Warming up a cold engine?
Lead Lap
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 4,279
Likes: 1,034
From: Illinois
Boy, that brings back some memories. It made me try to recall when was the last time that I bought a vehicle without fuel injection. I think that the last car that I bought with a carburetor was probably a 1983 Trans Am (which was, more than any vehicle I've owned, a piece of junk, and it was the vehicle that made me decide to stop buying GM vehicles). I also recall that, when I started to buy vehicles with fuel injection, it took a while to break the habit of setting the choke before starting the vehicle.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,543
Likes: 275
From: Illinois
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 566
Likes: 50
From: Ontario
I have tested a few engines with this, If the weather is below 30 degrees and you just start and go you will cause damage to your transmission and the fluid has to reach a certain temp to have The optimum protection that it offers. Also notice that your engine is a little louder on really cold days... This is because oil hasn't fully coated certain parts yet until it thins out. it won't be good to put it under any load other than idling. When parts warm up they expand so if this is don't too fast I don't see this being good for your engine gaskets. Just like your body... You can't just start doing things without warming up unless you will end up doing permanent damage eventually.
Having lived in places where temps go to -40, I have never once had a transmission failure or any kind of issue . When temps are below 0F, I might let the car idle for a couple of minutes, but that's just really to allow some heat to come on and ensure the windows don't fog/ice up immediately upon driving. It has more do do with comfort inside the car than any kind of engine issue, etc.
Lead Lap
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 404
Likes: 7
From: FL
if you ever watched an oil temperature gauge on a engine, you know it takes a good 10-15 min for the oil to get to operating temps. But with today's synthetic you don't need hot oil to run.
the temp gauge on 99% of cars is water temp.
the temp gauge on 99% of cars is water temp.
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