How is everyone letting their cars warm up?

 

Mine warms up by driving it. I'm not going WOT or anything. But start it up, idle for 10 seconds while I put my belt on, gradual acceleration. Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Yep......me too....

 

Same. When its cold, I will let the rpms drop to a consistent level. Not WOT runs when its cold.

 

Pretty much that here too. Although I mostly let her sit for 30 seconds or so, then gently drive about until she's warmed up completely.

/edit: Meh, 5.0 section. Well, it applies anyway, so I'm not deleting it. So there.

 

You guys obviously don't live in Canada cause warming up my mustang here requires me to start her and go back inside for 10-15 minutes then I will back her out of the garage and go around the block then put her back in the garage for another 3 week sleep....hahahahaha oh and it is -35 Celsius right now.....:-(

 

I don't let mine any, unless I forget to take something with me. That happens twice a week? I read through the owner's manual & it says it wasn't needed. True I live in north Texas, but been getting down to 13 degrees @ night. I just drive it around til it heats up in the cabin.

Tonight's to a balmy 20, I see.

 

I let it sit for about a minute or so, then drive it gently under 3K RPM until fully warmed up.

 

Same here. I do this with all my cars.

 

Ha....i hear ya...the prairies are so fricken cold that I have to let my truck warm up for 20 mins or the tranny won't engage. Why do I live here

 

Warm-up should be done as quickly as possible to reduce the chance the carbon deposits will be formed in the combustion chamber.

This means driving the vehicle lightly at low engine speeds until normal operating temperature is reached.

I generally start my car, put my seat-belt on, select the radio station and put my glass on. This is all the time necessary for the car to switch to open loop operation and I'm off. Until normal operating temp is reached I keep the rpms and throttle pressure low.

 

Same wisdom taught to me back in '77 by the Svc Mgr at my Manhattan Beach Jensen/Lotus dealership.

 

Negative! When it's -35 Celsius outside you need to let it warm up at least 10 minutes before you start driving!

 

No one has mentioned being able to see out the windows! In cold weather you need enough heat to be able to defrost the windows, even if it's in a garage. My tune will spit a lot of fuel out the pipes if I drive it too cold, even at low throttle.

Something else is there are now states passing laws that say you can't warm up the car unless you're in it or have a remote start (no keys in the ign). The thieves have gotten to the point of driving around in the morning and stealing cars sitting there warming up. In Colorado (at least Denver area) it's a $75 ticket.

 

It's the same here in Northern Colorado. Greeley/Evans has the same law.

In regards to negative 35 Celsius, especially in that environment you want to warm that engine up as quickly as possible. With air and metal that cold, you're absolutely not burning the entire fuel mixture.

This is how you create carbon deposits in the engine which in turn create hotspots that can cause detonation.

Of coarse new cars are better at providing the correct fuel mixtures at all temperatures than the old carbed vehicles of the past. Electronic control can still only go so far though.

Not to mention, if you're car is sitting out in that weather, all your warm-up is doing is heating the engine. Every other system in the car is still ice cold and requires a warm-up to operating temp that only driving the car can provide.

 

If anybody saw the Rebirth of the Boss 302 show, one of the tests they do is chill the engine to -20 C on the stand, fire it up and immediately go to full throttle to heat the engine up to cherry-red exhaust in under a minute. The reason is to check gasket integrity during thermal expansion, but I'd love to see what the metal in that engine looks like!

 

Your car remains in "Closed loop" virtually all of the time you are not at WOT or more than 3/4 throttle. Closed loop fueling is controlled by the MAF and 02 sensors.

 

My apologies, i always seem to get the different operation modes mixed up.

Regardless the statement still holds. Once the car has switched over to sensor instead of table based operation it's absolutely fine to drive lightly until the car is at operating temperature.

 

Right. Regardless of the outside temp the point is to bring it up to operating temp as soon as possible. My Lotus mechanic said the quickest way to do that is get under way - nice and easy until you have a completely warm engine. Pretty much as soon as the idle settles I drive away easy, shift easy, etc.
Sitting at idle does not do that as quick as being under way, and you're just adding a nice carbon layer to everything.
Coldest I've had is -22F a few times and my ol' F150 sits outside. I have used this method since '83 w/253k on it. First engine went to 215k. Taken several others past 100k.
In fact, when I replaced valve guides in my Lotus 907 around 100k, I had the head off and there was no carbon layer to scrub off.

 

[quote=eliyarbrough;5997310].........True I live in north Texas, but been getting down to 13 degrees @ night.........../quote]

13 degrees in Texas?!? ****. Where's all this global warming Al Gore and his kronies promised us?