I hear 100,000 miles mentioned a lot here, is that a high number? If I don't get 200,000 miles without smoke, I feel let down. 100,000 miles is still a new truck to me.

 

If ya go two or three minutes vs. taking off (like I do ), I'm willing to bet there isn't much of a difference in wear. Difference is, in one instance you let the truck sit and do nothing but burn fuel, in the other you do something while you burn the fuel. Given that I feel that way, I'd rather get a return on my investment in fuel...

Personally, 100,000 miles on one of these engines should be nothing. I'm sitting at 140,000 miles and my engine runs like a top. Doesn't burn a drop or leak anywhere. And that's after 5 Minnesota winters (granted 2 of them were way weak) being parked on the driveway with no block heater and taking off after things have steadied out. My truck is spoiled now with a garage that it actually fits into (by 1/4 of an inch )

Peace...

 

The engines are controlled by a module and all kinds of sensors. These engines can idle indefinitely hot or cold as long as the engine cooling system is in good shape. Idling it 1 min or2 min or3 min 0r 1 hour isn't going to hurt a thing. As soon as pressure is up go, but warming it up won't help.

 

In my owners manual, I did note in one place it indicated not to idle it for longer than 10 minutes. When I get a chance, I will post the exact verbage and section it came out of.

 

20 years ago I had a roommate who owned a '76 F100 2WD with a 300 6 cylinder. In northern BC on those freezing sub-zero mornings, he would run outside in the morning, start it, put a brick on the gas pedal and head back inside for breakfast. Talk about a warm up period! Try 4000 rpm's for about 20 minutes in neutral. That was one tough motor. Mind you, eventually we had to take a cutting torch, cut it in half and make a utility trailer out of it.
FWIW, I wait for the revs to come down to 800 or so and away I go! A minute or so at most.

 

Well you would be screwed in Florida where major traffic jams are everywhere and sometimes you are idling for hours.

 

No I do not think you will do any damage to your engine or increase wear by letting it warm up 2-3 minutes. Anything longer will probably not increase wear either. It is just a waste of time and fuel. Why sit in your driveway when you can be 5 minutes closer to your destination? I am in no rush to get to work myself but I still see no reason to idle in my driveway for 8-10 minutes. Unless of course I am chipping the Ice off of the truck after one of our New England Ice storms.

 

Myself, I only let the vehicle warm up if I have to scrape windows and get the snow off the vehicle, then I am off to work.


QUESTION: For all of the people that warm up their vehicles every time they start them, what do you do for 1-5 minutes while the vehicle warms up?

I would get bored waiting, or am already late to work.

 

I get dressed


Remote start

 

Me too-- I get dressed.

 

Wait for idle to settle down and then drive easily untill temp gets to operating area. Then GO GO GO !

 

When my engine RPM drops from 1100 to 900, then I start moving, not until. This, by the way, takes less than a minute.

 

Well, I promised I would post this when I had a chance, so here it is:

From my "Owner's Guide F-150/F-250" May 1996 First Printing (Truck was made in OCtober of '96)

From the first paragraph, Pg 84, under the Starting Your Vehicle - Important Safety Precautions - "Do Not allow the vehicle to idle for longer than 10 minutes". Whether this is for engine reasons or for protection against fume buildup in the cabin, I do not know.

Just some food for thought...

 

Lots of various opinions here. Good thread with lots of good points. But WHO is to say WHO is RIGHT and WHO is WRONG. I tend to fall both ways. If it's cold out (to me below 40) I might let it idle for up to 10 minutes. Other times and places like coming home from girl freinds house after truck is cooled down I just start let it idle down and go. The only reason I let it idle for any length is to get some heat in the cab (some of you all must have some really good jackets). Most of the time I start it, scrape the ice or snow if needed and go. I do not see harm either way. Most of the info I have seen states if vehicle is at idle a lot ( ie: taxi cab, police) it falls straight into the severe service category and should be well maintained, catch is what is excessive?

 

I am going to experiment with mine and alternate weeks for a short term to see if I notice a MPG difference. I will idle long enough to get a steady RPM (30 sec or so) and accelerate slowly.

If there is a big enough difference, I might change my ways a little.