Warming up your car before driving is a very controversial topic to many experts in the automotive industry. But to answer the question, should I warm up my car before driving in the winter? The answer is no; you do not have to warm up your vehicle with present-day vehicles.
Even though vehicles do need to warm up to get the oil flowing correctly, they can do this quickly while you are driving. Sixty to one hundred and twenty seconds after you start the vehicle, you can drive, and the car will get the oil flowing correctly while driving.
This subject was researched thoroughly by the EPA, DOE (Department of Energy), and Penzoil. But let’s look further into this to see how we can keep our vehicle running strong throughout the winter with the new idle laws in place.
What happens if you do not warm up your car in the winter?
If you immediately start your vehicle in the winter and quickly drive it after you started it. You can damage the engine due to the oil not being able to cycle through the engine due to the oil viscosity being too thick. So should we warm up the car for fifteen minutes or more?
No, you do not want to do that either. Not only is it illegal to idle your vehicle for that long in numerous places. But idling your car doesn’t get your vehicle’s engine that warm.
Yes, most of us do not care about the engine being warm more than the interior is warm. But it is the purpose of idling your vehicle to get the engine warm, or for some it is.
The best thing to do is to, start your vehicle and let it warm up for a minute as in sixty seconds, and then you can drive off. You will see that your heater will get warm quicker as well due to the engine being under load.
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Will my car start in the extreme cold?
No, your engine will find it very difficult to start in the extreme cold, due to the oil viscosity being so thick. The oil viscosity increases the energy that the battery has to output to start the engine.
Also, in the extreme cold, if you have a flooded battery, there is a good chance if you did not plug in the battery blanket. That battery is now frozen and is dead as well.
If your battery is on its way out already the cold temperatures will be fatal for your battery. This is a great reason why in extremely cold climates vehicles have a block heater and a battery blanket/heater.
These two modifications to your vehicle will save you a massive headache on those cold mornings. Remember to keep your extension cord out of the snow, to prevent snow packing into the plug itself and to short your system out.
That goes for your vehicle as well, with all of the slush and snow being on the road. After you unplug the battery or block heater, make sure you put the cap back on the outlet.
This way it will prevent slush and snow buildup in the outlet. Using the cap will save yourself on an ice-cold morning or night when you are trying to plug the heater into the outlet.
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How can I keep my car warm in the winter?
A block heater is a great way to keep your vehicle warm in the winter without needing to idle for 20 minutes before you drive off. Using a block heater will also help your heater inside the vehicle as well.
Remember that your heater is getting its warm air by passing air through the heater core. The heater core is filled with coolant that has heated up by dispersing the heat from the engine itself.
With a block heater, it is plugged into a freeze plug spot on your engine and then plugged in. The block heater then warms up the engine by warming the coolant up that is sourced throughout the canals in your engine.
So not only are you hearing your vehicles engine up but you are getting the interior heated up for you as well. That option sounds a lot better than idling your vehicle and wasting fuel.
Why warming up your car is bad?
Besides the fact that it is terrible for the environment, against the idle law in numerous places, and barely warms the engine up at all.
Warming up your vehicle is terrible because you are wasting fuel and hardly doing anything productive with your car just burning fuel.
Yes, I am guilty of it as well, especially when I lived in Canada. Because winter in Canada is no joke, you want all the warm heat you can find in the winter there.
But if we plug in our vehicles during this harsh cold winter, we will be able to save fuel, money, and lower the emissions that are released into the atmosphere from our cars.
How long should you warm up your car in below zero weather?
The EPA and DOE did a study on this, and aside from contrary belief, you only need to warm up your vehicle for 30 to 60 seconds. Many people have this belief for many years and to see it is the total opposite is shocking. I am one of those shocked individuals! Here this whole time I thought you should warm up your car for five to ten minutes.
Experts have seen that your engine can warm up much faster if you are driving, unlike when you have your vehicle idling for 20 minutes. The EPA has shown that cars get 12% less fuel efficiency when it is below 32ﾟfahrenheit outside.
This was a thought of mind that did work well in older vehicles that had a carburetor on them. Engines that have carburetors need to be warmed up before they can run correctly.
But with newer vehicles, they no longer have carburetors on them; they are fuel injected so they can operate without being warmed up first.
With fuel-injected engines, they now run off of the sensors that are in your engine. Those sensors adjust their fuel to air ratio mix depending on the temperature the sensor tells the engine’s computer.
So the correct answer to this question would be to warm up your car for no more than 120 seconds and a minimum of 30 seconds before driving in the winter months.
Should you start your car every day in cold weather?
The best way to keep your vehicle charged and ready to start at any time during the winter. Is to keep your car plugged in with the block heater and keep a battery maintainer on the vehicle’s battery.
The battery maintainer will supply a low amperage drip charge to your vehicle, so it never runs itself out of power by just sitting still. Yes, the winter will drain your battery die to voltage leakage from the posts.
To counteract that loss you will have your battery maintainer connected. Then to prevent the vehicle from getting a frozen battery, you can use an electric battery blanket.
Remember to check a battery before jumpstarting it in the winter. You should never jumpstart a frozen battery; this will cause the battery to explode. A great indicator showing the battery has frozen the sides of the battery will be bulging out.
If your battery is frozen, you need to put the battery in a warm place so it can slowly unfreeze itself without causing the case of the battery to crack. Having a frozen battery is when an AGM battery would be of great benefit, due to AGM batteries being freeze resistant.
So in the end, you do not have to start your vehicle every day in the winter. Just make sure you have your preventive measures in place as in the block heater, battery blanket, and so on.
By doing this, you will have your vehicle winterized and ready to use whenever you need it.
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How can you keep your vehicle warm when some cities do not allow you to have your car idle?
There are multiple options that you have to get your vehicle warm. Other than idling your car and receiving a traffic citation in some places from idling too long.
We can start the vehicle and then starting to drive no more than 2 minutes after we start the car. Driving will get your vehicle warm quicker than if you were sitting still and letting the car idle.
You can use a block heater to keep the engine block warm. This way will get your coolant/antifreeze hotter quicker and since this is the source of your cabin’s warm air.
This means you will get warmer quicker as well by using a block heater. You can park your vehicle underground or in a garage, which will keep your vehicle out of the harsh elements.
By doing this, your vehicle will have less of a temperature change to get warm. A great example is it is -10 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but your underground garage is 70 degrees.
The ambient temperature your engine will read is 70 degrees, and the engine will be around the same temperature as well before you start it.
In Canada, underground garages are very popular and are a lifesaver when it is the middle of winter, and you need to go to the grocery store.
Stephen Ciatti, a mechanical engineer at the Argonne National Library, is a specialist in combustion engines. After thorough research, he has seen that letting your vehicle idle in the cold elements can decrease the lifespan of your engine.
The way the engine does this is when the vehicle is below 40 degrees Fahrenheit the sensors will tell the computer to increase fuel flow to the engine.
Due to all of the gasoline not burning off in the combustion process, this is common in cold, harsh climates. Because the engine is doing this, the combustion cylinders now have extra fuel in them that was not burned off.
The gasoline that is still in the chamber is a solvent and can wash away the oil that is built upon the cylinders walls. This oil lubricates the piston rings and cylinder walls to protect them during the rapid movement of the engine and friction being created there as well.
So the key is to get your vehicle’s engine to 40 degrees Fahrenheit the fastest is by driving the car. Do not just drive the vehicle without clearing off your windows first.
Also, do not just go speeding down the street, you want to drive regular and not put extra strain on the engine. So drive normal and before you know it your vehicle will be at the correct operating temperature and the cabins air will be nice and warm.
How can I heat my car without a block heater?
There are some great options you have besides a block heater. But after seeing the choices, I believe you will agree a block heater could be one of the most simple modifications to beat the winter.
If you do not want or have not installed a block heater yet, your next reliable option would be an Oil Pan heater. An oil pan heater goes directly onto your oil pan. Instead of heating the engine coolant as a block heater does, you would be heating the engine oil directly.
These do not need to be plugged in all night like a block heater, and a battery blanket does. These heaters get fast quick but do not think you will install it in the snow. This modification to your vehicle needs to be installed
before the time of use.
Leave the oil pan heater plugged in or on a timer to come on no more than 5 hours away from the time you want to use your vehicle. I only say you do not leave it plugged in all night due to winter nights in Canada can last up to 16 to 17 hours of the day, and that is in Calgary!!
Further north into Canada you get the colder it gets so don’t take this time as a tourist season in the backcountry; it can be perilous.
Other than the oil pan heater, you have the options I have already stated to warm your vehicle up. Your three options are driving, parking in a garage, and using a heater source. I have even used a space heater and a blanket to start a vehicle before.
But that was the last resort, and surprisingly it worked in under 6 hours. Remember to take care of your vehicle in the winter, and it will take care of you. If you do not have a block heater or an oil pan heater installed yet on your vehicle engine.
If you believe it would be a valuable asset to have on your vehicle, get it done before winter. These modifications are not expensive nor hard to find, so don’t wait too long or you might be caught in winter without it again. In the case that it is already winter and you are reading this.
You need to warm up your oil pan before sticking the oil pan heater on it. A great tool to use would be a heat gun. Remember to warm up the oil pan, do not make it burning hot.
How does cold weather affect my engine?
Cold weather itself does nothing to your engine, but it does increase the thickness of your engine oil. Unlike the carburetor engines in the past, newer vehicles are now fuel injected.
We do not have to let the vehicle warm up before we drive it, because the engine’s sensors recalibrate the air to fuel ratio to compensate for the colder weather. They do this by adding more fuel to the mixture because, in colder weather, fuel does not ignite fully in the combustion process.
It is good that our engine can change on the spot, but it is terrible for your engine. Due to gasoline being a fantastic solvent, it can strip the oil away from the engine’s parts if it sits there long enough.
The key is to get your engine to 40 degrees Fahrenheit as quickly as possible, so your engine stops adding additional fuel into the mix.
We can do this by driving the vehicle to warm up the engine, using a block heater, using an oil pan heater, or by parking in a garage or other structure that your vehicle is out of the harsh elements.
Besides that, the only thing people hate about the winter is the cold weather itself and the poor driving conditions. Remember the critical tips about the winter and your engine will not be permanently damaged from the cold weather.
Remember do not jumpstart a frozen battery and do not speed or create an increased strain on your engine until it is at average operating temperature. An easy way to tell your engine is at a great operating temperature is looking at your engine temperature gauge that looks like a sailboat.
If the needle is in the middle of the gauge, then your engine is now and warmed up and should normally be running.
Make sure you clear off your windows before driving as well even though all of us need to be somewhere we will not get there if we are in a traffic accident. So be careful and enjoy the fantastic winter season with your friends and family!
Thank you for reading my article! I hope you found it beneficial and enjoyable to read. Check out my Youtube channel and subscribe for more DIY Auto repair and flipping cars for profit videos! Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy my next piece!
