Good way to get started in Winter?

Hello

Hope all is well.

My questions:

How much time is good time to start driving after starting your car during winter.



During winter after starting my car i wait for 30 to 60 seconds and then press and release accelator a couple of times and then wait for another 30 seconds. Does that cause any harm or if there is any good about it? what i feel about it is that I am kinda warming up the car!



Thanks inadvance.

Soo.

You would do far better turning on the car and then simply driving gently until it warms up.

Your just wasting time and revving if high can be causing excessive wear.

Exactly.

Ditto andrew i and Roadrunner. Just make sure oil pressure gets up to where it belongs before proceding. If you have an oil guage let engine idle till guage gets to as high as it’s gonna get; w/an oil light wait till it goes out. Reason for not warming up idling is, engine warms up faster if you make it work and engine is “healthier” warmed up. Just don’t floor it right off the bat. Take it easy like andrew i said. By the

way, boynamesoo, you sound like a Johnny Cash fan? “It was Gatlinburg in mid-July…” KS

I always thought it was Boy named Sioux.

I know that Johnny Cash never sang Ballroom Blitz.

Ballroom blitz or Barroom Blitz? The SWEET!

I will only add that idling can be bad for the engine and it does not warm up the transmission struts etc, that also need to warm up. That mile or two of easy driving is important even if you decide to warm the engine before driving.

Hey Karl,
Thanks for u r time. Yeah I am big fan of Johnny Cash.

Thanks a lot Andrew.

Start the car as soon as you get in. Let it idle, in park if it’s an automatic or in neutral if it’s a manual, while you lock the doors, put on your seat belt, etc. The few seconds you spend doing this will give oil time to circulate through the engine. Then, just start out and drive gently until the temperature gauge reaches its usual position. Idling for an extended period of time is actually a bad way to warm up the engine.

We’ve had this post before. The best (quickest) way to warm up an car is to put some load on the engine by driving away gently. However, you need to take time first for the oil to circulate to the valve gear. With thin oil in the summer this takes about 15 seconds. With heavy oil 20W30 in the winter (-15F) it can take up to a minute. These are strong reasons for buying a block heater and using winter oil. The only other reason for not driving off right away is to clear the windshield, so you can actually see out. Idling a car needlessly is rapidly becoming illegal in many areas. Where I live, city emplyees, other than bus drivers are not allowed to idle their vehicles needlessly.