Used to think letting your car warm up for 10 mins before driving was smart

I grew up in Minnesota where my dad would start the car 15 minutes before we left in winter. Did that for years after moving out, even in mild weather. Then last February my buddy who's a mechanic in Denver pointed out my gas mileage was trash and my oil looked like sludge. He explained modern engines don't need that long to warm up and idling just gums things up. Started driving after 30 seconds of idling even in cold and my car runs way smoother. Anyone else have an old habit their parents taught them that turned out to be bad for their ride?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean7824d ago

Your buddy was right on the money. I did the same thing for years until I started paying closer attention to my owner's manual. It says right in there that modern engines are designed to be driven after just a few seconds of idling to get the oil circulating, and that prolonged warm up just wastes gas and loads up the catalytic converter with extra fuel. Once I switched to just letting the idle settle down for maybe 20 or 30 seconds before pulling away gently, my winter gas mileage went up by a good 10 percent and my oil changes started looking a lot cleaner.

milessmith4d ago

Isn't that just how it goes with everything anymore? People overthink the simple stuff.

eva_adams6811h ago

Respectfully, milessmith has a point about people overthinking things, but I'd argue the old-timers had good reason for their habits. My '03 Silverado with 280,000 miles got nothing but long warm-ups its whole life and the engine is still strong, so maybe the "waste" isn't as damaging as people claim. Unless you're flooring it cold, a few extra minutes of idle in the driveway isn't going to wreck anything compared to all the other hard miles a car sees.