Letting Engine Warm Up at Start

[BGM]

Does anyone else let the engine warm up for a few minutes before driving even when it's warm out? Maybe it's an old school way of thinking but the RPMs on my tach start at about 1,100 and then go down to normal idle RPM after a few minutes so I always wait before driving off.

[Pierce330]

Waiting until the secondary air is off is sufficient. However, it's not necessary from what I understand

[rh71]

What I've read - as long as you don't high rev it right away, it's fine to drive off within 30 seconds. Don't believe it takes a few minutes for idle revs to go down for me.

[Ozer]

Just enough time to have the AC get cold then i drive off.
If im mad, then i just get in and floor it :p

[ard]

While it may be better for your engine, it has a negative impact on emissions and the environment. Therefore BMW has determined that it is worth trading marginal engine life improvement for you against the environmental benefit for society....

[Brian425]

I always wait until the idle drops. Then I drive easy for a few minutes. Everyone forgets that other fluids need to get up to temperature too.


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[heatmizr]

What does OP mean by "a few minutes"??
My idle drops down after 5-10 secs. If car has been driven up to 3 hrs earlier it still has a lot of heat in it (depending on your climate obviously).

Anyway most of the time I don't even wait for the idle to drop. Just put it in gear and go. I rarely get over 2k rpms anyway with ALL THIS TORQUE!

[speedtechlights]

I always wait until the AC kicks in then away I go

[JGard]

It's worse for the engine to let it idle and warm up than to just start driving. Keep the revs under about 4k RPM until the engine hits its operating temp and you'll be fine. If you're driving it, it gets up to temperature quicker than if you just have it sit idling. Also just because your engine is warmer doesn't mean any other driveline components are up to temp.

The "old school" way of thinking is, unfortunately, horribly wrong for modern cars.

[ard]

Originally Posted by JGard

It's worse for the engine to let it idle and warm up than to just start driving. Keep the revs under about 4k RPM until the engine hits its operating temp and you'll be fine. If you're driving it, it gets up to temperature quicker than if you just have it sit idling. Also just because your engine is warmer doesn't mean any other driveline components are up to temp.

The "old school" way of thinking is, unfortunately, horribly wrong for modern cars.

Oh do tell.

You can warm up the engine AND still take it a bit easy once driving to allow ATF to come up to temp (recognizing the warm engine will in fact transfer heat to the atf).

But 'horribly wrong'?

(Lots of stuff from BMW and others that focus on the environmental impact, not what is best for the engine itself.)