I'm in NY, the weather lately is around 30-40's. I've been warming my new Fit up until the cold temp indicator is out. Am I wasting time and gas? I have heard elsewhere that 30 seconds is enough.

Thanks

 

Idling warm-up is not required nor recommended for modern cars with engine management systems like the Fit. Start it, put it in gear and start driving. Keep engine speed below 4000 rpm until the cold temp indicator is out. On cars with a real temp gauge, I don't exceed 4000 rpm until the car is at operating temperature (where the needle stops going up), which varies somewhat from car to car.

BTW, I've noticed the Fit is very fast to warm up to the point where the cold temp light is out. From sitting overnight with a low temp of about 65 deg. F, it takes less than 2 minutes!

 

i just wait till that cold temp light goes off... to each their own.

you're going to hear wait for the light goes off like me and you're going to hear start and drive from others.

(almost like a "91 gives better performance than 87," argument.)

 

I would respectfully disagree. You'll find the start and drive argument more prevalent in official printed media like manuals (my A4 manual recommended it) and from experts.

Thinking about it (and I'm no mechanic, just an electronics guy) it would follow that given cold operation causes damage, you would want a slow running engine that heats up faster rather than idling engine that takes longer to get up to operating temperature. If carefully managed, the slow running engine shouldn't see too much stress while getting up to temperature much faster.

 

On cold days, I'll let it idle for ~30 secs. Then drive gently with very little power demand until the cold light turns off.

 

I warm up my engine no matter what the outside temperature is. Starting to drive with a cold engine is bad.

 

I start it up and pull out of the garage. My door is manual so I put it in park and walk back to the garage
to close the door. Then I put it in drive and have to go down two slow streets with lots of traffic until I can get to the main road. Normally by the time I make the highway the cold eng. light is off and I am ready to roll.

Cat : x

 

i try not to rush any where...its been down in the 20-30s F here in md. i let it warm up and get some heat out the vents before i drive off.takes about 5 minutes or so. i would assume easier on the engine as well. plus my shift knob feels like ice when sitting for awhile...

 

So, I was talking to a coworker and his reasoning for letting his car warm up was that the oil is too sludgy at 23 degrees and that the transmission needs a couple minutes to have the fluid warm up.

or something like that.

thoughts?

 

It does warm up really quick - the heater doesn't take much time at all to start pumping out heat, meaning the engine is getting up to temperature pretty quickly. Sweet when its brrrrrrr cold out!

Start and drive here - maybe 30 seconds - 1 minute warm-up if its extremely cold.

 

The 'ol oil gets pumping within 10-15 seconds, so I give it that before shifting into gear.

My ScanGauge II can display coolant temp, and the Fit's motor really does warm up quickly.

Fuel consumption is higher than with it warmed up, but it's still better than the zero MPG you get while idling.

My commute is very gentle on the cold engine anyway. I pretty much coast downhill for a mile, climb slightly for a block, and coast the next two miles. It is certainly warmed up by then.

 

Modern engines with engine management systems work best when they reach operating temperature quickly. There are a number of reasons. A cold engine requires a richer mixture, which causes higher cylinder wall wear. Emissions controls also don't work properly until the engine is warm (e.g. cat converters), which is why many engines have secondary air blowers which introduce fresh air into the exhaust manifold to promote secondary burning of the exhaust gases. Additionallly, the longer the engine takes to bring to temperature, the longer it takes to drive absorbed moisture from the engine oil, which leads to increased internal engine corrosion and oil sludging.

Sitting with the car idling increases the amount of time it takes to reach operating temperature as opposed to driving the car immediately after starting. It also wastes fuel and increases emissions unnecessarily. Nobody's suggesting that you start the car and immediately floor it, or take it up to redline. Only in a fully warmed up engine are proper clearances reached and oil viscosity achieved so that high load and high rpm conditions can be optimally achieved. Most manufacturers specify lower revs, typically 4000 rpm, until operating temperature has been reached. BMW E46 M3's even have a moving rev limiting system that starts at 4000 rpm when the engine is cold, and gradually increases the rev limit to redline as the engine warms.

 

Not necessary....you're wasting fuel, polluting more, and just driving around slowly will heat the car and cat up much more quickly and efficiently than letting it idle for a while.

 

Best of both worlds. This is what I do.

 

not to go off subject but since you have a scangauge can you tell
us the normal operating temp of the Fit.

 

Well, ya made me pour another cocktail and go out to the garage, but my max water temp for both today and yesterday was 182F. I am not sure what that is in Canadian degrees, though!

 

i have NEVER warmed up for the engine and I lived in NY for 20 yrs. All my cars were either crashed, stolen or returned at end of lease before they could develop any problems w/ the engine (most are Hondas and 1 Toyota). So my experience tells me to drive your heart out and forget about warming up. Of course I am not a mechanic but unless you plan to drive this car for the rest of your long life I would not recommend wasting time and money on a totally questionable theory.

 

30~60 seconds for warm up on colder days should be good....

 

For the last 3 winters in our -20 to -30F temps I plug my block heater in for 30 minutes so I don't waste gas idling. I let the tach come down from fast idle around 1500 and put it in reverse around 1100.

My mech. says never force a cold AT into reverse at high idle, too hard on the AT. I also put it into D1/D2 so it doesn't shift for a half block to let the tranny fluid circulate.

 

How about a block heater so you don't have to warm the engine up at all? Just plug the heater into a wall socket and let the heater warm the coolant up for you.