Do you warm up your truck before driving?

I usually let it idle down a bit...

Why is it that they dont need warm up time anymore??? You can call me an idiot for asking this...

 

X2 Plus she sleeps in the garage!

 

my first car had a manual choke. i had to pull a knob to get the truck to start. you had to warm it up.

modern cars..are smarter than we are. i assume they adjust mixture better than i could with that knob. oil? my local climate is not that extreme. with the cost in fuel. i personally want to make up some distance with each drop of fuel

 

every morning

 

Warming up engines used to help the loose tolerance and manufaturing standards get a smooth (oil circulation) and tight (expanding metals) so the engine would run more efficent. most of that has changed, but there are still a few reasons to let it idle.

2 reasons to warm up an engine.

1. heat causes things to expand, the quicker it gets to temp, the faster things expand. Gaskets that expand quickly are more likely to tear/crack and you will develop fluid leaks if heated to quickly.

2. When you first start a car most of the oil is in the pan, throwing revs at the engine while oil is still beginning to circulate will cause premature wear on rings and and other metal to metal surfaces.

With that said, I let it idle most days until the temp gauge is moving above the coldest mark on the gauge (It starts out on the C before the gauge itself), then I take it easy until the truck is up to temp.

 

ditto...most times this takes less than a minute.

 

Now that it's getting pretty hot in Texas, I don't really warm up anymore. Once high idle is done, I'm moving.

 

Always, my truck has 177,000 on it, she likes to warm up before hitting the road

 

If the oil is circulating, it's good to go. I'd say I average about 20 seconds between startup and take-off.

I keep a light foot on the throttle until the engine warms up to op temp. I live about 5 minutes from the highway, which is just enough time.

 

in warm weather i wait long enough for me to put my belt on and plug my ipod in then i go. in the winter is different ill wait 5-7 mins or so.

 

as long as ya dont start gunnin it soon as ya start er up youre good to go. ya dont warm your body up by sittin down,ya get up and move around.

 

huh?

 

At least a minute on warm/hot days. During winter I use the remote starter 5 minutes before I get out of work.

 

just enough to let the oil circulate then let it warm up while driving.

 

best thing is wait a few seconds and then drive easy the first few miles. This will warm the engine up MUCH quicker than idling w/o any load for minutes, so driving is actually better than idling because faster warm up = less time at the rich start up mixture = less cylinder wear (rich mixture = unburned fuel which dilutes the oil). Once the catalytic converter is up to operating temp then the engine will run at normal mixture and not rich start up mixture, so the quicker it gets to operating temp the better. This is well documented...

 

No...

 

Depends how long its been sitting.

 

owners manual says to start driving immediately just take it easy until it warms up. If the good book says it, I do it

 

Ok, let me say this one more time.

YES IT IS BAD TO DRIVE AS SOON AS YOU TURN ON YOUR CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I would explain all the factual reasons why it is bad, but people are to stubborn and never listen anyways. Even in summer it is wise to let it run for 20 / 30 seconds.

And in cold weather the oil can take one minute to circulate the engine. So if you start your engine and drive off in cold weather, guess what bob? You drive on a dry engine. I won't even mention the bore's slight warping.

 

Yes it is bad to run a cold engine hard. But you can drive a cold engine gently without any trouble at all, just wait till it's mostly warmed up before romping on it. Apparently that is what most of us do, it's what I do too... I wait for the high idle to come down to ~1100rpm or so, then drive away gently, usually takes about 30-45 seconds.