My mechanic brother in law told me to stop babying my engine and I feel dumb now

He said I was idling too long to warm it up and that actually causes more wear than just driving easy the first few miles. Been doing that for 8 years - has anyone else been doing this wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_derek15d ago

Yep, your brother in law is right. Idling for more than 30 seconds just wastes gas and doesn't do much for the oil. Your engine warms up way faster when you just drive it gently. I used to let my truck run for five minutes every morning. Now I just start it, buckle up, and go easy until the temp gauge moves. That old habit cost me a lot of gas money for nothing.

sarah_hart14d ago

Same here. I probably burned through a few hundred bucks just standing still like an idiot.

elliotm7015d ago

South of the freeze line it really doesn't matter much.