let it warm up for a few minutes then take off but keep rpms really low until it warms up.

 

but does it hurt the battery/spark plug a lot from cold starting?
I only drive like 15 mintues (one way ) to school a day except weekend I will drive ~110+ km back home
will this type of short trip in weekdays hurt the engine/battery?

 

Cold starts in cold weather is hard on the car. WHen I was living in NY (2001 Neon) when I went to start it in winter it would go rum rum rum rum rum... then start up. SO what I did was start it up let it run for 5 min or so when brushing snow off it then take off driving it gently until it warmed up. Now that Im in Georgia it doesnt take very long for my new 06 corolla to warm up. I just start it up, turn on heater and radio, buckle up and take off. Warm heat is coming out in 1-2 min and car is warmed up in 5-7 min. But I keep rpms low until its warmed up. When I go out I have a list of places im going too so when I come out of one place im starting the car on a warm engine, next place warm engine... Im also saving gas by doing this. Even if your in a place for an hr when you come out and start car engine is still a lil warm so it will warm up quickly. Also short trips are hard on a car because it is warming up, fluids are starting to flow, etc. Then your in class or work for hrs then u come back start car fluids start to flow etc then u park it all night then ame process in am. So just go easy on it keep rpms low during week drive it gently and ull be fine. Then when weekend comes u can have some fun Let me know if you need any other help.

 

remote starter :thumbup:

but yes...a 15min drive isn't healthy for your car if your car barely warms up before you park it again, so in this case, idling to warm up before will at least let you really warm up your engine on the way there

and about hard starts in the cold- try using thinner oil

 

^^ so you aren't supposed to use thicker oil in the winter??? I thought the thicker the oil the harder it is to freeze...not actually freeze but resist flow.

 

thicker oil in summer becuz it is more likely to heat up more and thin out, thinner oil in winter for easier flow on cold days...or you can just run the same oil all yr round and not worry about it, 5W20, 5W30, or 10W30 usually all 3 aren't too bad, cold or hot, sorta go by what you owners manual says

I also only have a 7-10 min drive to work, on cold days, before I had a turbo, I'd start it up, warm it up for up to 5 mins (or however long it took to sweep the snow off, and take it easy, usually before my trip was half done the car would be nice and toasty inside, and temp gauge would say all warmed up.
now with my turbo car, takes a little less to warm it up completely, but still I'll start it up before I sweep the snow off. if there is no snow to sweep off, I'll let it run for up to a min, depending on how cold it is, then take off. and I have a pretty heavy foot (especially for driftin the back way to work ), remember to keep your oil changed and clean when you do mostly short runs, every 3 months whether it needs it or not...unless of course you use synthetic, than maybe 4 months, lol.

 

Short trips arent exactly good for your engine but as long as you chance your oil every 3,000 miles it wont hurt anything.
Frequent cold starts arent really hard on your sparkplugs, but it does cause more engine wear.
Also, you want to run THINNER oil in cold weather. Oil thickens up the colder it gets, so thinner oil makes it easier to start the engine and flows up to the valvetrain quicker than thicker oil.

 

I just use a remote starter, and if i have to start it completley cold, i put it in gear right away which lowers RPM's.

 

^^well aren't you clever! It's not everybody who has/can afford a remote starter.

I always have to leave early in the morning to go to work and in -30 weather, I usually start my car then head back in the house, have breakfast and about 20 minutes later, the car is warm enough to safely go. I never plugged my car, never used a block heater and it always starts fine without much hesitation. I also drive standard so I always need to make sure it's warm enough, often I won't be able to shift when it's very very cold. I woulnd't worry much about starting the car in cold weather, I mean, we all have to do it at one point and engines are designed for all kinds of weather/conditions.

I was told as long as you leave enough time for your engine to warm up a bit, you should be fine. Try to avoid as much as you can getting in your car, starting it and leaving driving right away. If you are worried about spark plugs or the battery, after all, those are parts that need to be changed at some point in time and any condition could potentially reduce its lifetime, not just cold weather.

 

I was told as long as you leave enough time for your engine to warm up a bit, you should be fine. Try to avoid as much as you can getting in your car, starting it and leaving driving right away.

No disrespect intended, but thats not true. 10 years ago, maybe but nowdays they tell you that a warmup time is not neccesary.
As long as you dont start your car, throw it into gear and floor it right away, you wont hurt anything. In fact, driving away with a cold engine is actually better because it warms-up quicker than if you were to just leave it idlin in your driveway. It saves gas too.
I let my truck warm up for about 10 seconds, they I drive away. Thats long enough for plenty of oil to flow up to the valvetrain.
If you want to let your car warm-up so that you have a warm car to sit in right away, thats fine but you wont harm your engine if you drive away with it cold (as long as you dont floor it right away).

 

i always let my cars warm up fully before i take off, its more than just the motor thats warming up.i only use 0w or 5w-30 weight oil

ive seen too many cars old and new up here that didint get warmed up long enough break down be cause of the cold.

of couse it gets a lot colder up here though

if its warm like 0F you dont have to let it warm up as long, but the colder it gets the longer the warm up should be.

sure starting a car off and taking off will get it warm faster, but forcing things to warm up faster isnt always a good idea, it puts a lot of stress on the motor and other parts of the vehicle. many times the Oil,other fluids,metal, plastics etc can be damaged.

if you dont have a plug in, it can sometimes help to put a thick blanket over the hood to try and keep some of the heat under the hood.

i hate Alaska

 

No disrespect intended, but thats not true. 10 years ago, maybe but nowdays they tell you that a warmup time is not neccesary.
As long as you dont start your car, throw it into gear and floor it right away, you wont hurt anything. In fact, driving away with a cold engine is actually better because it warms-up quicker than if you were to just leave it idlin in your driveway. It saves gas too.
I let my truck warm up for about 10 seconds, they I drive away. Thats long enough for plenty of oil to flow up to the valvetrain.
If you want to let your car warm-up so that you have a warm car to sit in right away, thats fine but you wont harm your engine if you drive away with it cold (as long as you dont floor it right away).

well at least I have an excuse for being "wrong" since all my newest car was 11 yrs old when I got it
but yeah, at 10secs at least your oil has a little bit of time to circulate (through engine and tranny). I've seen people start it up and throw it into gear before waiting at all...all I can think of is, "Poor poor tranny". Yeah but if's not too cold out (around freezing) and there is no snow, no sense waiting around
new cars on the lot, at work, we just start them up and drive away basically. altho I'm still a believer in some warm up time if it's extremely cold

 

No disrespect intended, but thats not true. 10 years ago, maybe but nowdays they tell you that a warmup time is not neccesary.
As long as you dont start your car, throw it into gear and floor it right away, you wont hurt anything. In fact, driving away with a cold engine is actually better because it warms-up quicker than if you were to just leave it idlin in your driveway. It saves gas too.
I let my truck warm up for about 10 seconds, they I drive away. Thats long enough for plenty of oil to flow up to the valvetrain.
If you want to let your car warm-up so that you have a warm car to sit in right away, thats fine but you wont harm your engine if you drive away with it cold (as long as you dont floor it right away).

Well i'm sorry but I basically wrote the exact same thing as you did, leaving it running for 20 minutes is my personal decision. I said that he should avoid as much as possible starting it and leaving right away in very cold weather because it does cause stress to the engine (which is what he wanted to know).

I don't have a choice to leave my car running for longer in -30 weather because I won't be able to shift otherwise. I think it's all a personal choice, if you want to drive away as soon as you start it, fine, just don't floor it. If you want to wait, fine, it works both ways. And about the part not being true according to you, a shit load of mechanics still advise to let the car warm up for 2-5 minutes in very cold weather if it hasn't been plugged in or in a garage. I'm no mechanic, but i'm thinking common sense here and well, it does make sense to me to let it run for a bit. Maybe you guys just don't get as cold temperatures as we get here up north?

 

I give it about 30-45 secs tops... I run synthetic, and usually when idle speed drops below 1k (in park) I go- gently.

If you don't mind freezing a little, I recommend leaving your heater OFF until the engine warms- what you'll find is that the engine warms up faster, and with less load you'll save a little fuel too. (I did this back-to-back in my gen3.5 and it warmed up about twice as fast with the heater off)

Steve

 

And about the part not being true according to you, a shit load of mechanics still advise to let the car warm up for 2-5 minutes in very cold weather if it hasn't been plugged in or in a garage. I'm no mechanic, but i'm thinking common sense here and well, it does make sense to me to let it run for a bit. Maybe you guys just don't get as cold temperatures as we get here up north?

Well, I guess thats where we have a difference of opinion. My father is an auto mechanic with 30+ years of experience and he doesnt let his vehicles warm up for more than 10 seconds no matter how cold it is.
As for it not getting all that cold, we routinely get temps in the -20 F range.
Like I said, its your call. Im just throwing my 2 cents in, you can take it or leave it.

 

ok thanks all
I think I will leave it for 30 seconds or as long as I finish removing snow from the car

 

I just leave my car idle for ten minutes in extreme cold weather. I usually take off once the Engine temp odometer needle passes the first mark.

 

ok thanks all
I think I will leave it for 30 seconds or as long as I finish removing snow from the car

No problem.

 

Well, I guess thats where we have a difference of opinion. My father is an auto mechanic with 30+ years of experience and he doesnt let his vehicles warm up for more than 10 seconds no matter how cold it is.
As for it not getting all that cold, we routinely get temps in the -20 F range.
Like I said, its your call. Im just throwing my 2 cents in, you can take it or leave it.

the mechanics up here get upset if you dont let the motor and vehicle warm up long enough because their the ones who have to try and fix them when they break down

it usualy stays -20f and colder here for months. we dont have cold snaps it just stays cold

 

Warming up the car by idling isnt the right way to do it. You should warm it up driving it so that you dont overly beat on it, but drive it with moderate RPM.

Yes I'm a motorsports technician.

 

What you guys think of Remote Starter? I checked with Best Buy, they have Viper (the basic: just the remote starter and keyless entry) and it might cost me around $300 incl installation, which I can afford. But my main concern is, can this damage the car or create any other issues that will inconvenience me?

 

ive never heard about damage caused by an auto start in cars with auto trannys, almost 1 in 3 cars up here have them now, its a dealer option on most new vehicles here. people leave their cars running for hours up here with no damage.

ive seen manual cars with auto starts that have jumped because they were left in gear and started but thats been awhile, most shops have fail safes in place to keep that from happening now days.

 

Even after warming it up for 2 minutes max using dyno 5w30 oil, the temp guage still shows - 5 C [23 F] and the car has trouble getting over the 2,000 RPM mark, until either I drive another 1 minute or push the pedal harder.

 

I agree with what Captain Toyota said above in that you really don't need to warm up by letting the car idle. But if you are in extreeeeeeeeeeeme cold conditions you sorta have to. At least in my Maxima I MUST let it sit and idle and warm up because the steering is frozen and extremely stiff, as is the manual tranny. The clutch pedal also gets pretty stiff. It's just not a very safe car to go out and drive at that point. On a -10F morning it makes a big difference in driveability to let it warm up for a bit while I'm clearing off ice and junk rather than just hopping in and going.

We only have a 1 car heated garage at this point, and the Highlander goes in there.

 

I run synthetic, Steve

Ding we have a winner.

Buy a litre of synthetic 5-40 and a litre of normal 5-30 and try to pour both of them on a cold day (less than -15C)

I know that after doing this you will want to have your car switched to synthetic as soon as you can.