i always let the car idle for awhile before i start driving it.

during winter up here in Alaska ill let it warm up for a minumum of 10 minutes which offen times isnt long enough especially when its usually -20F to -50F and colder out.sometimes ill let it sit at idle for hours during winter, which is normal for up here.

all my cars are winterized.

 

I wouldnt worry about the tranny too much since its just a camry(sedan). Typically you should let ur car idle till the rpm's drop down a bit. So if its idling at 1,800rpm let it go down to maybe 1200-1400 RPMs. Thats pretty good already. Or take a look at the temp gauge and once u see it raises to the bottom of the cold line then you are able to drive off. Just be easy till you reach the proper rpms.

 

I have a remote starter, and i allow it to run for about 10 minutes while i get ready to leave in the mornings. After about 5 minutes the car is warmed up enough that the heat radiates from the vents quite nicley

 

Remote car starters are available at Wal*Mart, but I am not good at things that involve car wires. And knowing Dad he'd probably say "Oh, I'll install it" and then give up a couple months later because the instructions aren't detailed enough And then of course another two weeks would be from him ranting that "we don't need no :censor:damn mechanic to do it for us. Do you know how much they charge for labor?" :lol:

I've learned that if you need a mechanic to do something to your car, go ahead and let them do it. But don't let Dad know until it's been done.

 

If there's snow/ice on the car, I'll let it idle for the time I'm clearing snow off of it. If there's nothing, then I'll let idle for 30 seconds to a minute if it's cold out. 10 seconds for warmer outdoor temps. Basically enough to get fluids moving around.


Under either circumstance, I keep under ~2000rpm (KA24DE love, right, Razo? :woot: ) until the car reaches full operating temp. I'm not a leadfoot, so it's not hard for me to do.



edit: Both mom's KA24 Altima and dad's Bonneville have Bulldog remote starters - of the cheap Wal-Mart variety My dad installed them both himself. They were $99 (or less, I forget), keep in mind Canadian pricing. They work, but let's just say that you get what you pay for. The Altima has a long crank time relative to other cars, and the Bulldog system will often not catch on the first try. Crank-crank *silence*. Crank-crank vroooooooom!


The Cressida had an AstroStart system that we got (installed) as a straight-up trade for a running, road-worthy '86 VW Jetta as a parts car. That was GOOD shit. And the remote made such cool noises when you pressed the buttons :loove:

 

get in the car, turn it on, turn heat on, turn radio on, buckle up, put in drive and go. After 5 minutes of driving its just about fully warmed up.

NOTE: I live in the south so it does not take long to warm up, even in 30 degrees.

 

I let my truck warm-up untill it comes down off of fast idle. Once the revs drop to 1,000 rpm (usually 10 seconds or less), I put it into "D" are drive off at a conservative pace.
Lengthy warm-up times are unneccsary and waste gas.

 

when there is snow, any temp. :
start car, sweep off snow, fishtail outta parking lot, keep revs below 4000 for the first mile

no snow with snow on ground around freezing :
start car, wait 30s-1min, fishtail outta parking lot, keep revs below 4000 for first mile

no snow, much below freezing, (-15)-(-20) celcius, :
start car, wait 1-2 mins, ease outta parking lot, keep revs below 4000 for 2-3 miles

 

I just start the car and go. It eventualy warms up as I'm driving.

 

I always warm up my camry in any weather; I wait til the the car temp. needle reaches "cold" and then slowly drive off.

 

I just drive it with a light foot til it's warm. The Prius has a thermos that stores hot coolant so engine warm up times are much shorter.

How come you guys in the colder regions don't use engine block heaters, isn't that more efficient?

 

^ probably, but it's not like electricity is cheap these days either :

but I think it's more the convenient factor....remote starter-press a button, any time, whenever, whereever, etc- plus you can make all your lights ligh up when you want it to...


I have a remote starter.....and I'm spoiled since my car stays in the garage anyway...

 

Remote car starters are available at Wal*Mart, but I am not good at things that involve car wires. And knowing Dad he'd probably say "Oh, I'll install it" and then give up a couple months later because the instructions aren't detailed enough And then of course another two weeks would be from him ranting that "we don't need no :censor:damn mechanic to do it for us. Do you know how much they charge for labor?" :lol:

I've learned that if you need a mechanic to do something to your car, go ahead and let them do it. But don't let Dad know until it's been done.

I install remote starters professionally, its my living

 

when i wake up run out side in my pjs , start car hearter on full and then when iam ready to leave like 10-25 later cars warm

 

How come you guys in the colder regions don't use engine block heaters, isn't that more efficient?

If i parked outside or it was really cold, i'd use one. How much do they run?

 

If i parked outside or it was really cold, i'd use one. How much do they run?

about $20-30 for a engine block heater, about the same with oil pan,battery,purculater etc. heaters

their easy to put in too. most of the time they only need to be plugged in for about 30 minutes to an hour at most.

a few winters ago the power went out when it was -55F out and my car froze solid, the dip stick was frozen and i couldnt even get it out so i had to lite a pizza pan with bbq charcole underneath the car for an hour just to get it started. took another hour for the tranny and other parts to thaw out too

i Hate Alaska

 

I lived in Colorado for 7 years. I parked my car outside all those years & hated scraping the ice off the windshield every winter. I moved to Washington state about 9 years ago.

The smartest thing I did was to buy a house with a garage. My car has always been parked inside for the last 9 years.

Even when it's cold (like 20-30 degrees) outside, the garage is still aboug 45-50 degrees F.
No matter if it's winter or summer, I start my car, let it roll down the driveway in Neutral and after about 20-30 seconds, I put it in drive and I am off. I drive the car very gently till the temp needle is above "C". Then I drive normally.

When I park the car outside (like when I park it at work), I usually let the car idle about 30-sec to a minute, then I creep along in Drive till it warms up.

When I lived in Colorado, I usually had to let the car warm up for awhile before I could drive off. Both cars I had back then (80 Celica and '85 Accord) had carburetors and it drove like crap before it warmed up when it was below 20F outside.

So I start the car, get my snow brush out, brush off/scrape all the snow from the windshield, side/back windows and brush off the snow from the body. Then I'd creep along slowly and then the car would warm up.

 

Hey any of you guys notice it takes longer for your car to heat up with an intake on? On my camry there was a flap in the stock intake path, just after scope, is it supposed to cut air back and make the air fuel mixture richer with fuel so it heats up quicker? Is this what that does?

 

/\ Yes on my Camry when I installed my short ram intake it did take longer for it to idle down

For my Accord I used to just remote start it.... just made sure it wasn't in gear or it would take off on me (did this a few times lol)

For my Sebring.. I think I'll just let it idle down like I used to on my Camry. I need to get a remote start put on it soon.

 

hahaha.. yeah used to love that on older standard cars.. you'd turn the key and the car would lurch forward if it was in gear. :lol:

I usually let my car idle from 1-5minutes depending on how cold it is.

 

i get on the car and start the engine, then i buckle up and check my mirrors and put in a cd and adjust the heater, then ill just give it a few blimps of the throttle then go

 

With temps down to about 0 degree F you should really only let the engine idle for 30-45 seconds, put it in gear and drive "gently" (I say no more than 3000 rpm, but usually try to keep it to 2000-2500rpm) for the first 10 minutes of driving.

The engine will heat up faster under load than it will just by simply idleing in the driveway.

The idea is to heat the engine up as quickly as possible without abusing it, and you also want the trans to heat up as well.

No matter what your water temp gauge says, it takes 10-15 minutes of the engine running to heat the oil up. You should not run it hard until the oil is warmed up and you won't really know when that is unless you have installed an oil temp gauge


For temps below 0 F, I am really not as sure what to do as I don't live somewhere that this happens often. I guess I would let it idle just a little bit longer, maybe up to 2 minutes, but basically follow the same guideline. Drive it as slow as I can as soon as you can and run this way for 15 minutes or so before driving it "normal".

Just sitting idle is one of the worst things you can do to an engine in any temperature.

 

For temps below 0 F, I am really not as sure what to do as I don't live somewhere that this happens often. I guess I would let it idle just a little bit longer, maybe up to 2 minutes, but basically follow the same guideline. Drive it as slow as I can as soon as you can and run this way for 15 minutes or so before driving it "normal".

Just sitting idle is one of the worst things you can do to an engine in any temperature.

about 0F and colder warm ups ive seen too many cars up hear break down because people wouldnt warm their vehicles up long enough.

from over 15 years of experience in interior Alaska winters idleing your car for a long time in sub 0F temps is not a bad thing. a car can run all day long at those with out any harm,its just a tried and true way of life here.

its better to drive off with fully warmed up oil and fluid in the engine block and tranny than trying to drive with cold thick oil and fluid.

0F is a warm day here in winter and 20-30 is tshirt weather

 

Usually let my car idle for a few minutes.The more snow/colder it is, I add a couple more minutes.Like the others said, drive off keeping the RPM's low.

 

about 0F and colder warm ups ive seen too many cars up hear break down because people wouldnt warm their vehicles up long enough.

from over 15 years of experience in interior Alaska winters idleing your car for a long time in sub 0F temps is not a bad thing. a car can run all day long at those with out any harm,its just a tried and true way of life here.

its better to drive off with fully warmed up oil and fluid in the engine block and tranny than trying to drive with cold thick oil and fluid.

0F is a warm day here in winter and 20-30 is tshirt weather

You are the expert

I would never live somewhere so cold my pee freezes BEFORE it hits the ground

Anywhere warmer and long idle is BAD BAD BAD, maybe where you are it's the lesser of two evils.