Warming Up Car in Idle State
Asked by Erfanul Mar 23, 2016 at 05:30 PM about the 2004 Honda Accord LX
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My car is a 2004 Honda Accord LX at 110K miles. I have often heard from others that after turning on the ignition, it is a good practice to warm up the car engine in idle state before starting to drive it. They advice to do this at the beginning of each day regardless of considering the outside temperature issue. Meanwhile, I have heard the other side of the story as well like this warming up in idle condition actually harms the engine. What is the real fact? Even if it is good for the engine, for how long should I warm up the car in idle state before starting to drive it?
5 Answers
Warming up for more than few seconds is fine, more is a waste. Just Google "need to warm up engine?" myth. You won't get heat in car, but jus get going, driven will warm it up!
Thanks for your reply. When it is really cold outside like below freezing temperature, would it be still good to warm up for about few seconds? I guess, under that kind of situation, warming up for 1-2 minutes might not be a bad idea. What do you think?
I can only say its a myth, few seconds won't hurt, but minutes? No need.. I have driven many of my cars past 200,000 miles with never an issue.
nicecars12 answered 7 years ago
Let's use some common sence.if your leg fell asleep you could not walk on it.do you like your car.you need to get to work.then let it warm up it is winter way more than 2 min.
Ok....when a car is cold it automatically idles high, this is like a choke on small gas engines...when the car automatically idles high (choke on) it runs rich...while idling and running rich there is excessive unburnt fuel in combustion chamber which is not good for rings and your oil...you should let your car idle for 30 seconds tops then drive it to burn off the excess fuel. If you let it idle long everyday your oil will get diluted with fuel then you will have improper lubrication and oil consumption.
