I've noticed that a number of people always warm up their cars before driving off. Is there any paticular benefit or mod that makes it kind of necessary? I personally don't, I just don't lay on the pedal until after it is warm.

Like, if you go turbo, do you need to warm it up? You need to turbo time it when you shut the engine off, so do you need to warm it up before you get going?

 

I feel warming my car helps it perform better and will make my engine last longer. Someone explained to me the technical aspect of doing this but I forgot. It's basically like stretching before doing an exercise or athletic event. If you do not stretch, you might pull a muscle or break a bone. Just think about it.

 

it seems intuitive to let it idle and warm up a little but i have been told in the past that there's no reason to do this. just use common sense and keep it below 3K or whatever for a little while. if you were stuck in a chicago blizzard and it was X degrees below zero, i would imagine there would be some reasons to let it warm up a little.

now with turbo there may be oil temp reasons to wait but i'm just guessing...

 

Hi,

Since I have an Audi A4 too, I have seen some discussions on this on Audiworld.

The prevailing argument is actually that you may NOT want to warm up your car by letting it idle for too long.

At idle, you don't get very good oil flow to lubricate stuff. For example, even at 1500 rpm you get much better flow. I'm not sure how this works, but that's what some knowledgeable type said

Definitely don't get in the car and floor it, but just drive gently and wait for temps to get to proper operating range.

Also, stuff like the Cat may be affected by idling too long? I think you get more deposits (carbon) forming at idle, doesn't burn as clean, so things get dirty...

Thoughts?

FB

 

Basically, I put the car in gear right away but don't touch the gas pedal until temp gauge goes past 1/4 mark.
excessive idling will cause harmful carbon deposits.
There's a good book about this - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...986013-0539818

 

I like to hold my revs at 3k or so until the engine is pretty close to warm (about 2 minutes or so). Then I do not have to be AS careful about revving the motor out if I have to. I have gotten into situations when my car was completely cold but I had to wind out a gear to avoid an accident, etc...

Also, I like to make sure the oil has covered pretty much all of the internals and is warm before I move the car, to reduce wear on the engine.

Also, I feel like I am being mean to my car to drive it when it is cold!

Dustin

 

Oh another thing -
You have to warm up the whole car. Not just the engine.
Let say you let the car idle till operating temp. and zoom away-
Your tranny will thank you for it.

 

Dustin,

How cold does it get in Sacramento?

I have always heard the best and fastest way to warm up the car is just to drive it gently (no RPM above 3-4K). It usually a very short time before the needle is up to normal temp.

 

It does not get all that cold here.

My car takes about 2 minutes of driving to come up to operating temp if I start when it is cold. (After turbo, it just takes longer to heat up for some reason). It is better on the engine to let it circulate oil when the motor is not under load (aka driving). Cold oil does not seal or protect as well as oil up to operating temperature. I would prefer to put load on the motor only when it is warm or close to warm.

Dustin

 

Avg. Low for Sacramento, Jan-Dec (Aug in bold)
37 °F 41 °F 43 °F 45 °F 50 °F 55 °F 58 °F 58 °F 55 °F 50 °F 43 °F 37 °F

 

Berkel-I like your choice in cars. I too have an A4, 1999.5 model. I, unfortunately, got a tiptronic, so my 1992 integra is still more fun to drive.

 

96IntegraLS4DR,

im guessing that your car is an automatic. if that is true what you are doin is not good to the tranny and engine. first off, if your car is an automatic, when you first start up and throw it in gear, you are putting unwanted stress on the tranny and engine. dont know why right? let me try to explain. when you first start your engine, your engine is wanting to idle at around 1500 rpm, but by putting it in gear you put load on the tranny and engine since the car is trying to go but youre on the brake and the engine is.... umm its like youre in gear and with the gas push down some. like a brake stand. this can also cause wear in the engine. an engine's lubercation system usually takes about 2-4 sec for the oil to coat the dry metal parts with slippery oil. on honda's the time for the oil to circulate is very short, 1 sec or sooner. even tho by putting the tranny in gear will put unessary load on the engine. the thing about excessive idling will cause harmful carbon deposits which you said is pointless to point out. even normal driving will cause harmful carbon deposits in the engine. i think letting your engine idle will have less carbon deposit buildup vs. normal or extreme driving conditions. a manual car really doesnt neen to be warmed up unless it has a hard time starting or has hard time staying alive after it has been started. for example in a carburated ( <-- ??) car. if you live in a place where it doesnt get below 0 degress F, jus let it idle for a minute or so and take of slowly for another 5 mins or so. automatic car, let it warm up till the idle falls near 1K rpm, thats only if you want to reduce the stress when you put it in to gear. i can talk about this all day long, but i think you get the point, hopefully.

 

cool...

 

in the summer if its the first time the car has been started for the day ill let it warm up for about a minute. if its the winter time ill let it warm up for about ten minutes. like the other guy said its like exercising with out stretching bad things might happen.

 

yeah this thread is 8 years old

letting the car idle for more than 30 seconds is pointless, and does nothing but waste gas. The car takes much longer to get up to operating temperature if it's only idling, during which time it uses a ton more fuel, has less oil pressure/oil circulation, and creates more carbon deposits as stated above.

My car has 273K miles on it and I've never let it sit more than 30 seconds after first starting it, even when it's 10 degrees in the morning. I just drive it normally and it gets up to operating temperature in just a few minutes. At least then you're actually going somewhere and the car is getting so many miles per gallon during that time, vs. idling when it's getting zero MPG.

 

This guy posted in an 8 year old thread just to say it was cool.

 

I just let mine idle for 30 seconds or so to make sure oil is circulating and then drive it gently until it's warm. No biggie.

95% of the population starts up and drives and never thinks about it, and as long as they maintain their cars, they're fine.

We drive our cars harder but we also maintain them better. Shouldn't be a big deal.

 

my bad fellas i was just testing to see if my signature worked!

 

i always alow my car to warm up at least a little. i live in ohio where is lately has been very cold! even if it is warm i at least let it sit for a minute or so just get everything moving. but in the real cold i'll let it warm for 20 minutes some times other wise the oil is all think and just chiiling the the oil pan rather than through out the engine. i notice a deffinate difference when i let it warm up if it sits over night in the cold if i were to try and drive it would be very shaky if i try and drive and fells like it is going to stall so i always let it get at least to the first temp notch before i take off.

letting warm up=good idea IMO all though i have heard that some cars are recommended not to let warm up (my friends Z4)

 

haha wow i did notlook at the date and didn't read everyones post! hah bad *** 8 year old thread

 

in columbia south carolina its been below freezing latley. unfortunately i dont have a garage so the dew or fog freezes into a quarter thick of ice. so i let my car idle long enough just to defrost the windshields. and by that time the needle has just barely moved so i drive it in the low rpm in range....

 

most people tell you to warm up the car so the lubraction system has time to flow to all parts of the motor. just gettin in it and driving it will cause premature wear no doubt. and also depends how you maintain your car. alot of people dont regularly check the oil either. it gets cold enough here below 0 alot and i let it warm up for 30 secs to a min. but again we can all debate this forever.

 

do you guys use 10w-30 of 5w-30?

 

5w-30 year round and don't let it idle more than 30 seconds before driving off.

 

well i live in the sc like stated above and it gets pretty warm. so is it a bad thing to run 10w-30 in the hotter months??? and why no longer then thirty seconds. what if your windshield are frozen over