I live in England and YES it is illegal to let your vehicle just idle in your driveway to warm up......

 

I STRONGLY disagree. You don't have to let it warm up, but it will last longer if you do. Your engine is designed to run at a certain temperature. If you rev it to 3,000 rpm at a low temperature, the parts are not at correct tolerance. Now, whether or not it hurts it, is debatable, but I ALWAYS let mine warm up to at least 80 or 80 degrees or so before I take off.

All the owner's manuals for all my equipment says to let it warm up before ANYTHING. Airplanes too.

 

From Popular Mechanics.com

DAD SAID: "Let the engine idle to warm up on cold days."
BUT: Idling just wears the engine without budging the odo. Les Ryder, chief powertrain engineer at Ford, says, "Engines run best at their design temperature." To get there sooner, start by driving at moderate speeds. Your engine will be okay: Modern oils flow fine in cold weather.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...o/4205233.html

Works for Me!

 

i always see cop cars idling.. they all use the 4.6 and them engines seem to handle all that abuse they police put them through and last 250,000+ miles.. so im for letting the motor warm up that the idle drops down to normal idle then its stabilized and ready for normal use

 

when you see the cop cars idling, they are AT operating temps. We are talking about warming up a cold engine. There is a big difference. Do what you want. It is your hard earned money that bought it. But when a Ford engineer says it is best to drive away at moderate speeds to warm it up quicker... I will listen. Not to mention the graph I posted a link to showing how much more wear there is at eng. temps below 180 deg.

 

Pull the parking brake toss it into N and go have breakfast. IMO most people do more damage redlining their trucks at the strip, you don't hear too many people blowing an engine in the driveway at 800 RPM

 

Thats because cold idling does things like foul plugs, injectors, puts moisture in your oil, sludge in your valve train, and blows unburned fuel into your cats.


Your not going to blow your engine by letting it idle in the drive way on a cold morning.

But when it starts idling rough and your throwing codes, dont come crying to me when your truck needs a Sea Foam Enema.


Once the oils flowing, its good to go. Just dont push it hard for the first couple of miles.


If you want to let it warm up for 15 minutes, knock your self out. Just dont kid yourself. A 15 minute warm up isnt doing your truck any favors.


If you take 2 trucks and gave one of them a 15 minute warm up every day and gave the other a 15 second warm up every day, you will notice a difference.


The truck with the 15 second warm up will last longer, be more reliable, run smoother, start quicker, and get better fuel milage.

The only advantage from the 15 minute truck will be a much more comfortable cab and an easily cleaned windsheild.

 

I live in Phoenix usually cool it down before driving off

 

The most I do in the 'Great NW' is start the thing, wait for the idle to settle < 1000 rpms and then go (about 1 minute).... I've got a 12% hill that I have to take right after I get out on the road (less then a 1/8 mile) and the speed limit is 35 mph, so I am either in locked 2nd at 2500 rpm or unlocked 3rd at < 2000 rpms when I hit it depending on what speed I'm going and how much I'm into the pedal at the time....

Either gear, the truck goes up the hill at about 35 mph with zero effort.. I'm more inclined to keep it in unlocked third, but sometimes, it just stays in 2nd.. Unless I let off the gas while going up the hill, then it'll shift into 3rd, but then bog down... What's worse?? Bogging down or higher revs when the engine is still cold??

I don't know the answer to that, but I'm running M1 5w30 and change the oil at 6000 miles and tow with the thing and drive the snot out of it and I've had no problems so far....

Mitch

 

When I had the truck at the dealership for work last week, I asked the mechanic about this issue. I have a very short commute to work (less than 1 mile through town) and on cold mornings it will not reach operating temp by the time I get to work. Therefore on cold mornings I let it warm up for around 5 minutes before I leave. The mechanic said that because of the short commute, to make sure that the truck was up to operating temp before I turn it off at work. He said in that case, either ket it warm up first or drive around the block a few times before I pull in the parking lot at work.

 

In that case a bicycle would be faster and healthier for you and the truck.
It takes 5 minutes to ride a mile at a casual pace.

 

From Question/Answer from Popular Mechanics:

"Q: My dad was a mechanic and instilled in me that I should never start and then turn off an engine without getting the temperature gauge to at least register some heat. This is to keep totally cold oil from clogging up the pistons. However, my service manager says this doesn't apply to newer engines. What say you?

A: Unheated oil? Clogging up the pistons? Where do these things get started, anyway? From the top: Shutting down an engine that hasn't reached operating temp will have zero short-term effect. As far as warming up an engine before driving away, that old nugget no longer applies because modern engines have better lubrication, tighter clearances and, in general, are more resistant to sludge formation. Start the motor, buckle your seatbelt, adjust the mirrors and drive off at normal speeds.

I suspect your father was overgeneralizing from another reason to warm up an engine thoroughly: Low-temperature running is rich running, and will cause unburned fuel, water and acids to collect in the crankcase. A few weeks of being driven only to the corner for groceries or to the train station for commuting to work, and these contaminants will build up, ultimately turning to sludge. So every engine needs to be driven for a half-hour or so after it has warmed up to boil off the gruel and water. But doing that once or twice a month is plenty. It's not necessary to come to full operating temp every single time you drive. Starting it for a few seconds and then shutting it off is probably less harmful than starting it and letting it partly warm up, as your dad suggests."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...o/4213313.html

FWIW

 

Someone commented back to my earlier post in this forum...saying that it would help the tranny etc. warm up...BUT they are not moving at all!!! the engine is the onlything running, bearings, suspension systems, Drive-Train won't warm up if you just let your truck sit there...As mentioned above its o.k. to run your truck (I keep it underneath 2,000 rpm) untill it reaches operating temp (for me its 192)

 

Just how many plugs have you fouled on your fuel injected engine? moisture, sludge, what are you talking about? This isn't a 69' 440 dodge charger! Mine has idled for HOURS on end and it never runs rough and it doesn't throw codes. It DOESN'T HURT IT ONE BIT to let it idle. Or mine and many others would be dead. You don't have to tap the gas to keep the cats from "whatever-ing". The truck is made to idle, or else it would shut off. The days of rich running, carbureated engines is all but over. It even has a provision in the owner's manual that gives you a separate oil change interval if you let it idle all the time. (I think it's every 100 hours...)

There's no way. How is it so much worse for the engine to be spinning 700rpm at no load, then it is for it to be spinning 1,500rpm under load?! That does not make sense at all! You're just making this stuff up.

Yeah my truck only has 200,000 on the odometer, but that number DOES NOT accurately represent the ammount of "time" that is on the engine. It doesn't take into account all those 200 degree days that I left it idling keeping me cool, or jumping off equipment EVERY morning that it gets below freezing, or pulling seed trailers around the field, or running power inverters, or pumping diesel, or the 6 months or so when I had a bad spot on my flywheel. (I couldn't shut it off in town or the field, cause it might not crank back up!)

If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that idling doesn't hurt your truck at all. You can take that to the bank.

 

I was under the impression that the trans does pump oil at idle in park.