warm up to idle (~30 secs to a min), then drive off shifting before 3000rpms until at operating temperature then treat it however you usually do. This will warm up your car much quicker than letting it sit at idle for 15 minutes.

what do you class as modern?
post 2001?

What do you all mean by "modern" and "new"? Is 13 year old shitbox modern enough?

It can't hurt to let it idle for a couple of minutes while you scrape the ice off it. Otherwise, modern cars are designed to not be babied. It it was made after 2005, you'll be okay.

I have a remote start on mine, but I only use it if the car is iced. It's comfy to start it while sitting in your cube 600 ft away, knowing it will be warm and de-iced by the time your get out there.

But otherwise, start the car, fuck with your seatbelts/heat/radio/etc, then drive off. Just don't run the piss out of it for a minute.

Start it and idle until the RPMs stabilize (usually within 20 second), then take it easy until your engine registers oil temp. If it's cold (like below 6°C or 45°F) let it idle for a minute or two, then take it easy until oil temp indications register.

You have to let your oil circulate throughout the system, or else your bearings, pistons, and other moving parts are not properly lubricated. It'll save your engine excess wear in the long run. Block temperatures are not a bug issue unless you have a very high humidity and below freezing temps. Then you want to sit a couple minutes and let the block warm up.

I like driving away asap when the weather is coldest. I once started up my car in -27 degrees and threw it in reverse immediately. When i hit the gas you could hear all the loud clacking like the 15w40 engine oil didn't even get to the pump yet lol

ps - I did it because my weed dealer was up the road and I wanted to get that sac real quick

>I have explained this before but I don't have the energy to type it up again. The single best way to "warm up" any engine is to drive it lightly. Turn it on and go.

Hi again. Still wrong.

Listen to this guy >I get 80psi oil pressure at idle during a cold start,

Oil is thick at low temperatures. Driving off immediately will cause extremely high oil pressures, cavitation within the oil pump itself, starvation and aeration of the oil. All not good things.

Putting the engine under load immediately after starting it will piss gas down the cylinder walls, removing what little lubrication they had to begin with from the thick oil, and cause faster cylinder wear.

Putting a cold engine under load also results in absolutely fuck terrible gas mileage in anything remotely modern. Mainly because the O2 sensor isn't reading, so the engine is going on a "safe" base map based on air temp and throttle position, which just dumps shitloads of fuel into the engine.

Pretty much when you start a cold engine, lubrication is extremely limited until the oil has warmed up a bit. Starting the car and immediately driving the car does absolutely nothing good at all, and could potentially cause damage. In modern cars with lightweight, synthetic oils, lubrication on start up isn't such a big deal, but it doesn't hurt a damn thing to let it warm up for 5 minutes before you start driving.

If you were a dog I'd hit you with the newspaper. You should feel bad.

There is a lot of misinformation here, so I'm going to commit a cardinal sin and ask that you take my word as gospel.

In modern fuel injected cars, ALL YOU NEED TO DO is give the car 15 seconds in warm weather or 30 seconds in very cold weather, for the oil to circulate.

When your cars sits overnight, the oil pools to the bottom, as any liquid would. Just give it time to circulate.

If your car has an oil temperature readout, you'd soon find out that idling your car won't warm the oil up significantly. You're essentially wasting your time and gas. Just drive the car lightly until your oil warms up to normal operating temperature and then you're good to go.

Don't be fooled by your water tenperature. That only takes about 5 minutesnof driving to warm up. Oil takes about 10.

That's all the info you need.

This is truth.

15-30s max, let it find idle, drive it lightly until it is fully up to temp.

No need to argue over coolant temp vs oil temp for a DD. Just drive the damn thing after letting it circulate oil and it'll be fine.

It is extremely difficult and costly to measure the degradation over time with different methods. All of the engines will last, but some will have a higher compression ratio later in life.

It's like asking "What fast food will kill me faster? McDonalds or Burger King?" They both will. Too many factors to pinpoint one vs the other though.

And if I have a 30 year old v8 diesel?

And if taking it easy until operating temps is not a meme, why do so many exotic cars restrict revs or throttle opening until the car is warmed up?

>not letting your car warm up till there's warm air coming out of the vents
It's like you don't even want to be comfy

Modern supercars have some of the most complicated, high maintenance motors, that also have to withstand the large amounts of power that they output. So it makes more sense to restrict the car from being revved to 8k+ rpm, but it if you're just driving your civic across town and shifting at 3k it will be fine.

Even if it totally isn't necessary, why not let it heat up? You don't use any noticeable amount of gas and being comfy is worth it.

Preheating the car also makes the snow much easier to wipe off the windows.

Iit'll take half an hour to get to operating temp if you just let it idle, which is a waste of time and gas. Just don't thrash it until it's warm.

True. My H6 Outback with it's remote start operates for 15 minutes before shutting off. Even after 10 minutes of idling it's not up to operating temperature.

I just let it idle for 30 seconds before starting off, but I keep my foot out of it until the temperature needle starts to move.

>be me
>at girlfriends house
>going shopping
>its morning
>0°C outside, freezing
>her mom driving
>has a renault cllio 1.2 16v
>she turns it on
>without letting the fuel pump prime
>like, immediately turns the key to turn the engine
>engine turns on
>OKAY.jpg
>she rolls out the parking lot
>and out the driveway
>doing over 30km/h now
>in first gear
>she still not shifting up
>revving up to 5000rpm
>completely cold engine
>driving on the road
>doing about 75
>third gear
>4500-5000rpm
>mfw

When you jump in your car, first turn it on, then in the meanwhile, pust your seatbelt on and make yourself comfy. Everything is a waste of gas and time.

>>she turns it on
>>without letting the fuel pump prime
>>like, immediately turns the key to turn the engine on
I am confus

Some cars don't even prime the fuel pump until the car is cranking over. If you turn the key to "run" in an NA miata you won't hear a fuel pump prime.