So I'm sat at work and we are discussing cars and someone mentioned that starting the car and letting it warm up is actually worse for the car then starting it and driving straight off.

I've always been told and have done, to start the car and let it run for a while and then drive off - main plus for me doing this with the Subaru, the Subaru is so sluggish when it's not warmed up so I let it tick over for a minute or so then pull away and don't go over 3000 revs before its fully warmed up.

Does anyone have any info on which protocol is best practice?

 

Quite a few threads on this

1. open car
2. Start car
3. Reverse or drive forward depending where the car is parked etc
4. Drive sensibly to let the oil warm up, 10/15 mins
5. Car warmed up then do what you want

Its a subaru, not an over complicated hypercar, you will be fine with the above

 

drive off without warming up and i keep off boost for a good 10 minutes driving,its not just engine oil that needs to warm but gearbox/diff oil aswell

sitting there with it on tickover isnt really that good for it

and drive the last few miles of your trip off boost instead of sitting there on tickover "cooling down"

 

Ah well that's me told! That'll please the neighbours with me not having to sit around like a lemon letting it warm up incorrectly!

Yeah I never drive with boost when I'm heading home or knowing that I'll be turning the car off within the next 5 mins!

 

as above the best thing to do is drive it gently until it's warm because the water may get up to temp but the oil takes longer and you also have to warm up the oil in the box as said above.

It's not an F1 car

 

Here we go again,

many on here will tell you that letting your car idle will cause tremendous damage and your car will self destruct.
It won't ofcourse.

I've owned more performance car's than I care to remember, all of which I allowed to idle on initial start up just to get a bit of temperature into them. Not had a failure yet.

It really makes no odds, driving straight off does no damage as above.

 

Fair enough, cheers people!

 

I stand to be corrected but I cannot see the harm that would come from letting your car idle for a few minutes before setting off...
What happens if you pull out of your driveway and immediately sit in stationary rush hour traffic?...same difference, non?

 

+1

 

P!ssing off the neighbours for 1, it's also a waste of time. I don't think it's a bad thing but there is certainly no point to it.

 

Agreed. When the cars in work get covered in snow etc we leave them running to defrost the car, same with test drives. Never had a failure yet

 

Just get in and drive it off boost for the first 10 mins or 10 miles depending on your route.

 

either method will be fine, its just an engine. just give the oil time to get up to temp before any boost fun.

 

With all my old turbo cars I used get in drive straight away. No boost till engines all nice and hot. Same as stopping just drive slow with no boost for the last mile of driving. Never had any issues

 

Get in , start car. Get off street red line from there on.






In reality I wouldn't worry too much. I let mine idle for 20 seconds while belt up etc then drive off boost till water temp shows warm.

 

Hold it on the rev limiter....that way it warms up quicker

 

I think what everyone has gained from my thread, it basically doesn't matter, just don't go into boost till warm! Which is fine because I did that anyway!

 

What I will say though is its very surprising how long it takes for the oil to get up to temperature, I know people who give it the beans after just a few miles when it actually takes quite a bit longer.
And remember to ignore the gauge on the speedo, thats not oil temp.

 

I did not know that! Might buy a oil temp gauge!

 

You need the heaters to be warm before you get in

 

Sorry, I need to go for a lie down somewhere quiet after that..

 

Nope, all we have learned is that we have another newbie who doesn't know how to use the search function. This topic has been covered many times.

Basically, letting your car idle is a waste of time and petrol. Obviously, don't use the performance when it is cold, but that doesn't mean you can't drive it. The gearbox oil only warms when you actually start driving anyway.

 

This is true re: oil temp as on my last Subaru I had an ECU monitor with oil temp and even though the car was warm according to the dashboard gauge after a very short amount of time it easily took 15-20 mins of driving at 2k revs constantly to get oil temp over 50c. Never used to go over 2k rpm until I was in the 60c range

 

you crack on alan. if half the stories on here are to be believed the minute you turn the key on an impreza it blows up.

 

Ah well, if I brought up an old thread I'm sure someone would moan for me bringing up an old thread!

 

Exactly the same as me! I don't hit boost til the oil is at mid to high 80's.

 

Looks like the best option is to buy a oil temp gauge to make sure I don't boost before!

 

'll that scuppers me then me time in my car is dropping the little to his grandparents before school. They only live 2 miles away so that means the oil theoretically is only warming up half way back to home. So 1
mile of fun a day !!

 

Well at the start sorry hate predictive text and fat fingers.

 

I always drive off & take it easy for 10 - 15 minutes, off boost light on the throttle & keeping revs below around 3k, in the owners manual of my old 320i BMW it said it you should always drive off rather than sitting letting the engine idle as it was just as important for the gearbox, diff , cv joints etc to warm up together with the engine.