Should You Warm Up Your Car Before Driving It? 

I always wait till my RPM drops from a cold start

As someone who has seen the results of cold seizure I will allow my car to warm up. It worked for my car for the last 20 years and 250,000 miles

The real reason I can't drive off in 30 seconds or less is usually in cold weather is not because Im trying to warm up the car or the engine - I need the windshield to clear up so I can see!!

As he tells us to let the car run for 30-60 seconds, this car has been idling throughout the whole video. 😁😁😁

Currently letting my car idle via remote start for around 10 minutes when temps are below freezing. Under those conditions (or even now where temps are -10F) I find it a bit hard to believe that you are overheating any engine components. Sure heat transfer is not as good as a moving car, but the air is so cold that in my opinion any overheating risk would be minimal.

Short answer: Yes you should always do it even when it's not winter. Your engine will last longer and it doesn't even take long.

Yes you should always warm it up. Your engine and head gasket(s) needs to expand to ensure a proper seal. It's not just about oil reaching operating viscousity.

This guy must be smarter than any Honda engineer because my Honda shows me when the car is ready to go and trust me, in the winter season is waaaaay more than 60 seconds😂😂

Best thing you can do is drive gently without putting much load on it. Wear happens mostly with the engine cold, letting it idle takes an eternity to get it to temp. Driving gently will not put much more load on the engine and will let it come to temp much quicker. I would suggest switching to 0W-20, 0W-30, 0w-40 etc if you’re really concerned about oil flow in these temperatures. Engineering explained has made a good video about this a couple of years back.

As a mechanic in CO i respectfully disagree especially for forced induction vehicles warming up can’t hurt the engine/cat as long as everything is in order

Engine block heaters are a good investment if you’re in a cold climate. The one on my F250 heats the coolant to 130 degrees, so I pretty much have instant heat and it’s ready to drive off after it’s been plugged in.

Sorry I let mine warm for awhile. Car is made to run in a certain heat range. I don't idle it for 20 minutes but I let warm for 5 minutes or so. You can sit at a stop light for 5 minutes and idlling doesn't hurt it. Frozen motors and GDI don't play well. Transmissions engines have different types of metal that have clearances that are designed to work within a range. You go your way I'll go mine.

You are the gold standard for any RU-vid car channel. Always informative and relevant. I’ve heard that driving the car before the engine is at operating temperature does damage it long term because the parts haven’t fully expanded yet and it can cause wear. You mentioned it briefly in this video. How much of a potential issue is that?

When it's very cold, you leave it idling for 2-3 minutes, to warm up the oil, a bit.

Not letting your car warm up, is what's stupid and costly in the long run. Always let your car warm up for at least five minutes, and that comes from plenty of experts and mechanics.

When there are very cold parts of the engine and very hot parts, when the car is driving while it is cold, the engine will be destroyed after a while. This is a simple physics rule. As for the catalyzer, it will be filled with carbon because the oxygen sensor works when its temperature exceeds 350 degrees Celsius. As for the engine, it burns fuel appropriately when it is hot. You need to warm up your car for three minutes and then slow down until the engine reaches the right operating temperature

Last week it got down to -15 here, with a -55 wind chill, I used remote start to warm it up about 5 minutes just to keep my butt warm when I got in. Temp gage barely moved off of cold after that.

I wait for my RPMs to get under 1k in my 5.0 13 Stang. And I will continue to do it that way, especially in the winter.

With a bmw v8 engine, warm up is definitely essential, and 0w viscosity is too thin, burns off faster than the 5w30 the stealership is selling 0w because they know low oil light will be on early 😂

My understanding is the engine will warm up faster with slow driving rather than letting it idle for 10 minutes. This is what I do and I wait until the engine is completely warmed up before freeway driving.

Thanks for explaining this I was warming my 2021 RAV4 for 5 to 10 minutes in cold weather below 20 degrees

ya, i will continue to let my cars warm up sufficiently no matter the temp but it is always longer than 60 seconds, thats just silly. At the very least always let your car drop out of its fast idle before setting off (and drive easy till temps come up).

I am Currently living in Minnesota, I have never lived in a colder place than here. I am trying guilty of warming up my car for more than 30 minutes. I know they are saying with newer cars you shouldn't be doing that. But I have noticed my car seems to drive better also its warmer. I can't stand a freezing car. Especially when it gets to -7 to -15 on certain days.

What is being left out of this reasoning is CVT and automatic transmissions. Sure I would rather not have a CVT but Subarus have capabilities no other vehicles have and if you want that then you get a CVT which are reliable if you change the fluid every 60k. But driving before they warm up puts a lot of extra wear on them. There is no combustion in a transmission. They only heat up from the warmer/cooler from the radiator fluid. There is no heat until the engine heats up the radiator fluid. Modern transmissions are more expensive than engines and need as much concern.

In cold weather I need to let the car idle just to get the windows clear - scraping the ice and snow off alone doesn't cut it. Plus my transmission doesn't appreciate being used unless fully warmed up - it doesn't go out of second if cold.

NO WAY! I don't care what ANYONE says; when it's -5° outside, MY ASS will NOT be sitting on an ice-cold seat, turning an ice-cold steering wheel and trying keep the windows from fogging up!! I actually disagree with a few of your points here. New cars come with remote start FOR A REASON, and I'm going to use it! If it was potentially harmful and damaging to warm up your new or newer car, auto manufacturers wouldn't have been adding remote start and heated seats for the last 16+ years! Now, in mild climates, on warmer Spring and Summer mornings, sure....I hop in, start it, and I GO. Here in NE Ohio where it gets BITTER COLD in the Winter, I'll continue warming up my car, thank you very much.

A 5 minute warm up allows fluids to at least get warm enough to flow better in cild weather. Especially auto trans, otherwise it will not shift until it gets uo in rpm which is bad for engine that is not up to temp.

Thanks for the tips. I see you live in a quite cold environment so I guess no one else could explain it better than you. Merry Christmas 🎄 and see you soon.

when a engine is cold its a good idea to warm up the motor everytime I pulled out with my car in the cold the head gasket would give out best to warm the car

Metal expands when its warm, An engine is made to run at a certain temperature, running it cold destroys the engine. I warm my cars in the winter before driving and run them everyday even if I'm not going anywhere. I get hundreds of miles out of my cars, I currently have an HHR with 250,000 miles and it burns no oil. Also you're burning up your trans running it cold. Funny how you make this video and then at the end you admit that you can damage an engine if you run it too hard cold. PS screw the EPA, how many emissions do you produce idling a car for ten minutes compared to running it for an hour or more, not much.

Wow, a lifetime of old school habits die hard! It's been a long time since the 20-50 days but I've still been living by them :) ... Merry Christmas to you and the fam Mark.

Keeping the Rpms lower while the engine temp gauge hasn't moved Yet is always a smart move, Because otherwise most of the wear is at cold start ups, But Not being a Reving lunatic like in the beginning of this Video is Smart 👍, I usually start my car let it sit for a minute or two then start driving has never hurt any of my Honda's but of course all of them use very thin full synthetic oil or whatever is posted on the filler cap.-30⁰F is normal in January here in north central Wis.❄😁

Absolutely....1 min or 2 to get the oil to go everywhere before you move its essential.

My '20 WRX has an oil temperature gauge. When I start the car it runs at a fast idle, about 1800 rpm. I always wait until the oil temp registers it's lowest setting which is 86 degrees. My FA20 doesn't burn any oil after 50K miles. I took into consideration cylinder wall wash down by cold gasoline and change the oil every 3-3.5K miles.

I always let my car idle 10-15 mins while i clean snow off the car and let windows defrost. Mostly in the morning, been doing it for years never had an issue.

May not hurt the engine,id be more worried about the transmission

I was traveling last winter, and stopped at a gas station to sleep when it was in the 30s. Woke up to the car next to me revving all the way for several minutes. It was 12 degrees at that time and my car and the parking lot were covered in ice and snow. That was my first time really driving in the snow. Glad nobody was around when I discovered how little brakes work on ice.

I replaced 2 catalytic on my nissan altima for $300 ( DIY) easy off, easy on Dealership wanted $3500. I just saved $3200

He's 100% right, but idiots will think nothing about it and continue to do it regardless.

Alternators charge at 14.2 - 14.4 regardless of speed of motor. You want all your seals to reach swell temps prior to loading the engine with ccp . Fuel doesn’t properly combust when the block is not up to temp so the fuel system will pump more fuel and will clean all lubricants off the cylinder walls .

In real cold weather I warm the engine at least 3 minutes maximum 5 in summer just 30 seconds

Imagine not warming up a dump truck 😳.

The people against warming up probably either dont drive or make short local trips. Because there is a lag in performance if you dont warm up.

Good video. Idling does nothing but waste fuel and create unnecessary pollution. Glad the finally see a few laws that prohibit long term idling in certain cities and clean air zones. More laws are needed to prevent the many uneducated drivers that waste our natural resources.

It annoying how people feel the need to warm up a car. Oftentimes ruining a perfectly good car. Plus, theirs tire care issue. Oh and topping off the ⛽ . Click, click, click for what reason at the pump. So, many people know nothing about cars. I think people should have to learn the basics if they are going to drive. The way most people get a license is a joke. (how little one needs to know) of course, Its easy to appreciate it when it is time to learn. But, still doesn't mean its a good idea safety wise.

30 seconds to a min is way too short a time in a ice cold climate region .. your engine cannot perform nor even move much with so short a time frame .. all the metal is still ice cold and 40 seconds of a start up will not make it run better. You need 10-15 min just for it to reach a decent warmth level let alone driving which will be sluggish and halting

I have a 2018 F150 with a 3.5 motor with just over 289*** on it I run AMSOIL in it... I let it warm up in cold weather. 🥶 It still feels like new to me.

I can tell you why warming up an engine does make it last longer. First off, just because you have oil pressure in seconds doesn't mean anything. Oil at or near operating range has a million times better lubrication on moving parts then when it's cold. Second, engines are made of different types of metals and they all expand at different rates. When you take off in a cold car you're forcing the metals to expand rapidly and if it's really cold, the piston will actually expand faster than the bore and can even seize or scratch the bore. Another thing that causes major wear is changes in rpm even more so on a cold engine. When you drive it initially you're rpm is going up and down causing major wear. Another thing no one thinks about too is your transmission is cold and that's hard on the clutch packs. Warming up the engine for 10 minutes will let it expand evenly at a nice steady rate, let the oil warm up with no load, and warm up the transmission considerably. Forget the epa rules too it's a joke they send rockets to nowhere to put a show on that pollutes the air more than a million cars do. Of course manufacturers tell you Don warm anything up they need those things to wear out faster so you can buy another 50k car. Excessive idle would be say an hour or somthing not 10 minutes.

I start my car, coast it for about 30 seconds due to my hill, then just chill under 2k rpm until 150°F oil temp, then I let myself spin the turbo. At 190-200°F, I’ll give my car full beans.

I'm guilty of letting it idle. Perhaps a generational thing, as the standard oil when I was growing up was the classic 30 weight. Unfortunately, I still have this habit of warming it up for a minute to circulate oil, regardless of type and to allow the engine block, belts and other moving parts to get warm. Again, perhaps a generational habit.

I live in upstate new york and I use those tips you just stated, in a 24 hr period it went from 40 degrees and rain to 6 degrees and snow, everything froze , not my feet , I walked to get some eggnog for my whiskey, merry Christmas, go bruins

The fastest way to warm up your car to proper operating temperature is to drive it. I am not saying to race it to warm it, but a nice slow drive. Don't think you are doing any good leaving your manual transmission in first or second. Drive the car to keep the revs low, using a higher gear.

When I lived in Chicago and we have those -40 degree months, I'd turn the car to heat up while I clearest the 2 feet of snow and ice off. Then I always take it slow for the first few miles until the car comes to temp.

Some older cars need than 60sec. Alot of them run extremely rich when it's cold ,before the temp gauge start to move. 2nd on like older cars ,these 2000+ car alternator charge extremely well at idle,especially if the regulator is computer control. Japanese cars for sure don't have those issues

Don't warm up or idle the car meantime this car has been idle for 6 plus minutes since you revved it up which is what we were told that we should not do. Do what I say not what I do? This video was paid for or sponsored by the by the EPA? Also with the car warmed up the heater works which great and the windows are defrosted. Here in Canada that is nice TBH to be warm and to see out the windows.

very much the reason i hate and avoid drive thru service at food joints. if the dining room/walk in service is available, i will pick that every time. drive-thru only when no other choice available.

I’ve got 160,000 miles on an inherently problematic engine GM 3.6. 11 yrs old. I start it up and let it settle down, maybe 30 seconds or so. It doesn’t burn any oil. I’m just trying to get it to outlast me. My biggest fear is a timing chain break without any warning.

Thanks for this video, as I was advised not to add aftermarket remote start to my BMW... I was used to having remote start in my Honda. Especially now that it's freezing outside today. Now I just wait until the cold start noise dies down (30 sec- 1 min) before I pull off lol

To be able to follow the discussion in a proper way I should have a table for translating Fahrenheit to Celsius ... Here in Sweden most(?) of us that not have a Webasto, have electric heaters for the engine and an separate heater inside the cabin. Then also the windows are clean regardless of temperature when you enter the car. For this you need (here) a 10 Amp outlet (10 A X 240 V = 2400 W. Maybe the block heater is 750 W and the cabin fan is 1,000 W). So 1 hour means 2 kWh of electricity.

If idling was bad for engines that would be in the owners manual. But it’s not. Police cars and taxis idle for hours. Hell I’ve idled my car 3 hours while trapped snowbound up on interstate 70. This Mercedes M275 is fine idling over 20 minutes subfreezing. Iced up windows have to to be cleared and defroster heated up just to be able to drive on this -20°F morning. Furthermore nowhere in my Mercedes manual does it say: "idle 60 seconds and drive off". Not with the bearings in these twin turbos. Sorry pal but Mercedes is right and you're not.

Usually warm up or idle for about 30 secs to a minute for the transmission not the engine. Transmission takes longer to warm up and wear quicker than the engine...

I never warm up engine before driving off with a cold start and never had an issue with my M140i. I am only gently on the gas and stay under 2000 rpm most of the time for around 10 minutes, especially in cold weather.

Block heaters work wonders.

I live on the northern prairies of Canada. It’s commonplace for us to have stretches of weather below -30°C (-22°F) and I idleTF outta my vehicle in the winter. I bought my car to serve ME, not the other way around. I just do two oil changes over the winter and do one over the summer. My vehicle is NA port injected that is built in Japan 🇯🇵 it is 9 years old and I have no excessive wear to my engine or exhaust system.

You should always warm up your engine to full operating mode

Took advantage of an end of the year special and bought a 2022 mustang gt in grabber blue, with manual transmission......because "Life's too short to drive boring cars!" Special thanks to the folks who work at the windsor plant still producing those 5.0l coyote engines! The auto may b faster......but the manual is so much more fun to drive!😊 Thanks to all the hard working folks at the ford assembly plants as well!

Here in Texas I see people idling their car between 30 and 60 minutes each morning. Even if it is 45 degrees people will do this.

An automobile engine consist of belts and hoses along with various types of fluids. These fluids work better when they're brought up to temperature. You can pay a few cents now or many dollars later. It's your choice.

Lot of good points but the biggest point really is to warm up your car so the windows defrost so you can see and not get t boned pulling into traffic , this could mean the diffrence between shitting and pissing in a coloscopy bag or being crippled for life , i know you think im kidding but im dead serious . Ive done the stupid thing and took off without fully cleared windows and almost got killed . So seriously the car will be fine aftermarket converters are cheap and gas is cheap . Warm your car and clear that windshield and be comfortable and safe .

Does not apply when you have temps -30 - 40 Celsius.

On cold starts like this crazy 22 winter, I wait for the RPM to drop a bit before leaving Summer I drive slowly out of my neighborhood then go full speed

Idc what anyone says. I warm up my mustang until the temp gauge reads optimal. It’s supercharged and I like to step on the pedal a lot so I rather have the engine and oil temps be perfect.

My neighbors wife has an equinox, on the coldest mornings she'll get in it, start it and immediately goes. I cringe every time.

Nice to see summer in Edmonton……😮

Draining your battery at idle? Ummm no. Yes, it charges at lower voltage, but it's enough to still charge and keep the vehicle running at a minimum. It will not discharge the battery unless your alternator is bad. Overheating engine components? I don't think so. Yes, i agree to certainly use a synthetic or synthetic blend oil, no need for lower viscosity if you do this. It helps a lot It's good to let it idle some, several minutes won't hurt, but then drive it easy on local roads until it fully warms up. It'll actually warm up quicker this way. Staying in lower geared and using higher RPM will speed this up, as well.

I value my comfort getting into a warm car over long term problems that could happen. But I usually don`t drive cars without a warranty anyways. I think its good advice for people who really want to make a car last.

I have a naturally aspirated 4 straight block Carolla that must be warmed up! At ideal temperature it is a pig to drive and cold just not happening! My engine however will outlast all high performance vehicles out there! All Hail the 1.8 L Pig! 🤣😂🤣😂🐽

A lot of modern day cars have remote start to either warm up or cool down your car. Maybe car manufacturers should remove remote starters.

-20 here yesterday. I statred my car and let it idle for 2 min. Transmissions need a short warm up also.

I drive my truck almost immediately after start up. Today was the exception...we had +3C in the morning yesterday and by 4pm it was -17C. I had to let my truck run today because it was a big crusty ice block.

When it's freezing out wait 60 seconds for rpms to drop or transmission suffers from engaging at high speeds constantly and gives oil a chance to hit the top end... In summer wait 30 seconds for idle to drop as oil flows quicker your fine by then..👍

damn looks cold there? minus 15c here this evening in sweden. we have a nissan leaf. we just preheat it 20 minutes before we set off.

What about letting the transmission warm up a little bit maybe 2 to 3 minutes? Then drive easy until operating temperature I have a 2007 and a 1999 Lexus

My toyota camry never had any engine problems without warming up...I got a new car and I thought I was taking care of it more by warming it up

Just cause your engine is up to temp don't mean the rest of your power train is..

i always let my trans mission warm up to 40 degrees before i start moving then drive slow for a few minutes

I start my car and let it idle for 30 sec-1min maybe until my windshield is getting warm and starts defrosting. After that I just drive to warm up the engine because it is a 2.0 diesel. It will not warm up idling xD

Idling a car does charge the battery. Be it slow, but it does.I contract for AAA, I know. Sure running over 1,500 rpm charges the battery fast, but ask yourself when you take the battery to the auto store to get charged, you think they are charing it at over 2000 rpm?

So living in California all I need is 30 sec to a minute warm up. But my car says warm up before taking off, just ignore it?

How come no one has seen it yet, albeit there are two likes already?

Great to know I rarely leave the car idle since I am too impatient to wait around I just drive off straight away after deicing the windows.

wait for the needle to drop!

Always warm your car in cold weather unless you have a EV, anyone that says otherwise is a fool. I even do it when it's warm as well, let those rpm go down first, then set off slowly. Especially if you're vehicle have been sitting overnight.

I understand what your saying but when the car is really cold inside and the windshield is frozen then it's gonna idle for 10-20 minutes with the defroster blasting.

In cold weather I always idle my own vehicle until the temp gauge is off the cold peg.

The only thing important is that car consume more fuel when it's cold

Shouldn’t quote the EPA. They can KMA. I hate the auto stop function.

What a wasted exercise to idle..it is a modern appliance - you turn it on and go!! People really are ignorant of the latest automotive tech which regulates air/fuel mixture automatically based on ambient temp. In reality, the time it takes to put your seatbelt on and adjust your music/seat/mirrors and slowly driving out of your home is sufficient for the oil to reach all moving metal parts and warm up sufficient enough to drive off normally.

When I start mine, I wait 'till the rpm's drop maybe 30 seconds, then for four miles roughly I don't push the engine until it's fully warmed up.

I start my car, let it idle as I’m getting the snow off or getting the the ice off the windows. Then I start my day.