You just want to get the oil flowing. Just take it easy for the first few miles and you'll be fine.

 

idling a cold engine for > 3 minutes is one of the worst things one can ever do to a nice car. idling is the least efficient way to warm up a car and until warm oil covers all the vital metal parts, your engine is not well protected. you want warm oil to be pumped to all metal parts fast and the best way to get it done is driving your car gently until it warms up. on a side note, idling in general is bad for engines, cold idling is worse.


warming up cars is a myth dating back to pre-1980 when cars had carburetor and would not run well until engine is warm.

 

i agree with the last post as well
its all up in the air
I wonder what lexus has to say

 

Turn it on and go.

 

I usually idle a min or two, just to let the oil circulate, then I drive easy until warmed up.

 

Coming from Malaysia, the temperatures outside are like 30 degrees centigrade anyway so it doesn't take long for the oil to warm up at all. Usually i start the car, move out and within a minute or so ive got 2 bars on my oil gauge.

And like he said above, isn't warming up only a requirement on older engines which were less compact and built with carburetors ? I don't know could be wrong.

 

No. Just NO.

More NO, just NO.

The oil needs to be at operating temperature - at least 82C or 180F. The oil's viscosity below these temperatures pretty much ensures your overstressing your seals and NOT lubricating your engine as you would expect.

Water temp means nothing because the oil temp is what determines the quality of lubrication, not the water temp.

It is foolish to let an engine warm while idling for a lot of reasons. The best thing to do - start the engine, give it 5 to 10 seconds to build oil pressure, then drive and put a LIGHT load on it. Don't exceed 3k rpm on cold cycle. When the second bar is lit, you can rev a little higher 4500 or so, when the third bar is lit, you are in the correct operating zone and you can safely run to red line without starving the engine for oil.

The BMW M5 used to have a variable red line - it reduced maximum rpm when the engine was on cold cycle and increased it in two distinct steps as the oil came up to temperature. This was truly brilliant engineering for longevity and reliable service.

Putting a heavy load and/or high rpm on a cold engine is a surefire way to ensure a very high wear rate and a much shorter engine service life.

 

In warm weather, only need a minute provided you can see thru the window.
Don't horse it tho until engine and tranny are well warmed.

C.

 

listen to what he says.

same on my m3. variable redline, when starting the car, redline is 6k rpm, and gradually goes up. i just give it 10 seconds, and drive lightly until temp is good

 

i let mine idle for like a minute

 

This is not good at all from what im reading.....



Warm up your car people for at least 2-3 mins...or until the needle raises just a little. If you want your engine to last longer and perform better.



You'll notice a change in the sound at idle if you let it warm up like its telling you its ready.


I only turn my car on and drive off instantly if I need to get somewhere in a absolute hurry.

 

^^^agreed, I let it idle until I hear / see it drop to 1,000rpm.

 

HAHAH!!!!

The people in the apt above my garage came down one time and asked me to shut my car off that they heard it LOL!

 

You need to tell this to the Germans when they slaved the variable rev limiter to the water temp gauge. I'm not arguing with your stance, but look at water temperature as a guideline. I think it's probably safe to say that by the time coolant reaches operating temperature, oil is not exactly ice cold.

Edit: Apparently my warm-beer-drinking friend says one thing then another. The variable rev limiter is dictated by oil temp, but they seem to rise at the same rate for his 2008 M3, giving some credence to the notion that they go hand in hand.

 

typically, a five to fifteen second start is enough to get warm oil to its metal counterparts. its never a good idea to go beyond 3000-3500 rpm until maybe five minutes....just enough for the engine to start getting ready to do some real driving. idling for so long is not such a good idea. even after five minutes, if you're idling--you might as well turn off the engine and listen to the radio. it does no good for your engine.