Dear all,
It's winter season here. Starting the car and idling for 10 minutes just to get the engine warm is quite a waste of money (fuel).

What are my options and which would be your recommendations?

 

start car put in gear and drive driving the car is the fasted way to warm the engine up. if you live in alaska or an extremely cold environment then use a block heater or blanket style engine heater.

 

itburnswhenIP, but isn't it bad to drive the car when the engine is not warm yet?

 

no idling a car during winter only applies to pre fuel injection vehicles we are talking 50s 60s era cars with carburetors. the fuel in older cars had to be at a certain temperature to burn properly hence idling before driving. this somehow carried over to newer cars from old stories. not to mention older cars used a heavier weight dino oil like 10w40 with no detergents or additives your car should be using a 5w30 or 5w20.

the only thing you don't want to do is floor it or rev it up to high let it warm up by driving it easy. also using a fully synthetic oil is a good idea since its Viscosity stays the same in cold weather. Do You Really Need to Use Heavier Oil in Summer? - DIY Auto - Popular Mechanics the bottom line is no it won't hurt your car to drive pre warm up in the winter unless you live in the north pole.

 

+1, Start engine, idle a few seconds, drive away gently. The same thing you would do in any weather.

 

itburnswheni, mk378,
Temperature here is 0°C (freezing). Does your advice still apply?

 

yes it still applies if its -20 -30 then use a block warmer. by the time you put your seat belt on and plug in your ipod your good to go.

 

All great advice, here. Especially the synthetic oil. When I start my car in the morning, I turn on the radio, hook up seat belt, turn on my headlights, and away I go. Also turn your defroster on low, even though your engine hasn't developed heat, yet. Turning it on will help get the moisture out of the heater so you don't fog up too bad. This morning's temperature here, was 5*F. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Duane

 

If it's REALLY cold, like -25F, then I would suggest letting it warm up for 3-4 minutes. If it's above freezing then start and go.

In any case I would suggest driving it easy until up to temp.

 

if its negative 30 you need a block heater idling longer won't help anything.