Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the
engine

Letting your car idle when it's cold outside can shorten the life of
your engine.
...
...
In a blog post on its website, Smart Motors Toyota says letting your
car idle in cold temperatures can shorten the life of your engine by
stripping away oil from the engine's pistons and cylinders -- two
critical components that help your engine run, Stephen Ciatti, Ph.D.,
principal engineer for battery systems at PACCAR, told Business
Insider in 2016.

Gas-powered cars need oil to keep their engines lubricated. When you
start a car, an oil pump circulates the oil in less than a minute. But
if you let your car idle to warm up the cabin, the oil will start to
slowly drain away from the engine's key components since the engine
isn't moving the car.
...
...
Firestone and Smart Motors Toyota both say that most cars made before
1980 did need to "warm up" when it was cold out. This is because older
model cars had carburetors that regulated the air-fuel mixture within
the engine and could not accurately adjust the air-to-fuel ratio in
cold weather.

"In cold temperatures, carburetors couldn't vaporize all the gasoline
they let into the engine, so some of it would be left behind as a
liquid rather than being burned off during combustion. In order to
work properly, a carburetor needed to warm up or else you'd run the
risk of stalling out," Firestone says.
...
...
Instead of waiting for your car to warm up in the winter, most
manufacturers recommend driving off gently after about 30 seconds
because the engine warms up faster when the car is being driven,
according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

"This means that your cold-day-driving routine should look something
like this: bundle up, start the car, scrape the ice off the windows
and mirrors, get in the car and get going!" Firestone says.

Just make sure you don"t accelerate too fast or rev your engine too
much in the first few moments you start driving in the cold.

"This can add unwanted strain to your bearings and flood the
combustion chamber with gas, which, in turn, will take miles off your
engine's life," Smart Motors Toyota says.

<https://www.9news.com/article/news/verify/warming-up-your-car-in-cold-weather-winter-can-cause-engine-damage-fact-check/536-8bf406d7-194c-4ca0-a06d-d1d56006e5d9>

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On 12/23/2022 12:27, JAB wrote:

Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the
engine
...
In a blog post on its website, Smart Motors Toyota says letting your
car idle in cold temperatures can shorten the life of your engine by stripping away oil from the engine's pistons and cylinders --
...When you
start a car, an oil pump circulates the oil in less than a minute. But
if you let your car idle to warm up the cabin, the oil will start to
slowly drain away from the engine's key components since the engine
isn't moving the car.

I call BS on that. Unless your oil pump is failing, it will keep the
engine properly lubricated whether at idle or driving speed. If not,
that's a major engineering design. There are lots of engines that are
designed to run at or just above idle for extended periods of time,
usually to use PTO.

You're damaging your car if you hop in and go right away in below
freezing weather... that will wear down the engine right quick while the
oil is very cold and thick. You don't have to idle for a half hour, but
below freezing, you should be idling for at least 2-5 minutes. Myself,
I go at least 10 minutes on bitter mornings, so I have a bit of heat in
the cab to soften the ice on the glass.

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On Fri, 23 Dec 2022 15:17:34 -0500, Michael Trew
<michael.trew@att.net> wrote:

I call BS on that.

If somewhat true, then perhaps not enough oil is being absorbed (or
spread around) via piston's rings could be one reason when engine is
idled. Oil pressure is normally higher at colder temperatures, but
oil may spread out less than when hot.
==============

How Cold Weather Affects Engine Oil

Colder temperatures can actually increase oil pressure, but the
churning oil in the engine may create air bubbles.
...Extended idling can allow more fuel (unburned and partially burned)
to contaminate your engine oil. This fuel contamination can then
weaken your engine oil's viscosity and reduce its lubricating
properties. To help prevent this issue, avoid extended idling where
possible and avoid taking frequent short trips to help remove more of
those contaminants. https://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/blog/oil-change/cold-weather-oil-concerns/#

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On 2022-12-23, JAB <here@is.invalid> wrote:

Warming up your car before driving in cold weather can damage the
engine

Letting your car idle when it's cold outside can shorten the life of
your engine.
...
...
In a blog post on its website, Smart Motors Toyota says letting your
car idle in cold temperatures can shorten the life of your engine by stripping away oil from the engine's pistons and cylinders -- two
critical components that help your engine run, Stephen Ciatti, Ph.D., principal engineer for battery systems at PACCAR, told Business
Insider in 2016.

I'm with Mr Trew on this one - smells like bullshit. Doubly so coming
from a company that would like to sell you a 'remote starting'
technology that's web based and which only works if you maintain regular monthly payments.

Any vehicle that needs to be in motion to keep fluids in circulation has suffered a catastrophic design flaw.

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On Fri, 23 Dec 2022 23:54:54 +0000, Retrograde
<fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:

I'm with Mr Trew on this one - smells like bullshit.

In carburetor days, unburned fuel would slide over the rings, and mix
in with oil.

In fuel injection days, ECM will add extra fuel on startup, and enrich
a pinch until Closed Loop kicks in....block temperature is one factor
for determining when Closed Loop is active.

So both fuel systems enrich the mixture for a cold start, but stock
EFI systems use less fuel for enrichment.

Oil can be diluted with gasoline in both cases, but less with EFI
systems.

Google: open loop rich mixture

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