Warm up or not?

Hmmmm, interesting perspective....

 

so then-instead of being so hypocritical, why don't you practice what you shove up everyone else's ass with your bullying opinion-by doing all that supposed "prep" crap FIRST, and THEN start the truck and leave without hesitation? Don't bother answering. You won't do it either.

 

I always warm up the truck for a minute or so regardless of the temperature.

 

I just push my taco wherever i need to go, no stress on the engine at all!!!

It probably doesn't matter, whichever makes you feel better at night.

 

Front inside of the windshield gets fogged up from the ice being on the outside of it. The defrost option needs a few minutes to kick up in order to dry the air inside the cab.

Believe me, I have thought about this quite a bit.

 

OK krazie I digress. By the way I am hooked on that goofy avatar

 

Ditto to that

 

The most insightful answer. Thanks for sharing it.

Like I said, no need to idle for more than 30 secondes in cold temperatures. Just drive slowly until engine is warm. It's even written in Toyota manual operator, which I always read each time I change a car. It seems that my fellow angry canadian-french didn't completely (or not at all) read my replies but anyway, there's always some people who are frustrated of life everywhere

 

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In the summer, I let it idle for maybe 30 seconds .... in the winter, maybe 60 seconds .... then drive it slow (1/2 mile) until I get out of the subdivision.

Learned this from aircraft engines where the warm up is longer.

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Thank you for your effort here for us and your recommenations so a 3-4 minute idle warmup-no harm there or overkill? I would like your opinion on that to think about too.

 

In the winter I will start it up and clear off the snow or wait for the windows to defrost. If there is none of that and its cold - than a minute maybe. Less when its warmer (wait 10/20 seconds for the revs to drop a little). I drive easy for a bit till the engine warms up.

 

On a normal, or even a chilly day I..
1. Get in truck and start it.
2. Buckle up.
3. Check mirror.
4. Turn on radio, sometimes change stations.
5. Put truck in reverse.
6. Take off parking break.
7. Go.
Total time, maybe 20 seconds. Probably less.

If it's balls freezing cold.
1. Get in truck and start it.
2. Turn on defroster.
3. Retrieve ice scraper.
4. Get gloves out of glove box.
5. Put on gloves.
6. Get out of truck.
7. Brush snow off truck.
8. Scrape windows.
9. Get back in truck.
10. Buckle up.
11. Check mirror.
12. Turn on radio, sometimes change stations.
13. Put truck in reverse.
14. Take off parking break.
15. Go.
Total time, varies. If the snow is thick or the ice is really bad could be as much as 10 minutes. Typically it's more like 5 when I need to scrape frost.

And now for a random gif...

 

thats a awesome tug boat Leadgolem....lol

 

Nothing elaborate for me but I unlock the doors, start it up and let it idle while I get in, buckle seat belt, get out ipod, etc. Usually only a minute. Can't really hurt to idle it for a minute upon start-up anyway, right?

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with idling 3-4 minutes. Although you can drive the vehicle safely with a light right foot and this is the quickest way to create heat at least in you cooling circuit (i.e. heater) there are some down sides. The warm molasses like oil running through your engine creates a high oil pressure because it is harder to move through the engine. It also is hard to actuate variable valve timing with OPA (oil pump actuated) style phasers with cold oil. This creates a couple issues. One that most probably don’t know or thing about is high timing chain tensions. If you put the engine under a high load with cold oil, the hydraulic timing chain tensioner pumps up creating high timing chain tensions which puts added load on the system, including #1 main and cam bearings which can result in premature wear especially on plain bearings with cold . The other issue is that VCT’s will remain locked until oil temperature rises to a point that the variable valve timing can now operate without sluggish response. This along with fuel logic is why you feel a performance difference when the engine is very cold.

Now it isn’t all gloom and doom, as I mentioned in my previous post, oil viscosity has a very non linear relationship with temperature. Viscosity drops rapidly with increasing temperature. Your temp gauge reads water temp, not oil temp. The cooling circuit is there just for that, cooling. It doesn’t heat up as quickly as oil, that is why it takes so long to build heat for the cabin. An engine under load produces much more heat than an engine at idle, therefore it puts heat into the cooling system that you can use to defrost your windows and warm your frozen digits. Oil temp however rises relatively quickly after the engine is fired, so you don’t need to necessarily wait till the needle moves on the temp gauge. Obviously, the colder it gets, the longer it takes to warm the oil.

If you want my opinion on what to do, I will tell you it depends on how cold it is. If its 80F out, I get in fire it and drive. If its 40 out, I fire it, let it idle for a minute until I get my iPod plugged in and all comfy inside the truck. If its colder then that I usually will let it idle fore 3-4 minutes maybe more depending on how long it takes me to get the snow and ice off the truck and kiss my wife goodbye. This isn’t rocket science. And I am not exactly sure why people are so passionate about it. The bottom line though is that you need to keep the loads low on the engine until it is warm if you decide to drive before it has had time to warm……

 

Dont forget , synthetics doesnt just drain into the oil pan , it tends to stay in place as a film which helps. Also its 0-20 weight , not 10-40, so it starts pumping and circulating quickly .....actually.....

We all seem to forget there is no proof of anything on any of this except what the manuals say/recomend. Notice how with both methods, it leads to vehicles with 150K+ miles. Maybe toyota did a massive study on idle time , spared us the details , and just put the most effective method in the manual. Truly in the 70s and 80s idle time mattered , that is not as true anymore.....meaning turn on truck , check guages .... go smoothly driving for a couple minutes. If I recall the manual or somewhere states you lower emissions by getting a quicker warm up by not sitting and idling in the driveway.

 

I do not and have not fopr years, most manufacturers say not to now as well. Back in the day you had to, but now you dont. I still know some who do though. I think it wont hurt if you do. If it is wicked cold maybe but even if it was that cold I still would not warm it up much. JOE>

 

Actually it does drain to the pan, synthetic or not. All oils coat metal surfaces. Plain bearings usually retain just enough oil to start. Lower viscosity oils are easier to pump when cold but are still very thick at cold temps. I would not say they are quick to pump. The big advantage there though is how fast the oil viscosity drops as temp increases. Just trying to properly educate. In the long run, like I said, you can get away with driving it as long as you take it very easy until everything is warm. I just prefer to warm up a touch based on my experience with cold starts on dyno and working with OEM’s.

 

Lets see lived in cold climate a long time & owned a toyota truck one way or another since 87.
Sometimes let em warm up time immaterial based on the chill and/or comfort factor.
Other times started it up and drove away ie. shouldda been at work 10 minutes ago.
All trucks have gone on & on their merry way for many miles over 100k & engines did not blow up, leak or burn oil.
Kept oil changed per maintenance recommendations.