Letting the truck warm up before driving.

[MTB-BRUH]

Pretty much always give it 2-5 minutes of warmup. But if I do just start up and drive I keep it easy for a few minutes

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[u wish u could ride]

10 minute warm up here. 5 days a week in winter. trucks accepts 15 minute intervals but I get out there in 10 . I hate getting in a cold truck if I don't have to.my ranger drives like a dream, shifts smooth as glass, no vibs or harsh shifting. I cant hear for shit because of loud cycles ,so its quiet as quiet also!!

 

[MTB-BRUH]

10 minute warm up here. 5 days a week in winter. trucks accepts 15 minute intervals but I get out there in 10 . I hate getting in a cold truck if I don't have to.my ranger drives like a dream, shifts smooth as glass, no vibs or harsh shifting. I cant hear for shit because of loud cycles ,so its quiet as quiet also!!

Pretty sure you can adjust the start time to longer than 15 minutes

 

[Leftcoast]

I start it and go. I run 87 octane. I'm a heretic.

 

[u wish u could ride]

Pretty sure you can adjust the start time to longer than 15 minutes

no kidding ? didn't know that .when the snow gets heavy I may need hat option!!

 

[Floyd]

Fact is that to reach actual peak efficiency a vehicle under normal conditions takes an average of about 20 minutes at speed.
Once oil pressure is established it is OK to get underway, which is the only way to bring the vehicle up to peak efficiency which includes everything from tire pressure to shocks, to differential fluid.
Normal ambient temperature has little effect on warm up time (maybe above 100°F or below 0°F)
I am more concerned about how temperature extremes affect electronics, especially screens, than I am about mechanicals.

 

[Dmax]

Seems a lot smoother when it has a chance to warm up. Not an engineer but can tell the hard shifts don’t happen if so. Especially the rear having one or two hard shifts into 2/3 right off the start. Live in Denver. Can be near zero in the am.

 

[Andrew]

Yup, I’ve started doing the same having notice some hard shifts and two really bad bumps from behind. Which is fine cause it’s been cold here anyways. The problem hasn’t resurfaced until today when the vehicle was fairly warm and still had some hard shifts.

 

[Indy650]

Seems obvious but has made a huge difference in the AM commute. No rough first shifts in the transmission and no fan roar. Always bothersome to feel the rear clunk in the first minutes of driving.

simple remedy. It bothers me. Cheers.

Up to 90% of engine damage occurs when the engine is cold. I have done a few studies where I ran one engine as soon as it is started and another I let warm up first. I then repeat this for many hours on the dyno. The first ends up with light cylinder/piston scoring excessive blow by and more wear to bearings.
However, I did these tests with single cylinder engines and with the technology of new car engines it's hard to say if this behavior would really lead to premature engine failure. I can say when I take an engine apart from a customer who I know to treat his/her car with less care not warming up, going over oil change mileage ect... that their engines do show more wear and sludge than an engine from a vehicle I know to be taken well care of. Also it's obvious that a transmission is going to run much smoother when warm especially one as sophisticated as the 10R80.
I'm a bit of a nerd and I like to log each vehicle I work on with as much info as I can to see the outcomes.

 

[Dmax]

Sounds like my style. Need it up to make sure car lasts the longest and stays reliable. Little things matter it seems. Appreciate the response.

 

[Indy650]

no kidding ? didn't know that .when the snow gets heavy I may need hat option!!

if you use the fordpass app you can add +15 min to runtime and I think max is 30 min if you try adding more at 30 it will say max run time reached or something like that.

 

[NAndrews33]

I wait for the truck to idle down then go. Unless it's really cold out like the teens, then I let it get warm. Usually for me, the colder it is, the longer the truck takes to idle down so I can get it warm pretty quick while idling down.

 

[doug910]

There's multiple trains of thought for this. My initial thought to the "harsh shifts" when cold, is whether those shifts are actually harmful to the powertrain or not. I honestly have no idea, but is it just an annoyance to us? Or is there actual damage occurring? Imo, if there was actual damage, the powertrain engineers would have noticed and would have done something about it.

Before driving off, the most critical thing is oil pressure. Ensuring the engine has oil pressure before you put any real load on it will make sure your engine is happy. Winter time will need a little longer to ensure that engine oil has circulated the engine.

As far as long duration cold idles are concerned, I'm not a fan. The engine runs super rich for a longer time, and it'll start thinning out your engine oil too...by how much? I'm not sure, but it's there. The other thing is that it's terrible from an emissions stand point since your catalytic converter stays cold for longer. I'm personally okay with sucking it up for a few minutes in a cold car - that's what coats, gloves, and hats are for!

 

[Deleted member 1634]

It's interesting to read how long people like to let their trucks warm before driving off. I especially like the apparent correlation between how far south you go, and how long you should (seemingly) let the truck warm up to be comfortable when it's "cold" out. haha Letting the truck run for 15 mins (or more!) before setting off seems like such an insane amount of time to me. Especially when it's only in the 30s(F) out or something. In my experience it only takes a few minutes for it to start pumping out heat, even when it's -40F out.

 

[u wish u could ride]

It's interesting to read how long people like to let their trucks warm before driving off. I especially like the apparent correlation between how far south you go, and how long you should (seemingly) let the truck warm up to be comfortable when it's "cold" out. haha Letting the truck run for 15 mins (or more!) before setting off seems like such an insane amount of time to me. Especially when it's only in the 30s(F) out or something. In my experience it only takes a few minutes for it to start pumping out heat, even when it's -40F out.

you guys are thick blooded. lol I am not going out at - 40 lmfao!!

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