do you warm your car up in the winter and for how long?

[k_riyat]

g`day all,
was jus wonderin as its startin to get cold now, who warms there engines up in the mornin, cus i got a obc and n e time its below 36f its bleeping, i ussually warm it up until the needle moves of dead bottom. n then drive extra slow until its properly heated.
n e ways would b good to know how you all warm ur cars up cus i heard once that its jus a waste of time n petrol.

[gareth]

36°F is 2°C, nearly freezing... the warning has nothing to do with engine temperature, it's outside temperature to warn you of the risk of ice on the road
your manual should have something like this in it!

[Fushion_Julz]

I always drive at <3000rpm until the water temp reaches normal...

In the M3, which has an oil temp gauge, that is <3000rpm and no full throttle until oil temp is >50C and then under 5000rpm until the oil temp is over 70C.

Also never let the engine idle for extended periods from cold whenever possible.

[CG_Maintenance]

Water warms up quicker than oil.

[StuBeeDoo]

I never warm mine, I always drive straight off.
Doesn't matter what the ambient temp. is, I never rev it above 3.5-4k until the guage is at normal. On a really frosty morning, that's about 4 miles.

[Bob_S]

I never warm mine, I always drive straight off.
Doesn't matter what the ambient temp. is, I never rev it above 3.5-4k until the guage is at normal. On a really frosty morning, that's about 4 miles.

+1
except in the m3 which is no more than 3.5k til the oil temp has settled at normal temp

[zaust]

I never even drive mine till the temp read's normal, 12 min's or so.
You may say i'm mad but the engine has done well over 300 hard k now.

[monkey]

on frosty mornings i let mine run for 10mins or so before i drive to work . i dont drive the car hard until its warm

[GrindCulture]

Due to me only getting up about 20 minutes before I have to get to work (cos I'm a lazy coont), I never let my car warm up before I drive it, and by the time I'm out of the village/lanes it's warmed up.

[town325i]

i just wait for the glass defrost before i move off on and just drive normal

[Brianmoooore]

Am I the only person who has an owner's handbook??
Car should be started and immediately driven normally, except in exceptionally cold weather, when it should be run at a fast idle for half a minute before driving off.
Things like iced windscreens may dictate otherwise, of course.

[Pete-M]

I don't have an owners handbook, but I do the same as Mr Moooore.

[stonesie]

The only warming up mine gets before driving is if i have to scrape the ice form the windows, then it's idling while i do that.


I don't use De-icer, it lets the screen re freeze as soon as you use the wipers

[DanThe]

This morning I had to sit in the car and hold the revs at 2000 rpm for 5-10 minutes to defrost the glass, id already been back in the house for water to un-freeze the door so I could get in the car

[doughboy]

Mine's lumpy as fook in this weather when cold...reving makes the whole car shake...5 mins idling or so & it's silky smooth

[Joe-318i]

i usally leave it on idle for about 5-10 mins befor i move off, this morning the doors were iced closed and had about inch snow all over it

[mineralblue]

I immediately rev it to 4000 and then drop the clutch and snake off the drive and halfway up the road.
I actually pretty much do what Mr Moore said.And I didn't read the manual,uneducated guess. At least I am doing something right.

[k_riyat]

i hear alot from people who work with me who are very good with cars that warming up the car is a waste of time, they say it wastes petrol and if u drive straight away the car wamrs up quicker which is better cus cold oil is dense n it will cause more friction etc etc.

[mrLEE30]

i start mine and wait for the airconditioner to kick in, then drive off as normal

mrlee

[Brianmoooore]

i hear alot from people who work with me who are very good with cars that warming up the car is a waste of time, they say it wastes petrol and if u drive straight away the car wamrs up quicker which is better cus cold oil is dense n it will cause more friction etc etc.

And they are perfectly correct!

[Jon_Bmw]

i start mine and wait for the airconditioner to kick in, then drive off as normal

mrlee

Piss off!

[zaust]

i start mine and wait for the airconditioner to kick in, then drive off as normal

mrlee

pee pee off!

x2 lol

[willisssteve0]

i dont think it make much difference with the car moving or stationary as long as you keep the revs low until she is warm and then drift on!!!

[e30_Turbo]

I've had too cover up half my rad to keep the temps up!!

I've found that I now get too much cooling, time for the winter stat!

I wonder if removing half of the front end has helped, lol.

With MS I have to allow 30secs fast idle to get the best from cold, having to set up your own warmup enrichments can be quite a long winded affair, still getting there. Not having a ICV makes it even more interesting.

Fozz.

[zimmer-320i]

usserly 5 mins then i drive slow for about 5-8 miles

[mrLEE30]

i start mine and wait for the airconditioner to kick in, then drive off as normal

mrlee

pee pee off!

sorry could not resist

anyway this is my few months of nice weather and i'm gonna enjoy it!!

mrlee

[miniblob]

As Mr Moore says - just get in and drive!!!!!

I do however break that rule when the screen is frozen over and i can't be arsed to stand in the cold scraping it!!!!!

[johnna]

I happen to know that the Ford Pinto SOHC belt driven engine, which shares a few similarities with both the m20 and m40, begins to eat it's camshaft and lobes if it is idles from cold. This is especially true if the cam spray bar holes are widened.

The camshaft is too far away from the oil in the sump and requires decent revs to enable sufficient pressure to fully lube the lobes and rockers.

Admittedly, the rocker geometry is better on the bavarian units, but they both suffer cam gear wear.

Low revs= low oil pressure= lower lubrication.

How is a cam first run in? At high revs...
...why is that?

At lower revs the cam can be destroyed, one as it isn't lubed and two, more stress rising forces are created at lower revs.

I await being shot down...

Wasn't the need to run an engine till warm done away with by automatic chokes?