I just bought my first house. It's about three miles to work...and therein lies my problem. The road I take to work is a small highway two blocks from my house with the speed limit of 55 mph. The problem is that when I leave my house and get on the highway, my car is still cold! Is it bad to be driving at 55mph with the temperature guage on or below C?

I've searched many threads and came up with the conclusion that an idle warm-up of over 30 seconds in not necessary and may do more harm than good. So, what to do? Idle for a few minutes until warmed up or drive it and let it warm at 55mph or quit being so **** about warming up my car?

I appreciate any input...

 

Let it idle for 20 seconds then go. Just don't go above 3500 rpm or so if possible until it's warmed up.

Truthfully though, you could probably get in and drive like a maniac right away every day and never know the difference. My sister does this and changes her oil every 10-12 thousand miles on her Altima w/ 130,000 miles. It still runs like new.

 

Wow...your sister and her altima...that's like an abusive relationship, the car keeps coming back for more.

 

No it is not bad as long as you don't rev the engine too high while it is still cold. Faster driving is actually better to warm the engine up quickly. But with newer cars, you don't really have to warm up the engine. I let it idle for like 5 seconds, then I'm off to the highway, which is like one block from my house.

 

If you don't feel comfortable, can you take a local road instead of the highway? Since you said your hous is only 3 miles from work, which I don't think you save much time...

Also, how about switch to synthetic oil? That will help.

 

Nope, it's the only way...


Anyhoo, it looks like the vedict is in....just let it idle for 30 seconds and drive it under 3,500 or so RPM. I guess you're all right...it's not all that bad.

Thanks for all the help!

 

 

It seems that nearly every "non-car" person and even soon people in this forum think that the best way to warm up a car in the winter is to let it idle for 5-20 minutes. If these people only knew the damage the are doing to their motors. None seem to believe me when I tell them what happens by doing this poorly choosen warm up procedure. By letting a cold motor idle for a length of time, the oil does not circulate throughout the whole motor. Instead, it mostly "pools" around the lower half of the motor therefore increasing wear along cams and such. On a cold engine start up and under normal running temps, the ECU is running a very rich fuel program to make the engine warm up as fast possible. What does this mean for the motor? It means A LOT of fuel isn't getting burned and is seeping into the oil and degrading it quickly. Also, the rich exhaust will eventually foul the cat.

People just don't understand that you should start driving a cold car as soon as the oil pressure gets into the normal range which is about 30-60 seconds after start up. It sounds hard on a cold engine to begin driving nearly right away after starting it, but it isn't true. It is far less strenuous on the motor to warm up under load (ie driving). Why? Because the oil circulates better, the fuel program becomes leaner, and the increased tranny heat begins to help warm up the motor.

 

Maybe his sister is a hottie so the altima can't resist?

 

Just intentionally leave something at home so you have to turn right around and go back. More quality time in your Max. Make your exhaust system last longer too.

 

I think a bigger problem may be that since you're only 3 miles from work your exhaust system may not get hot enough to keep water vapor from condensing in it, resulting in a rusted out system eventually. Frequent short trips are the biggest cause of exhaust system rust problems.

 

I find that it helps the engine warm up if I run the defroster/AC...it loads the engine a bit more and raises the water temp a bit faster as a result.

 

What is normal range, you mean when the needle hits that litte bitty dot in the middle. If that's the case, the oil pressure doesn't get into normal range until well into a drive, so how do get normal range within 30-60 seconds? We're talking about during the winter time I think.

 

Maybe. People say she kinda looks like me though.
She doesn't maintain that car well because my Dad bought it for her new. He yells at her to maintain it but she doesn't listen.

The only car he bought me was a 78 impala for $200 when I was 16.

 

only thing I have to say is that in any engine the last thing that gets oil is the valve train. So think about that when you sit there trying to warm up your engine

 

it doesn't matter if your car goes high rpms once it starts... just don't leave it there. Old cars require you to press on the gas pedal to the floor when you start it.. thus making it go to 5k RPMS in the first second of startup. Now, it'd be stupid if you left it at 5K...
While driving, anything under 3500 RPM is alright. Your car will stay under that on normal driving anyways, unless you like flooring it...

 

i started my car for the first time in 4days and as usual, it kicked in immediately. Well I didnt wait to warm up, just took off and slowly, the temp rose to halfway in about 15mins. Well when I hit the main road and was doing about 55/60mph, the temp slowly started dropping and not before long, fell to below c. That good or bad? Oh and did I mention it was about 50degrees out?

 

Congrats on the house! As far as I'm concerned home ownership is a beautiful thing, not so much for the invenstment aspect (my payments right now, I think only $350 goes to principle and the other 1800 or so goes to interest) but just the pride you start taking in the fact that it's your house and the biggest purchase you are ever gonna make. My friends at work have done some incredible things with their kitchens, basements, and bathrooms. I'd love to do up the kitchen Emeril/Viking Range style but it'd take a spare 20 to 30 grand which I do not have. Lots of the people at work are over 30 so what the heck maybe when I'm their age I'll do it.

Anyway, my rule of thumb is to start driving as soon as the motor starts. However, I do not rev it up too high, I try to keep it under 2500 rpm or so. What a waste both energy and wear/tear wise it is to let the car sit there parked on fast idle. Plus the pollution is up there too before the emissions system warms up. So just start driving and don't push the car.

 

Huh

I've driven plenty of older cars, and not one of them does this. For the carbuereted ones, it was necessary to "floor" the gas once before you turned the key. As soon as you did the engine would light right off and idle. I've never seen one spike to 5K.

The reason the newer cars go to 12-1500 rpm, is to help the catalytic converter warm up faster, resulting in lower cold start emissions. That way the automakers keep the idiots in the government happy, but this is hardly good for the car.

 

Um, the temp guage should NEVER start falling while you are driving. It should stick by the middle region (there is a little white dot if you look closely). Since it is pretty much impossible for an engine to get colder if it is turned on, my guess is that your water temp sending unit or guage is defective.

Get it checked out. Or crack out the voltmeter if you have a repair manual handy.

 

thing is it only happens in really cold weather....figuring it's due to the pop or sumpth...but when you actually floor it in temperatures of 40 and below after warming to mid temp., you can actually see the needle drop ever so slowly till it hits bottom...noticed it when i was driving from houston to ks and the temp kept falling as i passed different states. Hit a low of 4degrees or so.

 

Sounds like your thermostat is sticking open.