Topic: Warming up in winter, best approach?

[Honda Owner]

If at all possible, park indoors. If it is below -10'C, use your block heater. Put it on a timer to come on four hours before you star the car so you don't break the hydro bank. Start the car and let it run for 30 seconds and then drive away as smoothly and slowly as you can until the engine reaches operating temperature. The other poster's comments about synthetic oil are correct, it flows much better in cold temperatures. Do not, however, go to a lighter grade unless you are in extreme cold, like -50'C since most cars use light oil nowadays anyway. My two latest Hondas use 5-W-20 and that is plenty light, as is 5-W-30.

[safristi]

Use diesel oil in the SUMP......then U can run your engine ALL THE TIME just like Truckers BUSSERS.COPS and CITY VEHICLES.................

[Marko]

With my last car the transmission would not shift into the highest gear while it was cold (the manual stated this was to prolong transmission life). My current car doens't have this despite being a more modern car. I wonder why?

[Roddy]

With my last car the transmission would not shift into the highest gear while it was cold (the manual stated this was to prolong transmission life). My current car doens't have this despite being a more modern car. I wonder why?

More likely it was to heat up the cat faster than to have anything to do with transmission life.

[Roddy]

The advice to drive away immediately or almost immediately sounds good in theory. In practice, however, I've found many times the limiting factor is the ability to see out the windshield. If I'm parked outside there are many, many days in winter when after scraping the ice off the outside, there can still be a layer of frost on the inside that is not so easily removed. When I see people peering through the 3" clear spot in their windshield, I'm not giving them kudos for prolonging their engine life.

Well, yes that can definitely be a problem on very cold days. Fortunately plugging in helps you car warm up faster which leads to you getting heat faster. Certainly though even with modern cars which are much better in this regard,  there may be times when a bit of idling may be necessary to be able to safely drive off.

[Turbo Bob]

I've heard 2 conflicting theories and I'd like to get peoples' thoughts on which approach is best (ie which will cause the least wear and tear and prolong my engine life).

1) Always idle your car for a few minutes before driving, because the engine has to work harder to move the car than to simply idle, and the harder the engine has to work while it's cold, the more wear and tear is happening.

2) Since the most wear occurs while the engine is cold, your goal should be to warm up the engine as quickly as possible. And since an engine warms up quicker if it's being driven than if it's idling, it's best to start driving right away rather than letting it idle for a few minutes.

Which of those two theories is more accurate (on modern cars)?

Number two is unquestionably the more accurate answer. Idling is very hard on engines and does not help them warm up very fast at all.

I would disagree with this, idling for a short period (i.e. less than 3 minutes) isn't hard on an engine at all. Putting a load on an engine whilst the oil is cold is much worse.

Have you ever seen at a race track, the engines are started, revved to warm the oil up or keep it warm and then switched off.  It does not harm them in the slightest.

IMHO the perfect start routine is to start the car, let it idle for a minute or two whilst scraping the ice, but also give it some revs every now and again so it's not just at low revs for the entire time.  And then drive without hard acceleration until operating temp is reached.

Driving away very soon after starting it cold is when the most damage is done.

[PJungnitsch]

Up north I would have an in-car heater and a block heater hooked up to a timer, turning on 3-4 hrs before I left for work. The in car heater would warm up the inside just enough to get rid of frost inside the windshield. Combined that with a piece of carpet on the outside of the windshield to keep the frost and snow off the outside, and the mornings were pretty easy.

[safristi]

..we seem to be comparing BANANAS republics (SW ONT/Vancoofer) with INUVIK APPLES.....

 scrape yer windaes CLEAR then start er UP.and get comfy in the car....and drive off after a minute ...maybe 3 on the coldest days (in MOST of Canada...that is)...............in the Cariboo and beyond.....light a FIRE under the SUMP.............