Should You Warm Up Your Used Car in Winter
Should You Warm Up Your Used Car in Cold Weather
Cars do not like cold temperatures. You feel it every morning struggling with stiff steering wheel, howling engine or when your used car refuses to shift properly. There is a good reason for it, that reason is: Engine Oil.
Some people think a modern car can handle cold fine and warm up idling times in winter are a waste of gasoline and unnecessary pollution.
On the other hand, old school people insist engines need to be warmed up fully before driving. They insist modern cars even though much better than predecessors still need a warm up period on cold starts.
In Canada, there are provincial laws against a warm up (idling) of your used car in winter…and summer. Toronto for example has a law prohibiting warming/idling of your car more that 60 seconds. It is enforced by fines and you can be handed a ticket for idling your car more than one minute.
What happens to a car engine in freezing temperatures?
When a car is sitting for while, say overnight, engine oil will collect in oil pan at bottom of a car engine. Low temperatures below -10 Celsius will raise oil viscosity. Especially overnight when temperatures are lower and vehicle is sitting for a long while.
Engine oil in freezing temperatures has a higher viscosity and will take a longer time to reach all engine components when car is started on a cold morning. Longer time means: instead of 20 seconds will maybe take one minute to reach optimal oil pressure.
Driving your car right away without a short warm up period in winter, when engine oil has a higher viscosity might lead to premature engine wear. It’s like going straight for a heavy work out without stretching first for a few minutes.
However, there is a difference between a reasonable warm up period and overdoing it for 15 minutes. Warm up period for carburetor engines was about 10 minutes Air and fuel mixture reached normal specifications when engine was at optimal temperature.
Fuel Injection vs Carburetors
Modern cars do not use carburetors anymore. Fuel injection system in cars today does not need a warm up period, fuel and air mixture is controlled electronically. For a modern car two minutes will do just fine. Couple of minutes is more than enough for oil to regain normal viscosity and oil pressure be optimal.
Should You Warm Up Your Used Car in Winter
Warming up a car for sake of your engine and warming a car for sake of yourself are two different things. An engine does not need 15 minutes to warm up, a car cabin needs 15 minutes to warm up. A modern engine needs two minutes at most before you can drive normally. Assuming temperatures are not -30 Celsius, in that case you will need a Block Heater.
There are no real benefits to warm up a car for 10 minutes in winter, apart from warming up your seat and cabin. Warming up for 10 minutes to prolong engine life is wasting fuel. Two or three minutes of warm up in cold weather, is more than enough for engine to reach normal performance.
Talking about cold weather and winter: How To Winterize Your Car.
(If you are also looking for a fast and easy solution to sell your car, more here on “How To Sell Your Car Fast In Ontario” )
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