To warm-up or not to warm-up...

[Blue Streak]

I get in turn key enough to release shift lever, move to neutral release parking brake then start. By now the truck has rolled back enough that the tail pipe is outside the garage so any moisture coming out is not spayed all over the wall or any thing sitting there. By the time I get done getting my self organized it has idled down & I am good to go. Just a routine for a retired guy. Just because it works for me it don't mean it's good for you.

Sponsored

 

[Joeiconic]

My normal routine is to let the truck run until the idle falls, usually takes about a minute in my garage. Over the weekend I had to park outside in near zero weather and I let it run until the frost melted on the windshield - at least 10 minutes.

 

[Peragrin]

There is a difference between letting the engine warm and lube up vs the cab.

Also the engine starting is when most of that damage is going to be done, at 1,000 RPM idle, everything has had a 1,000 chances to break in the first minute. So don't feel bad about starting and going. by the time you put it in reverse the engine has had 100 revolutions to disperse oil and stuff.

now letting the cab warm up or cool down (living in new england I have done both) is something else. I also start let the car warm up scrap (yea ice) etc.

on christmas eve, I let both of our cars warm up, run out their remote start timers, and then had to break the ice on the doors as they were frozen shut. The ranger worked a bit better than my wifes SUV, so we took that on christmas eve morning, but I also leave the auto temperature on the ranger set, and my wife likes to think she can control the temp exactly.

By mid afternoon and a high of 15 and some sun, I was able to get her remaining doors unfrozen.

 

[RangerTX]

I warm it up every single day in the winter... every car I have ever had... Does it shorten lifespan? Dont care - I hate being cold! LOL

 

[lost1]

Hope @P. A. Schilke chimes in: Was reading that starting the vehicle and letting warm up VS start driving directly is bad, in the long term, for the engine. Several reliable references confirmed this. saying that parts of the engine/trans could be starved of oil, thus accelerating wear.

As it has been -10 around here lately, I use remote start so it's warmer inside when I get in... not per sa to warm the engine to get the oil flowing before a load is put on it by driving.

Given that we use 5w-30 or even 0w-30 and the idle is 1200 to 1500 rpm till the catalytic converter is warmed up, I don't see where the oil starvation would come from.

Your thoughts...

I worry that the turbo will not get proper lubrication when the oil is very cold. That is why I remote start it and let it run for 5 minutes or so before I drive it. I don't know if there is any safe quard in place that keeps the turbo from spooling up before it has warmed up.

 

[moorejl57]

Remote start while I put my shoes on and wait for low idle before taking off. Might need a damper heater for those really cold mornings, the tailgate drops soooo slowly.

 

[GTGallop]

My entire response should be taken with a grain of IMHO salt...
Is it Bad to warm up the truck? Is it bad to start driving cold?
No. Is it better to let it warm up? Yes but that doesn't make get in and go bad.

I live 1 mile from the freeway. I only make one right turn at a traffic light (usually green) before hitting the interstate. I can literally wake up, get in and be hitting 80 miles per hour under hard acceleration on a morning that's 34 degrees outside. Is that bad? Well it ain't great because all of the fluids you need are a little stiffer at 34 degrees than at operating temp.

• Oil
• Coolant / Antifreeze
• Power Steering
• Brake
• Axle Lube Grease
• Differential fluid

It also means I'm sucking cold air across the grill at 80 MPH so it takes longer for it to provide heat in the cabin that makes driving comfortable.

For that reason, I prefer to let it warm up for about 5 minutes in the deepest part of winter. Then slowly roll through the neighborhood so the trans and diff can start circulating that fluid while not under a hard load. I believe it's better or at least closer to optimal for the vehicle and driver / passenger.

In the summer when it's 117 degrees outside I can have the coolant up to temp by the time I hit the end of the street if I get in and go - so no warm up needed. The great fire orb has done that for me.

But if you showed me some science that showed our fluids don't need that warm up and can perform optimally at all temps on earth, I would make sure I used those fluids, I'd change them regularly. And I'd still baby it in the cold.

 

[Blmpkn]

I worry that the turbo will not get proper lubrication when the oil is very cold. That is why I remote start it and let it run for 5 minutes or so before I drive it. I don't know if there is any safe quard in place that keeps the turbo from spooling up before it has warmed up.

Yeah... don't worry about that.

 

[Kristina]

I think we all die before bullet-proof truth about warm-up will be revealed.

 

[mtbikernate]

why in the hell did it take 33 posts before someone said anything about scraping ice off the windshield?

for as picky as that forward sensor is about ice over the camera lens, I scrape the windshield on my ranger more thoroughly than any previous vehicle I've owned.

so I remote start it so I can start softening up that ice/frost and speed up the scraping process. it's an extra bonus that the cab warms up a little bit when I do this. but every vehicle I've ever owned got started before I began scraping the windows.

 

[OrangeStreak]

I think we all die before bullet-proof truth about warm-up will be revealed.

Good point!

 

[CATX]

Well if Phil hadn’t chimed in I would have assumed that anyone that says it’s bad to let the truck warm up in the morning was just trying to do their part to limit emissions and feel good about themselves.

Kind of like how all the journalists say safety is strictly a factor of the cars design, and mass doesn’t affect anything. Some people (most journalists) don’t want people going out and buying heavy cars (which are safer, all things bring equal) because that would cause increased emissions.

 

[Tracy Bowman]

I almost always remote start my Ranger. By the time I get to the truck 2-3 min later, it’s ready to go. Rides very smoothly. If I start it after I get in, I wait until the info screen is up totally before I take off.
Husband wants to jump in & take off, then wonder about the clunking sound it made.Doesn’t do that if you give it a min.(my experience)

 

[AzScorpion]

I almost always remote start my Ranger. By the time I get to the truck it's 30 minutes later because I forgot it was at home and I was driving my car that day.

Had to fix it for ya. ?

 

[Tracy Bowman]

Had to fix it for ya. ?

Thank you, Smarty Britches!?

Sponsored