Warming up the engine

With my truck sitting outside all day at work, I remote start it and let it run for 15 minuites. When I get in it's up the second line on the temp gauge and toasty.

 

I just wanted to repeat what my toyota oem manual says, "do not warm vehicle by idling". Seems easy to just follow that.

This is such a can of worms because so many people have different opinions etc and live in different climates.

 

There is no snow here Mike
I think he is talking about when its that cold

 

When i park outside if it gets in to high teens or 20s I pop I neutral and let idle for about 30 sec to a minute while I scrape frost and sip some coffee. No more no less.

 

http://i.imgur.com/JRvuxDu.gifv

 

If someone hasn't already said it, remember that your motor warming up is only part of the process.

Diffs and transmission in particular need attention when in severe temperatures. Growing up in MN it wasn't uncommon to have a few days around -20, and we always started vehicles and gave them just enough time to come down out of cold start mode before starting to drive. There are a lot of fluids and joints that need to warm up before you can push them. Easier to do this evenly.

That being said, if its below zero its just a good practice to take it very easy on your vehicle. Everything gets brittle in that kind of weather, especially CV and Tie rod end boots, which can crack easily if cranked to full lock or articulated a lot. Just my $.02 - take with a grain of salt.

My 2017 takes forever to warm up at idle, which I only do if I have a passenger that is really sensitive to cold weather. You can always throw cardboard over half of the grill on days under 10 degrees - I have always found this to help my truck warm up quicker, hold operating temp in very cold weather, and increase mileage.

 

30 - 60 seconds. You see in winter engines run rich to warm up. Putting in more gasoline than average. Recommended to warm up 30 - 60 seconds and then drive gently until the engine is at operating temperature.

 

In that case I'd probably let it idle for a minute or two.

 

This weather sucks.......

 

I find it more stings the skin, what sucks is having to go out in it and it sucking the warmth right out of ya

 

I get in, put the seat belt on, start, put in gear, and go. I have bought the 'it warms up better by driving it, uses less fuel, pollutes less, and in the long run is better', argument.

 

Do you wait for the idle to drop?

 

I do not, but if there is good reason to, am willing to. I like to take care of vehicles.

 

It's only a few seconds of wait, and in my opinion it's the truck telling me it's ready. I also feel that the oil should have a few seconds to flow. A few years ago I started waiting for 15 seconds after a start (first one or if been sitting for hours) and then drive on. Vehicles do get warmer quicker when moving. Some morning I would let the vehicles warm 5 to 10 minutes and it seemed like they felt warm at very similar spots on the drive. Our Outback has the I'm cold light and even that seems too shut off sooner when the car is gently driven till ready.

 

let it idle 30-60 seconds before driving. Given these engines take 0w20 I'm sure 30 seconds suffice, atleast around here. I dont know about boston. You want the oil to circulate through out the engine before driving it. Once it has circulated u want to drive with a light foot. Letting it warmed up is deemed bad now days because the rich mixture during warm up causes the oil on the cylinder walls to wash off at low RPM leading to increased wear. Also note that oil temperature lingers behind coolant temp, so just because ur coolant is warm doesnt mean ur oil is. I would drive 5-7 miles on the highway before enabling WOT mode. (wide open throttle)

 

Thanks, will do.

 

Waiting until the idle drops down is an indication that the motor is out of the "learning" portion of the cold start mode. It does this at high altitudes and in cold weather to ensure the motor doesn't knock, before adjust air fuel mixtures based on the current conditions and dropping into a maintainable idle. Waiting for a few seconds just lets the motor set a base line before taking off. If you do start driving though it will learn quickly enough anyways, but you will likely notice a slight rev hang at your first stop where the motor idles higher and steps down.

On my truck with a manual transmission it readjusts during my drive until the motor warms up if I run the RPM's low momentarily. The truck will also adjust cold start fuel mixture during idle periods of your drive as it warms up - if it isn't warming up quickly (indicated by an idle around 900-1100 RPM).

On this new 3.5 its more noticeable than my old 4.0 liter 1GRFE, simply due to the lower torque numbers at low RPM's, but it works exceptionally well.