warming up car

how long do you guys warm your car up for b4 driving? do you need it to be fully warm in order for it to be easiest on the engine?

i dont warm up my car. you should't rev your car up within the first 5-10 seconds after starting. after that lett''r rip

haha wow... i always remote start my car like 10 min before i go out there. wonder how much gas i've been wasting. over the past weeks i've been getting like 12 mpg, proly cuz i warm it for 10 min then drive it 7 minutes down the street. thanks for the advice. by the way i like your name, some of my favorite things besides cars

i usually give off the wall responses but this one is true.
10 seconds is time enough for the oil pump to pump oil throughout the motor so after that your good to go.

and it's no harder for the block to rev it as hard as it can go when it's still cold? dude i just saved so much in gas

He's an idiot, don't listen to him.
The minimum should be thirty seconds before you start driving. And once you start driving, you should not run the engine very fast, as the components have to warm up first. Cold gas washes the oil off of the cylinder walls, which is why you should just start reving 10 seconds after the engine starts.

10 minutes is way too long. Sound like your into wasting gas. You can give me all that gas your wasting and collect a extra 10 minutes a day for the rest of your life. These gas prices are too high nowadays for that. 10 to 30 seconds the most. Then bounce!

this sux !! i've been diong that forever! thanks guys. another gas thing - what kind do you use? i've always used 93 hoping that it would help given my mods.

you have no reason to be using 93 octane, if anything, I've seen dynos where it actually subtracted horsepower on low compression engines such as the ones found in the Accord. Truthfully, octane just indicate show hard it is to ignite. In high compression engines, the octane is used to keep compression from igniting the mixture, but the high compression helps the spark plugs along. In a low compression engine, it's lacking the compressiton to help light it all off, so therefore you're wasting gas and money.

Yeah, unless you're running boost and worried about early detonation you don't need to be running high octane...you're wasting your money, stick to 87. Also, 10 mins is a bit long, depending on how cold it is, I sometimes go easy on it for the first 5 mins, watch your engine temp and gauge on that. Only reason I could see the 10 min on the car starter necessary is to get the heat on inside so you don't freeze your nuts off.

higher octane is just a way to make ur car go faster more safely. It doesnt give power but makes it more safer. Only if u are running boost and/or have high compression like how everyone is saying above then u use higher octane. Octane rating if the percentage of octane in ur gas... like 87 octane is 87% octane and 13% heptane and other crap. When u race higher octane is recommended because when u race, u rev high which makes ur engine hotter... which can make pre-ignition more prone. Putting in higher octane will reduce that chance of pre-ignition. See what i mean on making ur car go faster safer? Something about only if u have a carburator u can benefit from higher octane.

Anyway i agree with avpart3. I usually warm up my car for about 30 seconds to get the oil flowing and warm up the internals a lil bit. Reving a motor when it is could can mess up ur bearings and internals due to lack of oil and inproper engine temp. Engine is made to run at operating temp because when u drive... ur car runs at that temp most of the time. Anyway i let my car warm up at a still for about 30 secs... drive at lowest possible RPMs until i see my temp gauge start rising. As it is starting to rise i gradually drive more agressive.

10 mins is way too long. 1 minute should be the longest.

All of my cars have gone over 200,000 miles and I have never lost an engine. I live in an area that temps go down below zero somtimes. All I ever do is wait 10 seconds or so and drive cautiously (no high revs) until the temp gauge comes up. Then I am still careful in winter for about another 5 miles (oil temp takes longer than water temp to warm up). Don't forget fresh oil every 3000 miles.

Also, if you are worried about the cold weather...a good idea is to switch to 5w-30 during the winter, then back to 10w-30 when it gets warm out.

thanks - i don't know whether to be happy about how much money i'm gonna save buying 87 octane and not warming it up for 10 min, or pissed about all the $$$$$$ that i've thrown away. i'm in my car A LOT, i went through tons of gas that way.

In reference to Igovert500's comment about motor oil weight, consult your manual before changing viscosity. My 2000 Honda does not recomment 10W-40 under any conditions, although you can use a 0W-20 or 30 in the winter. I have found running 5W-30 year round works great. Want faster pumping? Think synthetic.