Car engine idling down

[David Ragan]

I always thought that when you start an automobile, you should wait a minute until the engines settles down, you know, the RPMs/idle speed decrease.

I think it is a bad idea to just as soon as you crank it up, put in gear and off you go-maybe you wind up flooring it a few seconds later, or whatever.

I drive a 96 Ranger and always wait until the idle slows before I take off.

My BF says (and he is a real expert on such matters) that as long as the oil gage is good, no problem

What say you all?

[Matt Day]

Click and Clack always said that there is no reason to wait for the car to warm up (essentially what you are doing with the rpm's) on modern cars.

[Randy Red Bemont]

When I first start my Ram 1500 with the hemi engine, it runs at about 1,400 RPM. After about 45 seconds it drops down to 600 RPM. I wait at a minimum until it reaches this point before driving the truck. I'm like you, I like the oil to get where it needs to be before driving.

Red

[Howard Garner]

Just take it easy until it starts to warm up. No need to set in the drive waiting. Just do not go racing right away.
With most of us, by the time we rear the main highway, everything will be fine.

Howard

[Jason Roehl]

The ONLY real mechanical reason to let a modern car warm up is for the aforementioned oil issue--there are lots of tiny passages internal to an engine that need to have oil flowing through them. However, many cars now use very thin oil that is still fairly runny even at very cold temps (both my vehicles, one an '03, one an '05, take 5W-20, which is a pretty thin oil), so it will circulate pretty quickly at all but the very coldest of temps. The engine idling down is a good benchmark for "good to go".

[Jim Koepke]

I know what controls the engine idle with a carburetor, not sure how modern engines handle it.

Our Chevy has a bit of lifter ticking when it is first started. Usually the time it takes to buckle up, check the mirrors and drive slowly to the end of our long driveway has everything working fine.

The warm up time or lack of it all depends on the car being driven. On my old VWs with a lot of the lubrication provided by oil splashing around in the crankcase, they would get a minute of warm up before driving off if the car set for much time. In most newer modern cars, the warm up isn't as critical. In an older car with a lifter that needs a little time to get the oil up to pressure, a little warm up time may put off the rebuild time.

As always:

305817

jtk

[Judson Green]

What about with a turbo?

I don't tend to take off half a second after starting the engine, so I guess it settles down to the normal RPMs. Nor do I do any advanced or exciting driving till the engine warms up a bit. Also don't do any heavy throttling within a few minutes of turning the engine off.

[Howard Garner]

What about with a turbo?

I don't tend to take off half a second after starting the engine, so I guess it settles down to the normal RPMs. Nor do I advanced or exciting driving till the engine warms up a bit. Also don't do any heavy throttling within a few minutes of turning the engine off.

All good ideas with a turbo. My VW's for the last 10 years have had a turbo.
Never blip the throttle just before shutting down like a lot of gassers do.

Howard

[Kevin Bourque]

My BMW manual recommended to drive the car immediately upon start-up.

[Stan Calow]

The transmission and rest of the drive train needs warming up too, and that only happens when you're moving. So slow and easy right after starting.

[Lee Schierer]

As long as you aren't starting the car cold on the freeway on ramp and going to drive immediately up tp 75 mph don't worry about it. The computers in modern cars will take care of everything and you should be good to go as soon as your seat belt is fastened.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I wait for just a few seconds so I know I have oil pressure.

If it is extremely cold, I will wait maybe, 30 seconds, and then slowly back out onto the street. I will take it easy for the first mile or two on extremely cold mornings.

[Brian Elfert]

A lot of the so-called experts suggest 30 to 60 seconds of warm up before driving in the winter at least. I have only a long block from home before turning onto a 55 MPH road. I try to accelerate slowly to 55 MPH when I can. I drive 26 miles each way to work so my car gets fully warmed up on every commute.

[ken masoumi]

I wait 30 seconds if it's really cold otherwise I start and drive,the first 5 to 7 minutes I drive 15 mph until the temp. gauge shows some movement,then it's just normal driving ,have been doing that for years, I use 5W30 synthetic oil which is recommended for my Civic.