Flare side crazy

How long do yall let your truck warm up before driving, I always let my mine at least idle down to normal idle. what are the benfits of letting it warm up and the hazards of not letting it warm before use

tanman90

I sometimes let mine warm up enough for the temp gauge needle to go up a bit, but usually until the thermostat opens. I've heard its not good to put a load on a cold engine. You use more gas too

joshtowal

When an engine is designed, all of the bores are for when the engine is warm. As metal heats up, it expands, so the holes get smaller. There are three main bores to be concerned about: Cylinders, crankshaft, and camshaft. With a cold engine, there's more room to "bounce around" and wear down the bearings and cylinder walls. Keep in mind, the same theory applies in the summer heat, it just takes a lot less time for it to warm up so it isn't as big of a concern. All things considered, though, letting your car warm up is more for comfort purposes than engine longevity considering how long most people own cars nowadays.

qdeezie

It is not really necessary to let the engine warm all the way up. The main thing is to not drive it hard while the engine is cold.

Not letting it warm up all the way isn't going to hurt anything provided you don't floorboard it while it's cold.

Also, more of a reason to use a good quality motor oil.

fltdriver

Lower weight motor oil is more important for winter driving than letting the engine "warm up". After the idle slows to normal it is perfectly safe to drive, you will do no damage to the engine. Between the moving parts and combustion of fuel the internals warm up within a few seconds, think of rubbing your hands together when they are cold (the friction builds heat, add a couple hot breaths and they are nice and toasty).

So long as you drive "normally", no high RPMs initially or hard braking, nothing will happen, actually the engine and other components will warm up faster when the truck is driving as opposed to just sitting there idling. Not even going to bring up how much gas you waste letting the truck idle to "warm up" over the winter. I hit the automatic start button at the door when I'm putting on my coat, walk to the truck, hop in and take off. If you want to be toasty when you get in then invest in a heated seat cover.

qdeezie

Are you suggesting an oil other than 10w-30, 10w-40 or 15w-40? Them thur is fighting words!!!!

Lol in all seriousness, I agree totally: 0w-30, 5w-30, 0w-40, 5w-40 or even 0w-20 or 5w-20 (if you're not doing heavy duty stuff or hard driving) will give you much better protection than the obsolete 10w-30 spec.

fltdriver

Usually run 10w30 from spring to fall then switch it up to 5w30 before it gets below 40.

qdeezie

Generally, the only time I'll do 10w-30 is during the summer and I found the oil at a price I simply could not walk away from. My main preference is 5w-30 or 5w-40.

Aktech

I start and let it warm up for about 7 minutes. It's not the engine I'm worried about. It is for my auto transmission to warm up. If it has a auto transmission I even warm it up in the summer time a bit. I have over 215,000 miles on two rigs without transmission rebuilds.

Flare side crazy

I run 10w 40 Pennzoil year around but I do live in Texas so it doesn't really get cold here, im not much worried about my truck as im worried about my girlfriends because she likes starting it putting her seatbelt on and going and ive been wanting to build a good case against her for why she needs to let it warm up a bit now granted she has a diesel so it maybe a little different but this gives me some points to give more than "just do it because I said so" lol