Do you need to warm up your engine before driving off

[Tyre Tread]

A post about a guy allowing his car to idle before setting off in the morning as he believes it damages the engine to drive it cold set me thinking.

I was always taught to drive off immediately after starting the engine but to keep the load and revs down as much as possible until the car has warmed up. This seems sensible to me as sitting idling just wastes time and fuel and the car engine working gently will warm it marginally quicker.

So, place your bets and lets see what the PH collective does and thinks.

[Corpulent Tosser]

You missed out

Start it drive off and red line it in the lower gears as that gets it up to temperature quicker.

[andy-xr]

Revs are fine, load kills things. Just get in and drive off normally, unless normally involves booting it to the redline until the car is screaming for air

[steveo3002]

drive away sensibly , more oil flow vs idle and it will warm sooner

even the handbooks say to move off asap

[Hoofy]

Habit for me - I still drive it gently until the engine's warm despite planning to scrap it within the next year.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Get in, start engine, drive off. No booting it for 10 mins or so. No temp gauge on my BMW so it's all guess work anyway

Only time it would sit there idling is if I were de-icing it in the winter and that's only so its a bit warmer for me when I get in not for the sake of the car.

Anyone who believes a modern car needs to warm up before driving off is an idiot (IMHO)

[jesta1865]

i was always told not to cane the car till it was warm (well told not to cane it full stop actually ) and at normal temp.

i have had a number of turbo powered cars over the years and i have always run the engine at idle for at least 15 seconds at the end of each drive and never had an issue with any of them (that's put the kybosh on that then ) and several have been performance cars. i do leave it longer if i have been driving spiritedly

[Hoofy]

jesta1865 said:

i have had a number of turbo powered cars over the years and i have always run the engine at idle for at least 15 seconds at the end of each drive and never had an issue with any of them (that's put the kybosh on that then ) and several have been performance cars. i do leave it longer if i have been driving spiritedly

Rather than ps off neighbours by leaving an engine running especially late at night, I just drove like a girl for the last 5 minutes of my journey when I had cars with turbos.

[dirty boy]

When I had the Cerbera, I had an oil temperature gauge fitted, it's quite frightening to see exactly how long it took the oil to get up to working temperature - a fair old while after the water.

In the Clio, I just wait a few more minutes after the water is up to temp.

I think the correct method was to drive immediately, but keep revs and load low until it was all warm and idling did it no good whatsoever, can't remember the technical reasons.

[CrutyRammers]

There's more load on the camshaft at idle and you've less oil pressure. A couple of thousand revs brings the pressure up so it's getting lots of nice oil, and because the camshaft followers have a bit of momentum, (they're "thrown" off the end of the lobe so don't press on it with so much force), they are applying less pressure and hence less wear. Is how it was described to me
Plus it'll take an age to heat up at idle.

[iva cosworth]

dirty boy said:

When I had the Cerbera, I had an oil temperature gauge fitted, it's quite frightening to see exactly how long it took the oil to get up to working temperature - a fair old while after the water.

s.

I fitted an oil temp to the Cosworth.

I'd warm the engine a little,driving not outside the house then give it max boost and the oil soon registered

on the gauge after that......

[theshrew]

Fire it up but let it idle while i put seat belt on get comphy etc. At least give the oil chance to get to the top of the engine.

Drive off steady until its warm.

On the way home drive steady down my road and idle for a while before turning off ( i have a turbo ) if not just turn it off.

[mark.c]

theshrew said:

Fire it up but let it idle while i put seat belt on get comphy etc. At least give the oil chance to get to the top of the engine.

Drive off steady until its warm.

On the way home drive steady down my road and idle for a while before turning off ( i have a turbo ) if not just turn it off.

This, anything else is just guff.

[Clivey]

theshrew said:

Fire it up but let it idle while i put seat belt on get comphy etc. At least give the oil chance to get to the top of the engine.

Drive off steady until its warm.

On the way home drive steady down my road and idle for a while before turning off ( i have a turbo ) if not just turn it off.

Agree. In the Discovery, I always give it a minimum of 10 seconds before and after driving (the handbook tells you to leave it at least 10 secs before switching off - longer if it's been working hard) and I keep the revs / load low until it's warm.

[zedx19]

As others have said, its surprising how long it takes the oil to reach temp. Many a time in my old mk1 172, the water temp would be up for a while, yet when booting it'd still not rev out. It'd take ages until the rev limiter would be raised to its norm.

GTI-6 I replaced it with had an oil temp gauge, making it easier to see when it was at temp.

Anyway, I'd always just drive off as I was told oil would slosh around, unsure how much difference it really made though in reality.

[GTIR]

In my old Merc I warmed it up for two mins every time.

It had 460k on it (same engine and running gear) when I sold it. Only issue was leaking injector.

I do the same on my Merc now.

[SlipStream77]

IIRC, the manual for my E46 330 states specifically not to warm it up while stationary.

I presume it depends on the engine design.

[Devil2575]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Anyone who believes a modern car needs to warm up before driving off is an idiot (IMHO)

This.

[exceed]

In my car I get in immediately put it in RACE and when MC-R flashes up on the display I know it's warmed up enough.

I have a Megane RS that has a water temperature gauge and I've fitted an oil temperature HUD and they're actually fairly similar in terms of time taken to warm up.

[GTIR]

SlipStream77 said:

IIRC, the manual for my E46 330 states specifically not to warm it up while stationary.

I presume it depends on the engine design.

I think that's for "environmental" reasons.