I let it warm up for 10-15 min before i drive. I live on commercial land and the gate is closed so i dont have to worry about anyone taking my car. Its easier to warm it up while i start my morning

 

* Turn car on
* Wait til original high RPM (1800-2000) drops after 15-20 sec (1500)
* Back out of garage (get's pretty smoky in there with the car on)
* Let the engine run for about 2-3min (1300)
* Drive slowly, light on throttle for about 2-3min
* Begin driving normally

Why you may ask, well....Canadian winter with approximately -20C temp (-4F) and this kind of road conditions:

 

Look here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-your-car.html

Lou

 

I let idle drop and drive easy for the first 10 to 20 minutes depending on outside temp

 

Everyone should also state the weather temps where they are at. Some cars may warm up after because its above freezing where they are. On nicer days where I'm at I'm at I just get in and go. The car drives rough but warms up quicker. On cold days it takes forever so I just drive it anyways. Faster than letting it sit there.

 

the only way i'm letting this thing warm up is if I have a turbo on it lol

Plus im in South Florida

 

I let it warm for about 5-10 mins maybe less occasionally. I read somewhere 90% of engine wear occurs when you drive before your car is lubed/warmed up. My GF bought me a remote car starter. LOVE it.

 

Idling is one of the worst things you can do to the car.... especially cold idling...this ain't the 1950s anymore.

Go read your owners manual. Excessive idling puts the car into the severe duty service schedule.

Same manual tells you the car doesn't need to be "warmed up" either.

Best way to warm up the car is to drive it.

Turn it on, put on your seatbelt, drive.

Keep it below 3000 rpms or so till the temp gauge has moved some and you'll be a lot better off than letting the car sit and idle every day.


Now if you plan to get rid of the car at 50k miles either way, do whatever you want.

You want to keep it a long time, don't idle it.

 

Depends really on where you park your car, usually in a garage I'll give it a minute. If i park outside overnight or something then I wait till the RPMS drop a bit. Just my preference because if I don't warm it out I feel like I put so much strain on the car since it won't change from 3rd to 4th until it reaches a certain temperature and the RPMS are reach 2500-3000.

 

Letting the car sit there and idle for 10-15 minutes is just a waste of gas, this is 2013 lol. Driving your car warms the engine up much faster than having it sitting there idling.

 

I live in Winnipeg. About 2 weeks ago, we had a cold snap that lasted a few days. Weather was at -35c with the windchill during the day, and -44c with the windchill at night. I park on my driveway, outside of the garage. On those days, starting the car up at 630am, the engine cranked a couple of times more than normal before starting right up. As usual, I'd let it idle down for about 15-20 seconds, then drive it. Easy on the gas until the temp needle starts to move, then I drive it normally.

Those of you who are warming up your cars for 10 to 15 minutes are just wasting gas. Now, if you're warming it up so the heater is blowing warm air by the time you get in, go right ahead, but I've found that driving the car for 5-10 minutes gets the heat circulating faster than idling the car for 15.

 

Well dang, I came back just to see what you would say. And I'm happy I did. Luckily I've only had my car starter for 1 winter. I just didn't think idling would be that terrible for a car. Thanks Kurtz

 

so we've all been doing it wrong by letting it warm up first before driving? =O

 

i might sit in the car for a min or so before i drive, but 10,15,20 min sounds kind of excessive.

 

Warm up time can be cut down if you have a block heater. Plug that in!