http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_cont...-car-in-winter/

 

I just warm up the car for 45 sec - 1 min until I hear that fuel vapor dissipating whistle (or whatever that is). That's my cue to start driving lol.

I don't exceed 2.5k until 3 bars.
I don't exceed 3k for 5 more minutes.
Normal rpms for 5 more minutes.
Then I go past 6k if I'm in the mood.

 

The colder it is the longer you should let the engine warm, especially on higher mileage vehicles. My brothers and I run a shop and we see lots of destroyed motors in the winter. Here lately we have a string of ford vehicle's with the tops of the pistons cracking when people start up the engines cold and immediately take off. My friend seized the engine on his rsx on a 20 degree morning last year when he took off hard immediately after starting his car. I let my vehicle's warm every morning at least a few minutes and don't hit high rpm's or engine load until fully warm.

 

I usually let mine warm up for a bit in the mornings mainly to get the heat blowing inside. Honda was smart with this car, and won't rev past 6500 rpm's if not fully warmed up. (I think it was 6500, please correct me if i'm wrong about that)

 

I start driving no longer than 10 seconds after the engine turns over. Revs are kept at 3k or below until it reaches temperature. This way, the transmission also warms with the engine.

 

Letting the car warm up while idling is not 100% necessary IMO. Letting the car warm up before you beat on it is 100% necessary. If you plan to drive the car without it warmed up take it is easy until it does warm up. A light load will not hurt the engine while warming it up.

You have to keep in mind, that when the car is idling nothing else is warming up you. Your tranny and rear end are still cold. So even if you do let your car warm up fully at idle, that doesn't mean its all ready to go.

Of course i am speaking about normal conditions. Assuming you have the correct oil for your climate/engine and everything. If its -50 degrees out then it may be a different story.

 

I swear next, the enviormentalists are going to say farting is harming the ozone too much and we need to stop.

 

I tend to agree with this.

I previously lived in a very cold spot of the country where -20-40 was a regular 5AM start up temp. On a v6 Acura I had the cold idle as high as 2600rpm, that's how cold it was. ECU was correcting for the cold temps.

That's all to say 5 min warm ups are a waste of time and gas. My general rule of thumb was not to get the revs past half way to red. In our cars (ap2) that's 4k.

No one in my family ever idled their cars for 2-5 minutes. Just the regular start it up, throw your belt on and set the cabin temp and go. We've never had any car problems.

I would go as far as to say the goofs with blown motors fall in the same category as the kids who come here claiming their red line is now 7K and cannot figure out why. The same goofs who are flooring it while leaving the drive way. Baby the car until it's fully warmed up. That said, fully warmed up its nearer to 30-45 minutes of driving in sub zero temps. Too many moving parts beyond water temp are affected by the cold.

 

I also have always started it up and taken off right away. You waste more time having the engine warm while idle when it can warm up a lot faster while youre driving. Key point is not to thrash it until temps are up to par.

 

Thinner oil for colder temps. No extended warm ups.