Warming & Idling Your Car in the Winter? STOP! Here's Why!

In this video, I describe why you should NOT be warming and idling your engine in the winter. First, it will cause excess wear in the internal components of your engine as it is taking much longer for the engine oil to warm up, than if you drove the car right away. The oil will take longer to make it's way to the most important parts of your engine to provide lubrication and protection. Secondly, your engine is idling wasting gas, and actually injecting even more gas in the air-fuel mixture during cold start and temperatures. Finally, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to be a victim of car theft.

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[jschrauwen]

I live a tad north and east of you.
Although you have touched on some very solid points, you missed the overriding factor of long winter warm up idling- pollution. When possible I like to defer to the practices of the Germans. They are not permitted to have prolonged warm up any time if the year. But they also maintain their cars substantially better then the average North American and therefore your recommendations would be valid in that respect. Alas, we're not that conscientious.
Yes the cold start fuel mixture is richer because it encourages quicker warm up time so that it can reach its warmed up fuel map. Yes, driving will encourage slightly quicker warming of the oil, but there's also the extra stress on the crank and rods due to the cold idle. This is not a desired option either. So in this case, it would be better in the bigger scheme of things to allow a longer warming up time.
BUT .... we can negate this simply enough. In the old days we use a block heater. We'd punch out one of the blocks frost plugs and install a heating coil. Alas, that practice is no longer in play for cars in the last 20 or so years. An alternative to this would be to install an oil pan heating pad. They come in various sizes and wattage ranges. This pad will plug into your normal household 120V. The pad will warm the oil in the pan so that very first start of the day will have warmed oil reaching every component it needs to quickly. This means no top end cam chatter as well which is an extremely good thing. The added bonus to this is that the radiant heat created will also keep the coolant slightly warmer. It also means less warm up time required and quicker heat to the interior of the car. The radiant heat will also affect the transmissions temperature as well. Today's cars have programmed parameters that will restrict engine rpm levels if the transmission isn't warm enough so driving right away on a cold engine is not good for today's automatic transmissions. Luckily, that oil pan heating pan will assist in that area as well.
I've been using oil pan heating pads for almost 8 years. I'm old school and still remember the block heaters. This oil pan heating pad is a much much better solution for cold climate use.

[thelazarous]

How do I "just drive" if my inner windshield immediately ices up and I can't see? Kinda need hot air to drive if I can't see without it.

[Coldheart]

Dude I live in MI, and if its below 20 degrees I am starting that thing early to warm up. 🥶

[carswithsonduren]

Yes, It is more common than you think! Many people have their cars stolen right from their driveway because they left it idling to warm up!😮

[cruisertechgt]

Good point so the heat from more combustion helps warm the oil at a faster rate and has found to be better than letting it idle for engine ware. What I do is start my engine, wait for Rpms to drop after initial startup, and then I drive slowly trying to keep Rpms down. Engine tries to hold gears I think because my transmission oil is warming up...or my ecu is trying to warm up the oil faster . Not sure

[rayrasa]

This make sense lol..I was told the opposite and that is to keep the car running until the temps gauge are above the line.

[-DC-]

Every handbook for virtually every modern car says do not idle to warm up, start up and drive away is OEM advice.

[VincentScales]

For my 2016 Toyota Camry SE it takes full synthetic oil (0W-20), it's a good idea to let the car run for about a minute. Today's cars have fuel injection compared to older cars that had carburetors and had to warm up before you could drive!

[palemonvazquez]

I own a Honda Accord Hybrid 2021 I eccedently left the car running for 3 hours with engine on also the heater was on as well could that cause a problem to my car for having it on for that long? Outside temperature was 45 degrees

[asmokingp]

Kinda hard to keep low ram uf you live in hilly areas with high and low slopes

[ryan_milla]

I live in Toronto and I abide by this. Turn the car on, wait about 15-30 seconds and go.

[blakmaverik]

So what would you recommend for someone that sits in their car over night for work to keep it warm inside? I have a 2000 chevy impala
Debating getting another car or fixing this one up. Really dont want payments!!

[JoelFerrer]

I can’t relate to this I live in sunny California. But cool video. Today I was walking to my IS 250 in the parking lot at work and I said to myself “what a sexy rear end the second generation is”. I mean this opinion might be biased but, I think the 2is looks better than the current 3rd gen. It’s timeless looking.

[Motorsportsgeek]

Bullshit, i see idiots drive away here in -20 and below and you can hear the engine clacking aka wear.. I idle all my cars in extreme conditions and they all last 300k +

[Luke.Skywodka]

Not only does the engine oil take longer to warm up when idling, the transmission oil does too.

[jonathanarchive]

Hey long time viewer here, basically I couldn't wait until summer to get my IS350 because of quarantine boredom so I got a civic SI project car, and the last time i took it out for a little ride around the block I got a warning from a cop (I don't have plates for it) so the next few times when it was snowing pretty bad here I went over to check it I started it up and let it idle for a bit while I admired the car and looked around to see any flaws, and I realize I've done this maybe 3-4 times (haven't had it idle for longer than like 7-8 minutes because I already kinda knew its not good to idle for too long)

you think I should change my oil or something or am I just being overly paranoid lol

[Lsutton_]

I usually lock mine since it’s push start as well and just take the key out with me

[OfficialRohanPeri]

Love this content! I'm actually in the market to buy an IS250/350 right now! Do you have any advice on purchasing that car? I've watched all your IS videos and I think I know the main things to watch out for, but do you have any advice on where to look and how to go about it?

[Globetrotter-]

To be honest, the majority of people that idle the car for long periods, even hours during winter, won't ever wear the engine enough to notice. A decent quality car such as Merc or a BMW will continue to run fine to 200, 00 or 250, 000 miles and beyond. So worrying about microscopic engine wear due to long idling periods is silly.

[TheDarkestOne]

Can barely change gears if you don't let it warm up. Feels terrible.