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A lot of people ask if they should warm up their engines before they drive in the morning,
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or they shouldn't do this. And there are people, and there are mechanics, who say, of course,
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you should warm up your engine till it's fully warmed up, and there are people who say,
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don't warm your engine even a second when you start driving in the morning. So where is the
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truth? Let's think about people who say yes, you need to warm up these engines. They say,
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first of all, you need to warm up the engine because of the oil flow. So the oil will go
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into the head of this engine, the oil will warm up, and the oil will start working properly in
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this engine right after it's warmed up. There is a logic in this. Secondly, they say that different
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parts of the engines warm up differently. For example, the cast iron block will warm longer,
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and the aluminum head will warm faster, and they can change their shape a little bit. So,
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when the engine is not warmed up, it's not ready to work, and you can get some leaks, coolant
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leaks, oil leaks in this engine, maybe minor, but anyway, this is not what you want to get.
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Then there are mechanics who say no, you don't need to warm up this engine. And they say that
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first of all, manufacturers don't recommend you warm up the engine. You need to understand,
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manufacturers don't care much if you will drive this car for 200,000 miles,
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they care only for the warranty period, and so they want to say you anything but you need to
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think with your own hat. Then they say, you waste fuel when you do this. So you
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waste fuel when you warm up your engine, and it's actually so. The engine takes about 1
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liter of fuel an hour when it's idling, maybe a little more when it's idling cold because it's
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idling cold in a little higher RPM, so yes, you're wasting fuel. This is actually, so.
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And thirdly, they say that your car emits a lot of harmful gases, harmful exhaust,
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yes, that's also true, and that's why a lot of manufacturers started to say that you don't need
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to warm up your engine even a second, and in a lot of countries, you'll have this limitation
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that you can't idle for more than 30 seconds or something like that, it's illegal to idle longer.
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And the truth is somewhere in the middle. Of course, you don't need to warm up your
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engine till it's fully warmed up, it will take 20 minutes, it will take 15 minutes,
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and it's not worth your time and money that you will spend on this. But still,
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driving your car right after you started in the morning, especially in winter, it's not a very
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good idea. So what happens when you start driving right in the second you started your engine,
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your oil is all in the oil pan, it's down the engine, and your pump only started working,
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and this oil just didn't have enough time to go up to the engine, to the engine head,
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to the turbocharger, and when you press your gas pedal like a crazy driver,
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you will get this engine working dry, and this will obviously shorten its lifespan, it will still
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live like 100,000 miles, maybe a little less, but after that, you will start getting problems.
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So I recommend you warm up the engine about 30-60 seconds after you start your car in the morning,
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after it's been inactive for about 8, 10 hours, 12 hours or more. This helps oil
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reach your head and go through all the thin oil passages that you have in your engine,
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and you're safe to drive. And after this, you need to drive carefully, so just drive slowly, don't
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press the gas pedal really hard because when you do this, there is a problem of a dry engine, so
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it will wear extensively when it's not warmed up correctly. This ensures that there are no extreme
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changes of temperature between different parts of the engine, and the engine is okay to work. After
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maybe 5 minutes of driving, you can press the gas pedal as usual, and you can drive as you want.
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Another important advantage when you do this is that your transmission will also
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warm up correctly because you don't warm up your transmission when you start the engine,
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you warm up your transmission when you put it in D or R, so it starts warming up and
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lubricating only when you start driving, and that's why driving 5 minutes carefully will
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help you prolong the life of your transmission if it's automatic, manual, or DCT or whatever.
