Greetings, I have a 1996, F150, a V-8, 4x4 XLT. I idle it for about 10 minutes in the morning. Current morning temp.'s are about 20 degrees F. My hippie roommate thinks 10 minutes is waaayyyy too long, and that i am just wasting gas and polluting. My question is, how long does it take to properly warm up the engine, when it's 20 degrees out? Thanks, as this will hopefully end a long debate.

 

on mine i let it idle till the rpms go down below 1000 then i drive kinda slow till the timp hand comes up i not saying im right im just saying that is what i do but it has not been that cold here i would say to long is better than not long enough

 

Minute or 2 max, then drive easy for a half mile or so to get the tranny and axles movin, then wide open throttle as much as possible wherever I go.

Adrianspeeder

 

LOL , I use a car starter , I would say 5 minutes is good. My problem is the defrosters won't kick on without the key in the ignition , so I still have to scrap %$#^&!!!

 

Let it run until it's blowing hot air in the cab. That's why I start mine up so it nice and warm when I get in.

Your roommate can ride a bicyle if he's concern about pollution but when it's below freezing I bet he's buming a ride too

 

Keep in mind, even if you let the engine idle until the temp gauge is in the middle, the tranny and it's fluid is still ice cold. Regardless of how long you wait for warm-up, go easy on the gas the first few miles.

Just my two cents,
Mike

 

Unless your running Amsoil in the trans - That stuff can take the cold - we use all Amsoil products at work because it can take extreme weather conditions - Even there grease, normal grease won't even flow below freezing.
That Amsoil will. There isn't nothing compatible with it..There other good trans oils out there , but I'm not sure how they handle the cold.

 

Who installed your starter? Sounds like nobody hooked up your accessory or accessory2 wire, if you had it done at a shop go back and have it fixed, if you did it on your own, probe the wires in the ignition harness till you find the wire that supplies the blower and other accessories, pretty simple really.

Josh

 

Thanx , I think It use to work at one time . I installed a new starter awhile ago , I hooked it back up right. I think I have something going on with the car starter - maybe a fuse under the dash . My 98 car starter was an option I purchased with the truck from Ford back in 98. Theres a cluster of inline fuses under the dash. I think somethings going on there because my running lights usually come on when I start it from the house. Sometimes there not on, I noticed recently. That's new, they always have been on in the past. So it may be a fuse , but then again sometimes there on ?? Yeah , I could swear if I left the defroster on in the past it would defrost. I better check those fuses - somethings goin on..

Thanx

 

I have installed many remote starts in the past but its been a while.

1st check what items come on in the accessory position, if the blower doesn't (pretty sure it doesnt) then you need the accessory 2 wire hooked up. (some imports even require a 3rd if I remember correctly) if those wires are all hooked up alright, then it sounds like a bad relay in the relay pack, check the wiring diagram and see which relay corresponds to the accessory circuit that the heater/blower is on. For the parking lights, there is a seperate circuit/relay on most remote starts. If you are having intermitten problems, check the wiring going from the relay pack to the brain, its usually a ribbon wire and sometimes can work loose. There are usually random fuses you should check in the wiring harness itself as well. If all that checks out, its not too uncommon for the brain to start to go bad and cause intermitten problems as well. Any questions shoot me a PM cause this is way off topic (my bad)

So... to stay on topic, my feelings are to let the truck run untill the needle has at least moved some (I'm not one to get into a cold truck if I don't have to) but the others are right in saying to drive it easy for the first couple miles, the trans/t-case/axles are all still ice cold! Driving easily at first will help avoid premature wear.

Later

Josh

 

Yeah , off topic , it's your fault Yeah I had big probs with it once to where It didn't work at all , but I found a website where I could download instructions - The book I got with it didn't provide the RPM's idle reset procedure- so it didn't work after disconnecting the battery way back when.

What was the topic anyway?

Thanx for the info and I'll PM yuh if I can't figure out the prob..

 

Idle it at least 20 seconds or until its under 1000 rpm whichever takes longer (Should never take over 2 minutes). After that drive off slowly and gently.

If you have ever done a used oil analysis on an engine that has been idled any extra at all you will see all the extra metals from wear and combustion contaminents. The quicker you get it up to operating temperature the less wear you will have. That means driving it although gently due to the thick lubricant and different expansion rates of various components.

A friend of mine idles his Expedition 4.6L 10-20 minutes every morning (Afraid their infant will get cold) and a 3000 mi OCI has worse wear metal numbers than a 15000 mi OCI with Amsoil in a F150 4.6.

 

install a block heater, use it and your warm up time will be significantly easier on you.

 

couple of suggestions
1. move to AZ,start it up and drive away
2. get rid of your roomate, he is probably a liberal pelosi loving democrat