5 Minutes of Terror? The TRUTH About Cold Start Wear (and How NOT to Blow Your Motor!)
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- They say most engine wear occurs in the first 5 minutes, is this true? We examine the causes of this accelerated engine wear to help you avoid the problem.
Ever start your car on a frosty morning and hear that gut-wrenching clunk-clunk-clunk? Or have you noticed the car starting to burn oil?
They say those first few minutes are a death knell for your engine, but is it just old wives' tales, or is there real science behind the myth of "5-minute engine wear"?
In this video, we're about to throw open the hood and dive deep into the cold, hard facts:
The Chilling Truth:
We'll separate myth from reality with comprehensive but easily accessible breakdowns of what's actually happening inside your engine during those critical first minutes.
Damage Breakdown: Witness the friction frenzy and oil starvation that can occur when you push a cold engine too hard. You'll learn exactly why those clunks or noises aren't just annoying - they're a warning sign!
Warm-Up Woes: Learn the best (and worst) ways to warm up your engine. Skip the myths and discover the scientifically proven methods that get your car purring without putting it under stress.
Idling Infiltration: Is letting your car "chug it out" idling in the driveway actually worse than hitting the road? We'll expose the hidden dangers of idling and show you how to avoid them.
Bonus Hacks: Keep your engine running like a champ for years with these pro-level cold start tips and tricks you won't find anywhere else!
Click play and join us on a high-octane journey through the science of cold start! You'll leave with the knowledge to keep your engine happy and healthy, no matter how eager your foot gets on a chilly morning.
Subscribe and hit that notification bell for more automotive adventures, car care secrets, and fuel-saving hacks!
P.S. Don't forget to check out the video's end screen for exclusive access to our car care video guides!
Find out what is happening damage wise when you drive on a cold engine. We look at warm up and the dangers and problems when you drive hard on an engine before it has warmed up properly.
We also reveal the best ways to warm up an engine and the dangers that happen when you leave it idling on a driveway to warm up.
Share this video with your fellow gearheads! Spread the word about cold start wisdom and help save engines everywhere!
#coldstart #enginewear #carcare #automotivetips #fuelhacks #scienceofcars
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Legal Notice: Unless we have inspected your car we can only provide generic theory. All information is provided without warranty, please check any recommendations made with a mechanic locally to verify it would be legal in your area or region and that it would be suitable for your car and your needs.
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This is why I roll my eyes when people say long roadtrips are hard on cars. A warm engine running steady state on the freeway is the easiest condition for a vehicle!
There will always be "that person" when it comes to car care. Let's put them in a museum and make them last forever. lol
Yup, same reason i would rather buy a used car with 200k of mostly highway miles over a 150k car of city miles.
I think that comment usually relates to the break in period of the vehicle and still holds true. I have never heard someone say steady state is always bad for an engine.
When it's super cold outside, I keep my foot to the floor until I arrive at my destination because I am always running late.
🤣🤣🤣
Love that!
Another thing he did not mention is that the metals are more brittle when cold. Cracking is much more of a risk. One thing I learned studying auto technology is that you can think of melting starting from the cold temp on up. The metal “softens” and becomes more pliable: I.e. less brittle. And all the metals are selected/designed to be at their optimum size, shape and “softness” (for lack of a better term) at full operating temperatures. And his insistence about cold oil and first few seconds after start are spot on. After decades of auto work, and hundreds of hours working on and rebuilding engines and seeing the effects, I feel like I actually feel the scraping hard cold parts being beat up on first cold start of the day. I have a diesel with an engine monitor installed and never drive until the oil/coolant are at 100 degrees. And then only gently until over 130. And then only moderately until full temps are reached. I never have even the finest metal particles on my magnetic drain plug.
I think the right therm would be ductility or elasticity in this case, definitely not softness... But you are right, the hotter most metals get, the more malleable and less brittle they behave...
Thanks for the extra info :)
@@camillosteuss I didn’t think the average reader would get the idea with the more technically correct terms you suggest. I feel like you need some background study in metallurgy to find those terms understandable to a layman. But yes…those are the terms used by professional materials and metallurgy types.
Don't over think this folks. Start it, wait till the idle comes down and go.
5 minute warm up and 5 minute idle shutdown and my turbo engine has done 933,000km. I’ll stick to my routine. As for coolant temp sensor, they are now mostly cylinder head temp sensors so it’s better indication of the engine temp.
wow. 933kkm is alot. what car ?
@@viakion2125 probably never heard of it, Ford Falcon BF XR6 turbo Ute.
I'm not sure if i have ever seen a water temperature sending unit that wasn't plumbed into the water jacket on a head. Drove a lot of trucks with full guages.
That wouldn't stop the turbo on Mazda Skyactiv diesel with a design fault failing - it's probably more a recognition of good, robust design
@@davidpotter7484 trucks like Cummins have one for the engine ecu and one for the dash. The dash one is usually on the thermostats hot side on outlet pipe.
A lot of wear occurs when an engine has not run for a long time, f.e. been in storage for more than a year. Best is to turn the engine a couple of times round via the crank pulley, afterwards remove fuel pump relay and let the engine cycle a couple of times via the starter motor. When the engine has not run for a REALLY long time, or it is unknown how long it has been? Use fogging oil in the cylinders. And change the oil and filters, yes filters, also fuel filter. Also on regular driven cars, change the engine oil BEFORE schedule. City driving, short distances = severe conditions. Usually interval is half of normal.
I unplug the injector after winter is over and crank it until the oil pressure light goes out. Then plug it back in and start it up.
I like it, never thought about moving by hand the engine and then use the starter with ignition off to lubricate everything before really starting it, I knew about putting a few drops of oil on cylinders before starting it, that I usually do with generators when they haven't been started in more than 6 months
Oh good, I don't think my ritual has been too bad for the past 20 years. I'll start, let idle for 2-5 minutes (depends on the engine and outside temp), then drive lightly until water temp is WELL established. Not too much throttle, never past 3k rpm. I bought a new car in August and was thrilled when I found it had an oil temp sensor. Now I can definitely make sure the engine is up to temp before any sort of spirited driving.
If people have a little mechanical understanding they tend to do the right things automatically. Well done. Which car is this with the oil temp, they are getting more common now?
I love your phrase, “mechanical sympathy”! Really, it is just common sense in the way you treat your car. Thanks for explaining the whys and wherefores.
Finally someone is talking about how to properly do a cold start, very nice 👍🏼
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the support and kind words of encouragement.
Great video! On my car I have installed diesel coolant heater and no more cold starts! No more scraping the ice of the windows and freezing inside car. It took me a 3 days to install the heater together with coolant flush but man what a beauty! Now when I need to drive I just press on the button on the remote and I wait 15-30 min depending of outside winter temperature and all the ice melts from a windows, engine is preheated to operating temperature and it's nice and warm inside the car. Best investment ever let me tell you! 😊
Are these readily available or is it a custom project you've put together yourself?
My neighbor "warms up her car" by revving the cr## out of it for a couple of minutes. I made the mistake of talking to her about that and she went into total Karen mode "you think that just because I'm a woman that I don't know how to warm up my car". Her cars last about a year (one winter) before they start belching smoke.
Lmao
I am from Canada and at one point lived in Dawson Creek, B.C.
In the winter it is not uncommon to reach -40C. I remember one day leaving our office in a Ford Crown Vic with an outside temp of -40C. I hit the gas and the oil filter blew off as the oil we were using as still conventional. At these temps conventional oil wont flow at all however -40C however synthetic does flow. I used a pure synthetic in my cars and never had an oiling problem.
If the manual of car allowe to use 0w30 or 0w20, In winter use a 0w oil. Liqui moly oil are very good at cold viscosity. Check your car owners manuals and see what viscosity you can use to your car. I live in Romania and I have a Honda civic 2011, winter I use 0w20 and in the summer I use 5w30 from amsoil. In my country temp never drop -10.
The 2011 Crown Vic owners manual specifies synthetic 5W20 oil for Canada but I'm pretty sure there is no issue using 0W20.
@@christianluggert9052 The difference between 5w20 AND 0w20 is the oils cold flow capability nothing more. the W stands for winter and the lower the number the better the oil is supposed to flow in - degrees.
@@M.S-Musicthe w stands for weight, a term used to denote thickness. I’m not sure where you heard otherwise. 5w-40 means it can have the viscosity of a 5 weight oil when cold, and a 40 weight when warmed up. So the thickness doesn’t change (as much) from cold to hot, minimizing wear at either temperature extreme.
@@5400bowen That is a very common misconception. The W actually does stand for winter. This information is readily available all over the internet.
my general warm up time is to let the engine idle until the revs drop from around 1000 to around 600.
that takes over 10 minutes during a winter ( negative Celsius outside), and my rides are all within 3km range. 10 minutes gets me there and back.
This seems pretty reasonable
Hello, new to cars. Why is the idle always so high when the engine first starts? Does it get higher as the car ages also? I've had an older car that would idle at 2k for several seconds before dropping down
@@iank6897High revs are normal especially in Winter. Cold air has more oxygen so the cars opens the trottle until the brain(computer) measures air fuel ratio. When this ratio has been found it sets itself down when the most desirable ammout of mixture has been found.Now...on really older cars with no electronics and only with simple mechanical choke the driver itself had to found the the right position of choke to start the car efficient until it warms up. This 2k reving in Winter is normal. When warm outside it should not rev at all high and if then it takes 3-5 seconds. This is all cars electronic measuring system. In extreme cold weather it can stay even longer high reving until engine temp is reached.
@@iank6897 the motor runs a warm up cycle while it reaches operating temperatures. it’ll idle down once sufficiently warm. my mustang idles at 1500 cold start, 1000 while warming up & settles @750 idle when it reaches operating temp. the idle ranges shouldn’t change with age far as i know.
Lived in Colorado half my life-we’re used to the warm-up period, albeit for windshield defrost and cabin comforts…
You do get some interesting weather there. Thanks for the comment my friend.
In Finland engine laboratory did study for that. Results was: Cold start wear engine same amount than 600 kilometer drive the hot engine.
Wow 600km of driving does the same damage as a single cold start, that is a scary statistic I'd love to read that study if you know where it can be found.
@@torquecars It was VTT research institute, did before internet. Ask to them.
I can't tell you how many times I've watched some start their car and instantly put it in gear and go ripping down the road, when it's freezing temps outside.
I'll let run for a few minutes, the way I figure if the idle is still high the car shouldn't move. Then never above 3K rpm!
It's crazy isn't it. People often seem to think warming the engine up means ragging it from cold or just letting it idle for 10-15 minutes on the drive.
The older generation also have the habit of revving up as they switched off the engine, another bad habit on modern engines. I still can't work out why they do this.
@@torquecars Old habits die hard. I don't think there are any carburetted engines on the market any longer. No even in the second hand market unless you're looking for classics.
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten in my car (diesel)with a passenger , start the car up ( dead cold) and after 15- 30 seconds they say " what are you doing?" While the engine is still running at 1100 rpm. These same people jump in their cars fire it up and slam it in gear and their off... they tell me the heat will come on quicker 🤦♂️
@@Chrisallengallery Even on carb'd engines, this doesn't make sense. If you rev a carb'd engine then shut the ignition off, the cylinders will continue to draw air/fuel mixture into the combustion chamber as there's still plenty of fuel in the bowl of the carb... but now there's no spark to light it off... guess where that goes! That's right -- past the rings and into the sump!
@@jeffcullen6573actually very few gas engines lack a fuel solenoid, which shuts off the gas right at the carburetor the split second the key hits the off position. As the engine spins down the gas is blown out of the engine on those last couple of of seconds of it spinning, because the valves are still opening and closing letting air (at a very high rate) flow through the cylinder and flush the last of the fuel out. Along with the residual heat in the cylinders, as gas evaporates very rapidly, and again the high cylinder temps increase that evaporation drastically.
The cold start terror certainly is not a myth , and it does happen . This is why I start my car & let it run a couple minutes before driving . Once I start driving , I go easy on the throttle until it's at least half way warmed up. I also drive in a conservative fashion unlike other idiots on the road . Those things along with a good synthetic oil , the horrors of a cold start are minimized .
I do similar to you. I start the car, wait like a minute before I start driving and then I go around the city for 5 minutes or so before going to the highway, never going beyond 3000rpm
Those other idiots are probably leasing their cars.
@@stupossibleify the same people who hit road humps at 20mph
I used to do this until the car started chucking out blue smoke due to burning oil Sold car after this, I now start the car and drive off after 10/30 secs as it comes off choke and not had an issue since, by leaving a car idling your prolonging the amount of time the engine is running cold causing excessive wear especially if your car has a turbo... It'll be the turbo that dies first.
So wrong in many ways you need to let your car warm up let the rpm come down and your coolant get warm for your water pump wow! You guys I have no idea how to take care of of a car
Mechanical sympathy was one reason my family bought a short range EV. Short distances with a petrol engine is hard on the engine. Our second vehicle (the one my wife normally drove) did maybe 4000 to 5000km a year, and the oil always smelled a little bit of petrol as the rich running engine contaminated the oil, while the lack of a nice extended hot running engine meant the PCV system never properly cleaned this up.
Now we use the EV for all the short trips. The Diesel is used for the long distance trips.
Of course there is a lot of emotion and argument for and against EVs, but the one argument very very few people seem to understand, is that having one EV in the fleet can save costs on the entire fleet. People waste way too much time making either/or arguments, or looking at each vehicle in isolation. You should look at the total cost of the fleet.
Now I will probably have a new problem. My diesel now hardly lives outside of the longer trips, of which I do maybe 4000 to 6000km a year. And I still need to annually service it.
That is one of the best arguments for an EV I have seen so far.
Not much into EVs as a petrolhead, although I see the very great use of EVs for short trips as I’d rather drive an EV than a poorly warmed up ICE car
Good to have options. I agree.
Yeah spending 50k on another vehicle, plus insurance and plates is a lot of money. I’ll just take care of my trucks and buy fuel for that 50k.
@@JAMESWUERTELEwhile I do agree that a secondary vehicle discount on insurance is a bit underwhelming, especially when you only have one driver. My car shop has started to buy electric Fiat 500s troubleshooting the batteries and fixing them and then you have nice parts runners for less than 4 grand. They probably don't have the range that most suburban drivers are looking for, but I think they're kind of useful for city people and rural people. It's still feels like we're we're in early EV stages for a mainstream adoption and consumers should probably be aware of where they are on the technology curve. I think they'll be a decent option as we get a bit more standardization, maturation, and we get some more stability in regards to all the supply chain stuff. It's kind of like a carjack. It's useful for some people and just a heavy ugly waste of space for many others.
I just start up my winter beater, lock the doors with spare keys and then wait 20 minutes inside the house to allow everything to heat up and defrost the windows
230k miles on a M57 diesel. Original turbo. Mpg matches factory spec. Get in and go gently until hot. Floor it now again when hot. Change oil annually. Can't go wrong.
Only idles for a minute or two when I have to scrape the windscreen.
Best BMW engine!
When its below -10C here I let it warm for a few minutes. but I drive a Cast block, cast head little truck and the last thing I need is a cracked head. It also has an internal slave cylinder for the clutch so I like to get a little heat transfer through to that rather than beating on cold fluid and seals. It gets to -42C here in the winter some time so I am probably going to let it sit and warm up for 10-15mins to defrost
2007 Ranger 3.0 V6 with 5Speed manual
Do you idle to warm or use light throttle whilst stationary? I'm glad we don't get these extremes here in the uk.
@@torquecars idle to warm, idle air control valve will increase RPM on its own until satisfied
Some people write here that 2 minutes is enough to warm up the engine during a cold start. Lol. What is a cold start for you? In my case, 2 minutes is not enough. Have you ever sat on leather chairs that are like an ice cube? When the windshield is instantly covered with ice with one exhale. And the power steering howls and asks not to touch it) I recently started my E39 M62B44TU at minus 40. Greetings from Siberia. And thanks to Germany for the beloved old BMWs that are still alive and give positive emotions in harsh conditions.
Cheers from Northern Norway. Been there many times. Scraping the inside and outside of the windscreen is always entertaining. I really enjoy the old plastic bag filled with hot water to defrost the fuel door trick.
I operated a few golf courses equipped with commercial mowing and tractor equipment, mostly diesel powered. Usually to start this equipment the operator has to press and hold down the low oil safety pressure bypass button to allow the engines to start, and hold the bypass in until oil pressure was attained 6 seconds or so. My mechanic recommended just cranking the engines for several seconds to circulate oil before starting, and then start by the holding in the bypass safety. Then the engines once started almost had instant oil pressure.
I hope this was the correct thing to do. This mechanic was excellent and I never lost an engine under his watch.😊
I think it would be cool to have an electric bypass oil pump for pre-starting. It can shoot oil through a check valve ahead of the output side if the engine oil pump
Couple of years ago a neighbour crancked his engine EVERY day till battery was almost empty and starter rpm dropped then finally engine started running and he hit FULL throttle for a 45 to 60 seconds to be sure the engine would not stop and to heat up....EVERY MORNING 😂😂😂
Not surprisinly .......after 1 year...he needed another car....🤣🤣🤣
at that point it already had oil pressure when it fired up tho, it was probably fine
From the comments below it still appears many drivers don't have a clue about the proper warm up of their engines. NO, it is NEVER a good idea to let your engine sit idling to warm up. Once the engine has run for about 10 seconds, the oil pressure is up and oil is circulating throughout. It can't be stated more emphatically, a cold idling engine has water condensation and raw gas collecting on the cold cylinder liners, and diluting and contaminating the oil. As so much engine wear happens at start up, sitting idling cold is essentially prolonging that period of maximum cylinder and bearing wear...! Best and fastest way to warm an engine is, as soon as you can drive it at moderate speeds until the water temps hit the 'normal range' before increasing your engine load and speed. I have an oil temperature gauge, and I find the oil doesn't hit the normal oil temperature range until I've put about 20-30 - km or so of driving on it, so I avoid highway speeds until the oil has had a chance to warm too...
Also, you should drive at least 30-minutes on the highway each week to have the oil reach peak operating temperatures for an extended period, so the oil dissolved gas and water has a chance to boil off.
Thank you Senpai.
I work 20 minutes away and live in a rural area, the highway is is honestly the only way to get to work. And it's 70. I live my life by these simple words. It's called operating temperature for a reason.
Short journeys in cold / frozen places, also requires a short-term oil change to correctly protect the engine in cold starts.
thats why i love driving sub 1000$ cars in the winter. i get in my diesel 1.9tdi and redline it at -20c so it warms up faster at the redlights. did this for a month straight, goin to work every day, engine has 400km on it, still runs like a champ and pulls… like a 1.9tdi
Also I would like to add, it's absolutely crucial to use the correct engine oil, especially in the winter and change it earlier than recommended by the manufacturer. I live in the central Russia where the temperature gets as low as -40 sometimes. I always change my oil at every 5k miles. We also use webasto autonomous systems and plug in 240v equipment to warm up the engine in the extreme temperatures.
Great point! Oil grades and additive packs are vital in these extremes.
One good thing would be that modern engine would be fitted with a small electric pump would pressurize the engine oil prior a start.
It would also have a heater to warm up the oil to a minimum temperature.
That would probably help to increase the life spans of the engine.
I doubt that would represent a lot of % of the price of the car
F1 cars won't run until the oil temps are raised and the engine has been warmed, they are so well engineered they need the heat before they can run properly. I have seen people use oil pan warmers in cold climates to do just that.
Many older vehicles had block heaters that you could plug in and keep your oil warm. My 2001 Mercury came with it standard, and if your car does not have one, you can even get one installed.
Yep, good information, explained very well. Thanks mate!
Glad it was helpful to people, I'm just passing on some tips I've picked up over many years of motoring!
In winter i just start the engine, put a brick on the gas pedal then start to to clean snow. After 3 min of full blown red lining all temps get good
Letting a car idle for a few minutes before taking off will not in fact harm it. The engine will be cold no matter what, and letting it slowly warm itself for a short while is arguably a proper thing to do. It will bring the engine closer to it's natural operating temperature where putting some load onto it at that point (to gently warm it the rest of the way) will not be a problem. You may also notice that cold engines idle quite high, this is for several reasons, but consider it a small load on it until it warms up enough to drop to around 1k rpm idle speed. Also consider that automatic transmissions are likely to experience more wear when cold as well, and dropping them into gear while still in this high-idle phase isn't great for them; engineers call this a garage-shift and take great care to reduce the wear that occurs in this period but cannot prevent it entirely.
Good information, thanks!
Cheers buddy, thanks for the kind words of support.
I start the engine , reverse out of my garage, get out, close and lock the door, takes maybe 2 mins, then another minute down my long driveway to a minor road, then another 2mins to reach an A road, by that time I haven't passed 40 mph, then I drive steady for the next 5 miles until the road opens up and I'm at a steady 60mph or so. Never had an issue driving like this.
My warm up in my new mux I idle it for about 2 miuntius then drive it gently for about 5 then drive it a bit less than normal for 10 miunts then drive as normal.
I never really start that car for less than 100 klms.
And yes I do a similar thing for shut down.. drive it gently for the last 5 k.. then idle for one to 2 miuntius..
And it's 40 degrees C here in Australia today..
I still warm my older cars to..
E36 BMW V6 commodore tb42 Nissan patrol
Each is different..
Cheers mate..
what is a short trip? And what conditions? I've recently moved from an old petrol to an old diesel (turbocharged golf) and I don't turn on the ignition until the glowplugs tell tale clears. I notice that even after a mile trip to the shops, the car has no trouble starting. When starting it up on a frosty day that's when I notice it chugs and smokes a bit.
I would say a short trip is anything that doesn't allow the engine to reach operating temperature, but I guess highway and town driving are also factors here.
this explains why those PHEVs last so long. if you charge it every time you get home, the combustion engine never really gets to power short journeys. and if you know you have barely enough electric range to reach your destination, might as well turn on the normal engine early on in the trip, when you're on the motorway or other long winding roads where there's few to no stops and the engine can just happily start with a low lasting load.
I have a PHEV, at 7k miles the oil still looks brand new because the gas engine really only gets used for 3-4k of those 7k. I expect this car to last as long as the battery honestly.
good advice
Glad it was helpful my friend!
All of my life in very cold weather I have always allowed my engines to fast smooth idle for 20 seconds or so before doing anything. And then drive off in a lower gear whilst not putting pressure on the motor until a mile or so.
How cold does it get where you are?
I have an auxiliary heater on my Audi engine does the job well. Heats the cabin and engine!
On some engines, you can see the cams trough the oil cap, and in the first seconds after turning engine on, there's almost no oil on the cams.A strong indicator that you should not drive in the first minute or so.
The top of the engine is where most wear occurs on cold starts from what I've seen and experienced.
Awesome info. Thanks 👍🏻👍🏻
Now, there are vehicles that turn off by themselves, go to zero oil pressure, and turn back on by themselves, at a traffic signal. It is the most stupid design flaw ever.
Water in the exhaust does not come from the engine. The water has formed inside the exhaust from condensation due to the cooling of the exhaust after shutting the car down. Every car has this. If the car is driven reasonably regularly, the water is blown out (or it evaporates). No harm, no foul. The cooler and/or more humid the ambient air is, the more water will accumulate.
For long journeys: I'll let it idle until it goes less than 1K RPM, then drive the car gently just a tad more than 2K RPM for around 10 minutes, then drive normally onwards.
Then for cooling down: I'll wait until one of the auxiliary fans stop.
Wait, are 'motor' and 'engine' interchangeable? English isn't my first language but I always thought that motor meant they got power from somewhere else, like a battery while an engine gets its power from combustion?
Yes motor is short for motor car, in a number of regions especially the UK, some regions say autos from "automotive" (but here in England auto means automatic). With the advent of electric cars I'm sure there will be more changes to the language we use about them.
I do try to use neutral terms understood by as many as possible so i will keep this in mind for future videos.
yep.. electric motor..
gasoline engine
Would a hot climate around 25-38°C help lessen the warm-up period?
And that that the short journeys wouldn't be as detrimental?
I would assume so. However, I don't fully grasp the reason behind the chemical principles and there may be further implications
Of course
Yes, I only realised that my thermostat was leaking when the temperature dropped below 5c. The engine simply wouldn't reach operating temp, but would when it was warmer outside.
Lol looks like I did it somewhat correctly instinctively.
Idle for 2-3 mins, drive very gently for a couple more.
In 6 years of my Honda Fit ownership nothing happened to the engine except two burned coils (it had 78K kms when I got it).
The old practice of leaving a motor to warm up has as much to do with choke\ throttle response as letting the tolerances expand. Modern injectors mean that idle is established within 10 seconds. The only time I'll let it idle on the drive is in winter.
" idle is established within 10 seconds" I invite you to test that in -25c degrees, no way.
After I start up my car , I wait until the RPMs drop to the lowest , regular level before driving off . I expect by this time all oil has circulated throughout the engine .
I typically give my truck the amount of time it takes to put my seat belt on. Maybe a little longer if my window is frozen over. When engine oil is cold, it bypasses inside the oil filter, letting your engine run with unfiltered oil. The idea is to get engine oil temperature up as fast as possible. Sitting and idling does not do this. I monitor my engine oil temperature regularly. Idle off cold start it takes 10-15 minutes before it even begins to climb. If i drive immediately, the oil temperature will begin to rise within a couple minutes. 30 seconds to a minute is adequate, then carry on your merry way.
Great information video thank you
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the kind words of support, it makes the hard work worth all the effort.
I have been hearing lots of feedback and read a lot about engines. I own a Golf mk7 1.6 TDI. The max RPM is 6000.
I use synthetic 5 w 30 oil. My car won't show the oil temperature until it passes 45 degrees.
Can you please tell me out of 6000 RPM, what is the max I can go up to when driving my car? Also, tell me the max RPMs I can go to while it starts to warm up. I really need to know this!
5990
Generally when cold I'd keep it below 2k unless you're going up a steep hill then more like 3k and let the turbo build low-medium boost. Once fully warmed up you can take it to 6k anytime as rev limiter on normal cars is reasonably conservative, ofc during normal driving you probably wont go above 3k anyway and it's not ideal to bounce off the limiter.
I just think of it as we as people dont eake right and up and head out the door...we get up , stretch, get ready, eat breakfast etc...i know we aren't 4,000lbs of metal burning explosive substances but I always let me car run until the idle comes down, that usually happens after i put on ny seatbelt and get my music going.
K20 does a warm up cycle for 2 mins and is monitored on the coolant temperature and oil temp. Soon as the revs drop she's ready for light throttle driving.
In Nordic countries if you keep your car outside in -10c to -30c temperatures(typical winter temps), it is impossible to just get in the car start it wait 10 seconds and drive... All your windows are deep frozen and nothing but the heater can help to defrost the window areas to the point that you can scrape the ice off to the point that you can see outside... So you have to idle the engine for several minutes with the heater at max, otherwise you can´t drive! And in such low temperatures even the best 0W grade oils are very thick..
Interesting, you get much colder temps than we do here in the UK (we typically see around -6 at the low end (winter average is around 4.8c) with a few spikes beyond that), so I'm always intrigued to see how people cope with this. How long do engines take to warm up enough to pull away safely in those conditions?
@@torquecars Takes up to 5 minutes, but as i mentioned the problem is the deep frozen snow covered windows and windshield, if you cant see out of your car you cant drive it!!
Do EV's work at those low temperatures (thinking about batteries not liking the cold)!
@@torquecars I can´t comment on that since i do not own an EV, but what i´v heard is the range gets cut in half or even more, but i do see some Tesla idiots around... :D
A soon as theres oil pressure theres no problem, it only takes a few seconds for this to happen unless the engine sat for awhile. There's no need to let it warm up unless you're racing.
Genau so ist es. Sobald Öldruck da ist, kann man mit geringer Drehzahl fahren. Der Unterschied zwischen Leerlauf und fahren mit geringer Drehzahl ist praktisch nicht gegeben.
Frost conditions yes warm up. Australian conditions in the north. Just drive it. Gently.
All engines should be warmed up to operating temperature before driving. I think it’s a good habit to get into,I keep trying to tell my wife not to drive within seconds of starting her car as it’s really not good for the engine but it’s her car and if she wants to drive it when it’s cold that’s up to her. My car is warmed up to operating temperature before I drive it.
So your doing the opposite what this guy is saying? He said don't idle to get the motor up to temp. Hmm
You can speed up the ~20 min it will take at idle in cold weather to warm up to full operating temp by immediately revving to 5-6,000 rpm. Then it will only take 2-3 min.
I'm surprised the greenies haven't gone after car companies to ban remote start feature. People with newer cars can start it inside their home or by an app on the phone to "warm" up the cabin while they get ready for a drive. Double edge sword IMO. Worst thing for car is to start it and try to suck any heat off engine while idling in temps in sub freezing range. Forget that on a diesel, you just destroy the thing producing little waste heat to heat cabin.
Wait for high idle on cold start to drop and when it settles (usually around 1000RPM), the car is ready to be driven. Simple. That is usually 30 seconds or more depending on how cold it is out. That's what I go by before I load my engine. As for driving warm up, I would say keep it limited to about 1/4 throttle and below 3000RPM for your average car engine for the first 10-15 minutes depending on driving conditions. I know a guy with a Honda Accord that would get in, start the car and immediately start driving. Years of this treatment led the the car sounding worse and worse. Lots of clicking and rattling. I'm convinced the only reason it still worked at all was because it was a Honda engine. Still, even great engines are guaranteed to eventually fail. It was running, but it was running very poorly. This was all due to poor cold-start hygiene.
One interesting note is regarding hybrids, or at least, Toyota hybrids. Toyota has the hybrid system programmed to prioritize the electric motors heavily when the engine first fires up. People who drive hybrids like this may have noticed in scenarios where your cold start occurs during initial acceleration that the hybrid battery drains unusually fast, which indicates the hybrid system giving more power to the electric motors to "unload" the gas engine while engine oil circulates on start-up. This is actually pretty cool because hybrids can actually protect themselves from user error whereas normal ICE cars are at the mercy of their driver. I suppose the one piece of advice for hybrid cold-starting is try to get the engine on before you begin driving and if you do find yourself in a scenario where you will be mid-acceleration on cold start, try to do so only with your hybrid battery fully charged. If this can be avoided though, it should be.
Fantastic advice!
-USA
My 04 Ford always starts with high revs and takes a minute to come down to idle.
My car stays noisy for the first 30 seconds or so till the oil has circulated.
If you can avoid this you would have reduced wear.
You can get a 50~90% reduction in wear just by bonding a lubricant to the metal i.e. Lubricant is always present.
:-)
Pressurising the oil system prior to starting would also help.
Few times it got so cold (-53 Celsius) my husband would drain the oil and leave the jug in the porch and pour it back before starting the next day...
Oh wow! Where do you live that sounds pretty extreme to me.
@@torquecars we lived in Haines Junction YT and High Level AB. Where we are now it is warmer and rarely gets below 40
Thanks great information 👍🏋️♀️🤺
I have two cars, both German but different animals and different cold start idles;
E60 550i V8 starts around 2000rpms and drops to 1000rpms within 35 seconds and its good to go and, 2 minutes later that v8 gives you a wooden stove heat😂.
GLI 2.0T starts around 2200rpms and it takes more than a minute before the rpms drop to 1000, if you try drive it off right away it will not even shift properly but that might be due to DSG transmission.
Some engines get killed very fast if you let them idle after a cold start. Mercedes commonrail diesels for example. You have to start them and drive off at once. Letting modern engines idle when they are cold is very, very bad for them.
Good advice, thumbs up
Cheers for your kind words of support my friend.
What is the impact of modern mild hybrid systems on engines. There are lots of start stops on these engines in town driving.
A stop start isn't the same as a cold start and most of these engines warm up quickly and retain the heat well. As with all cars the key is to avoid over stressing the engine until it has reached it's operating temperature. It just needs the driver to read the temp gauge and drive accordingly unless the car maker has built in safeguards to protect the engine whilst cold.
I always let it warm up enough to melt the windshield off or atleast 5 minutes in warmer temps
Especially turbocharged vehicles like my 2006 subaru sti
I think this should be as much a warning to all those who routinely use a car for very short journeys. The engine will spend its entire life in the warm up phase, polluting, and shredding itself slowly. Walk or get a bike, and improve your own health, the health of everyone around you, and your car's health.
revving your car is a sure sign you are compensating for something
Start your engine, count to ten slowly, then drive smoothly for a minute, not aggressively. Then drive anyway you want. If it is very cold out, start your engine, count to 30, then drive smoothly for a minute or two, not aggressively. Then drive anyway you want. This is of course when you change your oil regularly. Fresh oil is the best oil. That's it folks! It's really simple.
It is the revolutions, i.e. the work of the pistons, that cause engine wear, not the time of its operation. Therefore, the engine warm-up speed is not measured in minutes, but in the number of revolutions. When stationary, the engine rotates three times slower, which means that its wear is three times lower, so the thesis about the harmful long warm-up time of the engine is illogical, because time has no significance here.
Don't fall into the trap of confusing engine load with RPM, an engine under load (gently pulling the car at low rpms in this case) will warm up more quickly, avoid the acids and moisture build up associated with idling and the rich running cold engine and generally be better for the car and catalyst. A 3 times slower rotation will mean a longer warm up time and more wear rotations over this longer period. It would be wrong to assume a car is up to temperature after a set amount of rotations, load is very much a factor with warm ups.
2003 Grand Marquis..437,000 miles, I don't care about the car, 15,000-25,000 mile oil changes, runs 3-4 quarts low on oil constantly, I get off work at 7am, start it, instantly drop it in D and go, less than 1 minute I'm going 75 mph on the interstate right beside my job, been doing this since 2008, still runs and drives like new...the only way to warm them up is WOT....
The cold start wear is a lot bigger problem on direct injection engines, because this technolgy did increase a lot the gas condensation on cold cylindrer walls and oil dilution
I wait for the rev meter to go to 8-900 rpm range lol
Lol, i oft forget how much time has passed, so my car warms up often for at least 15 minutes, if not 20 or more... I also leave the car for a few minutes to ``digest`` the heat on idle after arriving to a destination... The engines in my cars always perform nicely, and while i do suffer some problems from time to time, it`s just the usual jazz of replacement parts or washing out the intake/egr/cat in general and dpf too on diesels... Not once have i drained my oil and found any real sparkle in it, just dark shell rotella or rimula as we have it known in europe... The best oil i ever used, and by far cheaper than most snake oils like castrol and such... Smells much like good old Mobil 10-40 oils from back in the day, but it does sublime work... And yeah, it does affect the fuel usage positively... I would say that it`s due to the oil`s ability to form a seal and reduce blowby, but that is just my speculation... I use it in factory stated viscosity depending on the car, but regardless of the engine, it works amazingly... I know that this seems like a plug, but it`s just my enthusiasm for a damn good lubricant... Tho honestly, even if it did not offset the fuel usage by a few % in my favor, i would be using it, it`s just a great oil for any engine in my experience, from 2013 audi v8 4.2 turbodiesel to i4 merc turbo from 2008 to first gen a class 1.9 petrol natty, they all love it and perform better since i switched to rimula a few years ago... The 1.9 petrol natty doesn`t even defile the oil that much, it`s more of a translucent brown than dark brown chocolate that you get from a diesel with a turbo...
Edit-
The only thing i recommend more than using rotella/rimula and warming up your engine is getting an engine block heater or even an oil heater in tandem with the coolant block heater... That will do any engine a favor like nothing else in conjunction with good oil...
Keep in mind that i don`t use my diesels in winter all that much unless it`s a warm day, so that greatly offsets the engine fouling from regular diesel idle conditions... Petrols get to full operating temps in like minutes, so they don`t foul themselves or the exhaust componentry much by just sitting a bit... And the 4.2 is no different despite being a diesel... That engine is at 80C in minutes from startup on idle...
It has to warm up enough to clear the windshield with warm air, otherwise can't see. Takes about 10 minutes of idle running.
Good advice, being able to see out is important - I should have mentioned that important fact. I guess I'm lucky as my demister is fantastically effective taking seconds to clear the screen in the worst conditions.
I would encourage people to avoid idle and instead use light throttle and add around 200-300rpm to the idle speed so the warm up happens faster and safely. Idle was never designed to warm up, just to use minimal fuel and prevent stalling.
When I start my new Subaru, it idles near 2000rpm for a few minutes until the engine warms up a bit.
You probably won't see it with your naked eye😄😄
The owners manual for my car says start the car and drive it so that’s what I do.
Bonus point for actually reading the manual! So few actually know what the manual is for (thankfully our viewers tend to be well informed and above average when it comes to mechanical sympathy)
@@torquecars Yeah it's odd that people don't read the information provided by the people who built the car. Mine is a SAAB and they say explicitly just drive the car without a warm up (but obviously I'm not going to push it until it reaches operating temp). Happy new year!
nice vidz, one question, why on my supra my oil temp go up pretty fast when i first drive the car, AND , more strange, oil temp goes up faster than water, how is this possible? even on cold weather, oil is always at temperature before Water
The water temp is often measured near the radiator inlet, if the engine is cold most engines will stop water circulating through the radiator until it has warmed up, otherwise the warm up cycle will take longer. Another reason could be the water thermostat is slow to respond. It depends on how the engine was designed and where the temp sensors are. Oil is always a better indication of true engine temps though.
@@torquecars nothing to sorry about i Guess so :p thanks .
I prefer to warm up...(winter time)
The person in the video started the argument.....
To save your enging - just dont start your car!!
Easy start engine check tires no damage body turn signals work properly seat check u cellphone wait a minute to look a good tuner in radio and later drive😊😊 check u fluids every two days watch under u Vehicle for leaks
I would do all these romantic things to my weekend car but in the real life where everything is not perfect, the daily beater has to take it.
This sucks for me when I have to start my car in -35c weather.......
With diesel at winter i wait one minute in summer half minute. When is car on hot sun in summer then i wait 3 sec. Not any lamp at 300k
When it’s super cold, I get hot steaming water and pour it over my engine so it will warm up faster
Castrol magnatec ftw
There is no explosion in engine, there is burning of fuel air mixture. If you have explosion , engine knocking is happening, and engine controller changes ignition point.
You are of course technically correct. However much to our frustration the OTTO cycle is commonly referred to as Suck Squish BANG Blow (not burn) so when it comes to accuracy and wider perception there is often a divergence. I could make this video really complex with a debate on the differences between explosion and burning of fuel and air but for the purposes of this video and the common perception of engine combustion I will stand by the vague term "explosion". The video is about warming up the engine not about the combustion process per se. I will be sure to make the distinction clearer next time I talk about combustion. Perhaps I've misjudged my audience a little on this point.
Isn’t there the factor of driving and having cold air rushing through your radiator slowing warm up time too? Unless I have a radiator cover I think I would rather have it be stationary on a really cold day.
I used to think that too but discovered that most modern engines will shut off coolant circulation to the radiator until the engine warms up enough, then if it cools too much in winter the radiator is once again shut off or flow is reduced. This is the job of the radiators thermostat. I have known people blank off radiators to improve fuel economy but I can't personally see the benefits on a modern engine.
@@torquecarsthat’s not most modern cars…that’s all water cooled cars since at least the 1950s… here’s from the web:
“Every vehicle has a thermostat that monitors and regulates the temperature of the coolant in your car's engine”. They stop coolant from circulating in the engine until it’s up to normal operating temps. That was a strange way to put it for someone making a video to inform others and being so informative in general.
LOL @5400bowen you are right - I have learned never to make sweeping statements even if they seem to be correct, there is always an exception which someone will point out.
I also never profess to know everything, I like everyone is still learning and expanding my knowledge and understanding so really welcome comments and feedback.
In my mind I was thinking of a few cars with electric water pumps and some will only slow the flow through the radiator rather than stop it, (it keeps the coolant temps more uniform that way) and rather than be thermostatically controlled some might even anticipate the temps before they happen regulating flow in advance but crucially not shut it off completely.
So to clarify "pretty much all cars will have a thermostat to shut off water circulation from the radiator" but I'm sure someone out there will know of an exception to this.
With a mechanical water pump you need a physical restriction such as that afforded by a thermostat but with electric water pumps control can vary and there are many exotic solutions and controllers out there.
Yes I forgot about the thermostat but there is cold air rushing over the engine as well. I still think I will idle my car stationary for a few minutes
@@torquecars a thoughtful response. I webbed it (hate google!) and there are a very few cars that have both. It did not mention ones that only have an electric pump. So for a general conversation about cars that isn’t really for the average driver. But they do exist. I’m really looking forward to electric vehicles altogether. I worked in a machine shop that did all the machine work on blocks, cylinder heads and connecting rods for the San Diego city bus system. The amount of poison nous chemicals and dirty motor oil etc. was to say the least upsetting. All the guys hands shook constantly from carb cleaner etc. except mine…I wore a chemical respirator mask when dealing with any and all solvents. Until then I’ll warm up my 2006 F250 diesel until at least 100 degrees. And NEVER rev it up until after 20-30 seconds, and then only very slowly and not very high at all.
In morning is better to drive in sport mode… due to the cleaner dpf
I wouldn't say a DPF is cleaner in the morning or pre drive, the soot will collect there until it does a regen so you'll still have the previous weeks soot sitting in there, also on a cold engine you will be making more soot so get it up to temp as quickly as you can.
Long journeys will help and sport mode tends to help the DPF as the engine runs at higher rpms.
@@torquecars i have Golf 8 EA288 EVO engine it gets hot very soon..
@@torquecars Low rpms (DSG eco mode for example) are not good for cold engine. In Eco it shifts really fast in the lows rpms
@@torquecars Your channel is very good, a lot of new things 👍. I missing community about engine cars …
5 to 10 seconds??? ... i leave running 2 to 3 minutes when temps are below 0*F before take0FF
Castrol claims that up to 75% of engine wear occurs during warm up... which can take up to 20 minutes
Have you considered bonding a lubricant to the metal to avoid this problem?
🙂
If the manufacturer is smart they will have a feature built into the programing so until the coolant temp reaches a certain degree the engine will not be able to go full throttle . Full throttle will not be permitted unless certain parameters are met . Unless you like replacing engines .
I have found this to be the case on some models. Particularly newer Audis limit the revs to around 3500rpm (it will depend on the engine, this was on a couple of A3's I borrowed) and even some BMW's have for quite a while enforced a lower redline during the warm up phase. Sadly not all have this safeguard build in, I guess it encourages more people to go out and buy a new car! lol
@@torquecars My 2002 Prius essentially locks itself at high idle (~1300rpm) during the first 30-40 seconds of warmup, unless you get hard on the throttle. The car propels itself solely on electricity during this initial warmup period, and slowly charges the battery for a little bit of extra engine load.