Fast Running Blog

I've noticed people leave their cars running for a long time in my neighborhood and I wonder if it is contributing to the inversion problem that we have in Utah Valley. How long do you think a car needs to run for to get warmed up in the morning? 

Cars these days do not really need any time to warm up.  Granted, you shouldn't push them to 60 mph within a few seconds of starting them, but they do not need any warm up time.  Yes, people who leave their cars idling (sp?) do contribute to the air pollution.  The inversion is caused by the weather, but idling cars add to the pollution trapped in the inversion.

Our police department is still one of the few that does vehicle unlockings....for free.  The colder the morning, or rainier, the more unlocking calls we get.  And if you don't lock it, then it could get stolen.

But to get to your question, when I am alone I usually just crank and go.  But when the wife and kids are going out with me it warms up 3 to 5 minutes.  But it is usually under 40 degrees before I do that.

I am usually out of the garage within 5 seconds of starting the car.

Not that St. George is quite as chilly as Utah Valley, but I never start my car early to let it warm up - I just leave a few blankets in the car to use until it's warm enough for the heater.

I don't ever leave my car idling to let it warm up.  If the steering wheel or shifter are too cold, I will wear gloves.  As it does *occasionally* drop below freezing here in the winter, and my car is currently not in the garage, that can happen once in a while.

 :) I'm glad to see that some of you don't leave your car idling too long..maybe those that do didn't post. Thanks for the info on it. I want to try and do a project with my kids for our homeschool and see if we can do some research about it together and maybe figure out a way to make a little bit of a difference.....

I think I remember that doing this (leaving your car unattended to let it warm up) during the winter was illegal in Germany, as was driving with snow on your car. That meant alot of ice scraping every morning.

For the our car warm up, it depends on the car. Our truck doesn't have too much trouble getting going right away, so we don't warm it up much. The older firebird trans am doesn't like the winter much, so it needs a few minutes of revving before heading out or it will actually shut off while being driven and when idle.

Sarah, I think you got your answer but I’ll add my voice. I only let the car warm up if the family is coming with.
Adam, You raise an important point that bugs me around here. Driving with snow on the car. I was always told it was illegal here too and for good reason. Especially in Chicago when we get these blizzards you would have people the next day driving 65mph down the tollway with a foot of snow on their car roofs. This was just plain hazardous. The snow would eventually fall off as a sheet and completely blind the driver behind causing accidents. I always brush/scrape the entire car. This includes the taillights and headlights. If you drive off and they are still covered no one can see you...

It would be a lot easier to warm your car up if it's in your garage. Your garage should be warmer than the outside temperature.

This is just my own experience: I drive a 2001 Chevy Prizm that I bought in 2004. I have put over 100,000 miles on it so right now it's at 138,000 (bought it used with about 30k on it). It's an automatic transmission which kind of kills my gas mileage, but there are some tricks I have learned that have equated to better gas mileage. Since I am driving to and from college 40 miles each way about 3-4 times a week, plus driving to work and back and sometimes to Emma's house, I want to be as gas efficient as possible. I have found that I get better gas mileage if I don't let my car sit there idling. Anything over a minute of idling is just wasting gas. Rather, what experts suggest is to start your car and simply ease into it. Your car will warm up within the first few minutes. In addition I try to keep rpms around 2.5 and no higher (this unfortunately means I usually cause a line of angry motorists behind me). I drive 45-50 mph top speed on the 55mph zones, and no faster than 55-60 mph on the highway. Just doing this I have found that my gas mileage increased from 27 mpg to a sweet 33.39 mpg (as per my last fillup on 10/8/08). My goal is to get the mpg up to 35 mpg by the next time I fill up. (FYI this is really neat because the car brand new was listed at 27 mpg highway. I am definitely showing them! And this is without any performance enhancers or dry gas or any gizmos). Just doing this saves me as much as 5-6 bucks easily a week in gas :) That's nearly a half tank of gas a month!

It does save some wear and tear on your engine and also helps gas mileage to let it warm up for 10-15 seconds, depending on how cold it is.  If you live in an area that can be pretty cold, I would invest in an engine block heater whether you drive a gas or diesel engine.  This can pretty much eliminate hard starting due to a cold engine, and also saves alot of fuel by helping to keep it vaporized.