What's the consensus regarding driving in cold weather without first warming up the car for a few minutes? Yes, even with the newer models of cars released today. I imagine the warming up isn't as necessary as it was back then with older cars, but still. I think it's common sense to help get the car less contracted and stiff to work more efficiently but I want to see what people have to say about it.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

Yes you should

 

letting the car warm up is unnecessary. i give it about 20 seconds or so to get oil circulated and then just take it easy until it gets to operating temp.

 

I just start mine up and drive it. As long as your not reving the crap out of it or putting the engine under load you'll be fine.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^
What this guy said, but yeah I try to give it 20 to 30 seconds to get oil in the head

 

Thanks, I imagined the replies would be something like that.

I mean, I certainly don't have to wait for the temperature to reach the "C" mark before I start driving do I? Keep in mind at the very start, the pointer is like a half inch away from the C, and takes about 10 minutes, give or take, for the pointer to reach the "C" mark.

I think 5-10 minutes is a reasonable minimum for any situation, when it's cold as crap.

 

I'm not an expert but I use common sense when it's cold. Don't go to WOT until it's fully warmed, but partial throttle is OK even when it's quite cold. I also try to avoid highway driving for at least a few minutes because of how high our cars have to rev at 70 mph. If you hear noise coming from the tappets just ease off. You can hear it if your head isn't lubricating well.

Idling is hard on the head anyways so I reason that a little bit of revs isn't a bad thing. You break in cams at 2000-2500 rpm so why not let a car warm at that engine speed?

 

no need to let warm up. just dont beat on her till fully warmed up.

 

Thanks guys. I have another question I think is easy for the experts...

Ok, I'm wondering what's a good number of times per week or per month to turn my engine on so my battery doesn't die out on me on morning (like on a day I have to go take an exam or something, because that would suck) in freezing cold weather, as well as scorching hot weather.

For instance, this time of year we are getting ice all over our windshields, and it's very cold. I'd imagine the car battery would need to be charged up twice as often as with scorching hot weather, like a typical summer day of 90 degrees or something. The cold makes it harder on the battery while in oven-like weather the heat probably somewhat keeps it going lol.

Just wanted to know what you guys think, thanks.

 

 

How often do you drive and for how many minutes?

 

Right now I'm on break so I don't drive it at all, so, does this help? How often then should I start my car up so my battery doesn't run out in those two scenarios (very hot weather/very cold weather)?

 

Turning the car on and idling it in the driveway is not going to charge the battery. You need to get it out and drive it fully warmed up for a little while.

If you drive more than a couple miles at least once or twice a month I think you would probably be fine. But if you're worried just disconnect the battery or better yet take it out and store it someplace warm for the winter.

The worst that will happen is that your battery life will be shortened, but at some point that's not even worth the price of gas if you're driving for no other reason than to charge the battery.