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How long do you warm up your car for?

25348 Views 57 Replies 32 Participants Last post by  bamaboy1626
Sorry if this is a repeat thread, tried searching with no luck.

I used to have a bimmer so I never had to really warm up my car (I believe they advise you not to). Now that I have my Accord I don't really know how long I should let it idle before I start driving. Suggestions?
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Sorry if this is a repeat thread, tried searching with no luck.

I used to have a bimmer so I never had to really warm up my car (I believe they advise you not to). Now that I have my Accord I don't really know how long I should let it idle before I start driving. Suggestions?
at least 2 minutes so the oil goes up
I usually just take it easy until the car reaches normal operating temp. If I'm not in a hurry I'll give it five seconds before taking off.
at least 2 minutes so the oil goes up
Oil pressure? That does not take two minutes. More like two seconds.
Letting your car warm up before driving it just wastes fuel. Just follow what you did in your BMW and you will be just fine. I allow the engine RPM to stabilize after start and then drive gently until the engine has come up to operating temperature. Unfortunately, we don't have an oil temperature gauge which would be the best indication of the engine reaching operating temperature. The water temperature gauge coming up to normal range plus a couple of miles should be sufficient.
I only let it warm up enough to situate myself.
Just go easy on the gas pedal, no need to really sit around to let it warm up.
in the morning i let my car warm up for 3~ minutes, usually i let the rpms drop to 1.1k~ then drive slowly from there.

when it's the winter i wake up start the car, go brush my teeth and wear clothes then come back to the car ready to go :)

after that if i got to a mall or whatever, i let the car sit for a minute then go

it maybe a waste or not even needed, but it's something i feel comfortable to do before i drive
The last engine to not have some sort of electronic "choke" function on it was the 1993 Isuzu Pup pick-up truck (also the last carbureted engine- no fuel injection). That was the last vehicle in North America that you had to "warm up" before you drove.

Every car can be driven immediately after starting. Just take care to not rev it to redline before the engine reaches operating temperature. Anything else is, as Flyboy pointed out, a waste of fuel and time. And as your cabin heat is from the heat produced by the engine, the faster you begin your drive, the faster you will have heat- important in Chicago winters....
A guy I work with fires up his car and does a full throttle launch out of work every day. I cringe and shake my head every time.
Honda has said in at least one of my four Honda owner's manuals that even in the coldest weather, the engine only needs one minute to warm up.
Honda has said in at least one of my four Honda owner's manuals that even in the coldest weather, the engine only needs one minute to warm up.
really? have a link to that? Ive always been under the impression that we needed to warm up our cars and was told by a friend to let the RPMs hit the 1 before driving which takes me about 5 minutes (and its not even winter yet). Now i feel a little better about not having a remote starter :thmsup:
really? have a link to that? Ive always been under the impression that we needed to warm up our cars and was told by a friend to let the RPMs hit the 1 before driving which takes me about 5 minutes (and its not even winter yet). Now i feel a little better about not having a remote starter :thmsup:
I just did a search in the owner's manual for the words 'warm up' and there is no mention of a time. However, driving gently or easily until the engine comes up to normal operating temperature is just good sense.
really? have a link to that? Ive always been under the impression that we needed to warm up our cars and was told by a friend to let the RPMs hit the 1 before driving which takes me about 5 minutes (and its not even winter yet). Now i feel a little better about not having a remote starter :thmsup:
There is no mention in the current owner's manual, but I've been driving Hondas since 2002 and in at least one of those, it said what I said earlier.

Here's another man's opinion.

http://www.examiner.com/article/auto-q-a-with-tom-torbjornsen-how-long-should-my-car-warm-up

The remote starter is really a creature comfort.
This is like an oil change at 3,000 miles.......

30 years ago you had to change your oil every 3,000 miles and 30 years ago you had to let the engine idle in winter before you drove (EXCEPT THE 1982+ Honda Accord which came with an electronic choke!!!)

Get with it people.
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A guy I work with fires up his car and does a full throttle launch out of work every day. I cringe and shake my head every time.
Bwahahaha this had me laughing hysterically:lmao: Explain this in more detail what does this man drive? hahahahaha
You don't have to warm up a fuel injected engine, however most of the wear occurs when the engine starts and is poorly lubricated. I let the engine 'warm up' enough to just let the RPM stabilize. The thing to bear in mind is that, even if you let the car sit for 20 minutes and have the engine perfectly warm and lubricated, the transmission etc is still all cold. By warming the car for 30 seconds or so and then driving gently, rather than warming up just the engine, you slowly get everything up to temp and is much better for the rest of the components of the car.
In a 100k miles that i've driven my car i've never warmed it up. There r times when i have to put an address in my phone's navigation or plug my aux cable into my phone but other than that i don't warm up.

Maybe it's different in states with super cold weather, but in sunny LA you get in and go. :p
I give the engine 30 seconds to warm up, plenty of time to get everything lubed up, and then I drive gently.
What is this warm up you are talking about? Usually I'm in reverse and backing out of the garage and the "H" is still on the iMID screen.

The car has 0w-20 oil. The oil is around the engine in no time. Just avoid WOT until at op temp and you are fine.

Jay
ok when the car is started right from a cold start everything is still cold. especially in a manual transmission. if you get in and go right away in a manual tranny the car jerks like hell until its warmed up. also in my auto accord, when i "get in and go immediately, the gears hold up longer before they switch and it still jerks not as smooth as being warmed up.

with that said, i have an auto starter and ALWAYS use it before i get into the car. i dont think ive even started my car with putting the key in the ignition in about 2 years
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