How do you warm up your car?

[frolf]

as stated in another thread, BMW manual says you should never let your car warm up at idle. I have no idea why, but this is my procedure.....

If cold....
-Start car with clutch engaged, let the car do its thing for about 30 seconds
-when driving for the first few minutes i shift at a medium pace (to let all the fluids warm) and make sure my shifts are precise

-once i get my temp gauge to the middle, and everything feels good, then i let her rip.


do you guys do anything special?

 

[Tom]

I do the same, except I let it sit for about a minute before I drive it.

 

[Dinan55]

Why is it bad to warm up at idle? That's what I always do... it takes my car about 2 - 3 minutes to warm up in the worst conditions.

 

[bmwrocks]

I start it, let it run for about 30 seconds, then drive it gently with no hard acceleration until temp guage is centered, then let her rip.....just like frolf.

Everything I have read and heard says to do it that way, just like you all are doing.

I am wondering the same thing as Dinan55, why can't you warm up at idle? BMW doesn't explain it in the manual, they just say don't do it.

 

[bmwrocks]

Just found this on the internet:

"Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive. In fact, with today's modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before driving away.

Idling isn't good for your vehicle. Here's why: an idling engine is not operating at its peak temperature, which means fuel combustion is incomplete. This leaves fuel residues that can condense on cylinder walls, where they contaminate oil and damage engine components such as spark plugs. When spark plugs are fouled, fuel consumption increases by 4 to 5 percent. Finally, idling can allow water to condense in the vehicle's exhaust, causing rust in the exhaust system. As if the mean, salty winter roads weren't enough to corrode your muffler to flaky brown bits.

Besides, idling only warms the engine, not the wheel bearings, steering, suspension, transmission and tires. These parts also need to be warmed up, and the only way to do that is to get the vehicle moving."

 

[man02195]

From the November BMW Inside Track Magazine, November 2003:

"Warm up to the idea of not warming up. As colder weather approaches in parts of the U.S., a helpful tip: don’t warm up in neutral. If you have automatic transmission, get going immediately. (If your BMW is manual, though, wait 10 seconds. Then drive.) However, until the engine is totally warmed, hold off on any high-performance maneuvers. Accelerate, brake and turn gently. This gives the oil a chance to warm up and lubricate the moving parts, helping to protect the engine. Why the change from traditional wisdom? Damage is incurred mostly when the engine is cold. The faster it warms up, the better. And today’s engines warm up the fastest by driving. So… get going!"

 

[PuShAkOv]

Great info guys

 

[Andre]

Just found this on the internet:

"Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive. In fact, with today's modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before driving away.

<SNIP>

This makes sense, but I want a little bit of warm up time when it's very cold so fluids can get a chance to flow. Transmission oil, engine oil etc.

About 30 seconds is good I think, then very gently driving the car until it is warm. I also think a balance should be struck during the warmup beween not making the car work too hard and making sure you don't rev it too high. I'll gently/slowly accelerate to about 4000RPM before shifting. Revving too high is not good, but equally I think revving it too low and making the engine work too much is bad. I would not take off in 2nd gear (in snow for example) until the engine has warmed up.

After 3 1/2 years of being treated like this, my old '00 328i was not using any oil between changes, and ran perfectly until the day I traded it. I expect my '04 ZHP will thank me in the same way.

 

[MrElussive]

Two nights of the week, my car has to sleep outside during the night. In this freezing cold weather, I start it up and and let the engine idle for about a minute or two, and then I drive it gently until the engine fully warms up. And exactly as frolf said it, when the temperature gauge is in the appropriate position "and everything feels good, then I let her rip." For all the other nights that I park in the garage, I startup the car and immediately pull it out of the garage...let it sit outside for about 30 seconds and then drive it gently until it warms up. My manual says to start it up and let it idle for 30 seconds and then drive it, but when the car has been sitting outside in freezing cold weather, I like to let it idle for a bit longer.
One thing I know you are not supposed to do is that you should NOT let the car warm up by sitting in idle. The car will take sooo long to warmup and supposedly it's just not right because the engine needs the oil to flow or some shit like that. I think the general idea to warming up your car is to start it up and let it sit for like 30 seconds and then drive it gently until it is warm.

 

[Dinan55]

Just found this on the internet:

"Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive. In fact, with today's modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before driving away.

Idling isn't good for your vehicle. Here's why: an idling engine is not operating at its peak temperature, which means fuel combustion is incomplete. This leaves fuel residues that can condense on cylinder walls, where they contaminate oil and damage engine components such as spark plugs. When spark plugs are fouled, fuel consumption increases by 4 to 5 percent. Finally, idling can allow water to condense in the vehicle's exhaust, causing rust in the exhaust system. As if the mean, salty winter roads weren't enough to corrode your muffler to flaky brown bits.

Besides, idling only warms the engine, not the wheel bearings, steering, suspension, transmission and tires. These parts also need to be warmed up, and the only way to do that is to get the vehicle moving."

Maybe they're assuming that all drivers aren't like us, in other words normal. I'm sure pretty much everyone in this forum takes their car to 5,000 RPM or above every week or so, which probably burns out all that buildup in the engine. Then again, I don't know...

I just turn on my car in the morning, go back in and brush my teeth (I know nobody will steal it because 1% of the people I know can drive manuals, and also theres no crime here), and when I come back everything is at running temperature. Damn it I might stop doing that if all of this engine stuff is bad... what would you do during summer?

 

[smokedE46]

you know, all these points are well and good, but here in the frigid northeast, you have to let your defrost at least do its thing...or else you aint seeing jack s**t. I dont know about all of you, but id like to be able to see that truck heading straight at me instead of worrying that i might take a chance of losing some compression at 300k miles or something. has anyone pondered that? It takes more than 30 seconds or even a whole minute to warm up the car to the point you can see out your windows safely. just my opinions, thats all. Ill take my chances with the motor and let it warm up.

 

[MrElussive]

smokedE46, when my windows are all fogged up or iced up, I just drive dude. I just drive real carefully until the windows are clear.
Dinan55, I take my car to redline pretty much every day...too tempting not to.

 

[flashinthepan]

Just found this on the internet:

BMWrocks,

Good article

Like everyone else I was wondering about this ?, I wont have to wait for a few mins anymore.

 

[jonnyz16]

great thread frolf , sounds like I'm doing it o.k. ! I had read about the " no idle " thing in the manual but had no idea why..It all makes sense now. Now the hardest part will be explaining it to my wife..lol

 

[PuShAkOv]

Lets make this thread a sticky.

~Push.

 

[mikev]

you know, all these points are well and good, but here in the frigid northeast, you have to let your defrost at least do its thing...or else you aint seeing jack s**t. I dont know about all of you, but id like to be able to see that truck heading straight at me instead of worrying that i might take a chance of losing some compression at 300k miles or something. has anyone pondered that? It takes more than 30 seconds or even a whole minute to warm up the car to the point you can see out your windows safely. just my opinions, thats all. Ill take my chances with the motor and let it warm up.

A fair point its very cold here also. however when the windows are frosted over i get into the car. attach the radar detector (it makes a series of beps which sound like the 'ready set go' on old racing games ) start the engine. then i get some warm water and clear all the windows (always water because it heats up the inside as well getting rid of condensation. NEVER boiling water as this can crack the screen!) this takes 30secs to 1min after that i'll just open my window and drive (i also have a chamois sponge to clear the windows if steaming up occours) i don't labour the engine and don't shift above 3k for the first half of the warmup then i just take it easy until i get full power.


FYI the M5 is the best up let it sit for 30secs then use as much throttle as you want. it ECU wont let you rev high enough to cause any damage until it reaches the correct oil temp!!!

 

[PuShAkOv]

FYI the M5 is the best up let it sit for 30secs then use as much throttle as you want. it ECU wont let you rev high enough to cause any damage until it reaches the correct oil temp!!!

Yeah... but do you really want to test the car's limits? Its like reving to the redline all the time... it will limit you but do you really want to put engine under all this stress all the time?

~P.u.S.h.

 

[mikev]

Yeah... but do you really want to test the car's limits? Its like reving to the redline all the time... it will limit you but do you really want to put engine under all this stress all the time?

~P.u.S.h.

thats the point!!! the car wont let you rev above 3grand until its , its a supurb feature to have!!

 

[Average Jae]

good point of defrosting the windows before going. i think the biggest thing w/ not idling for more than 30 secs is because long idle engine warm up gives the drivers the false sense of operating temp.

that is, just because your engine is all nice and warm due to a long idle, doesn't mean every other component is warm, and if you try to drive your car as if everything's at an operating temp, it'll damnage the tranny and other parts that also need a proper warmup those parts need, before being pushed around.

yea the idle warm up might be bad for the gas/air mixture, but that's not the biggest concern, when i'm freezing my butt off when i first get in the car. i want to be warm, and i wanna be able to see out my window before rolling out.

but the key is this: for first few minutes of driving, warm or cold, take it easy, and let your baby take her time to warm up. if yer rough on her from teh start, she just might dump yer ass leaving you stranded on some shoulder somewhere..

yea they were mentioned above, just my rendition ok?

 

[PuShAkOv]

thats the point!!! the car wont let you rev above 3grand until its , its a supurb feature to have!!

I always believe that the limit stops REVs short of damage. I always like a greater buffer so I never go above 2K when my engine is cold for the first 5 minutes atleast.

Its my thing.

~P.u.S.h.