Boiling water freezes quicker than cold. Fresh boiling water from the kettle. Tried it myself.

Anyway probably millions upon millions of people around the globe leave there diesels running to warm up abit and i dont hear many stories of engine explosions...

Millions of Generators, Transformers, mills, pumps etc around the world, for decades run for years on end, endlessly just getting the fuel tanks filled.

Nice lubricating oily fuels. oils that suit the usage and design, or often just any old cr4p. 

Tractors, lorries, heavy plant etc etc, Very Low temperatures for many..

 

Cars we are talking here, they will run for hours ticking over. Taxi drivers specialis in this, and many of them in the UK will be Skodas,

doing little good though and in some cars it will take a long time until the thermostat opens at something above 82*oC

coolant, depending on the thermostat, but driving will get that happening loads quicker than sitting ticking over stationary..

So if your heater gets heat quickly or not, it all depends really.

 

It comes down to please yourself.

 

george

It is fine!

Internet scaremongering again!

Its not a ferrari its a skoda ffs

My method is a bottle of luke warm water (hot tap)

Throw it on!

Find a small hole you can see out of (or open drivers window and stick your head out like a dog for a good view)

Then drive

Simples

I always (as long as vision is not impaired) warm my car up on the road.  It warms up a lot quicker this way, and I presume more efficiently too.

Oil is the life blood of the engine - and the turbo.

 

It prevents metal to metal contact. It's a lubricant

 

Leaving a cold engine to idle on the driveway isn't going to kill it within a week.

 

The oil pump will circulate the oil around the engine, but if the oil is old and cold (i.e. thicker) the pump has a tougher time getting oil to the engines extremities.

 

Any lasting damage will rear it's ugly head much later in the cars life.

 

Leaving the car ticking over is nothing compared to the donuts who rev their engines hard straight off the driveway.

Leaving the car ticking over is nothing compared to the donuts who rev their engines hard straight off the driveway.

Thats me

im no mechanic or expert but I do warm up my cars up to the max of 10 mins usually 5, always have everything off, even radio. its just a routine i got into when i first started drive 6ish years ago. but i have read that excessive warming up is no good, my ibiza pd130 fr never had long to warm up but i use to be quick with the scraper/de icer lol

Diesels won't get warm if they are just sat on tickover on the drive so it is a pointless exercise if you are doing that in the hope that the car will be warm when you return to it 15 minutes later - they need to be driven under some sort of load to warm (my old works Transit and my Discovery used to actually lose heat and go cold if left at tickover for any length of time).

 

Car engines are designed to be driven, not to be left at tickover for hours on end. Plant machinery, generators etc are designed differently but these are all used under some kind of load. That said, leaving your engine ticking over for a few minutes is not going to harm it - it's no worse than many traffic jams or motorway hold-ups these days, and our job cars spend hours at tickover at scenes etc.

 

I usually start the engine on mine, turn on the blowers & heated rear screen than start the job of defrosting all the windows before getting in and (providing the inside is not too wet through condensation) driving off. 

 

 

With regards to the offence of "quitting" - this applies when you leave a vehicle unattended on a road/public place with the engine still running. Personally, even with gates fitted, unless the whole house & garden it is like Fort Knox, I would not be leaving my car unattended with the keys in it/engine running as it takes literally seconds to be in and away - before your mind has even worked out what the strange noise of the car driving through your gates was. 

During one winter month last winter the West Midlands police area averaged 3 cars per day stolen when left with engine running.

 

I never leave my car with the keys in the ignition and unattended in the drive.

I just spray de icer on the windows and rag the crap out of the car till it gets warm, if anything goes wrong then that is what the warranty is for!!!!! I get a new one every two years so it won't be me with the problems. Second hand 535 touring anyone?

10 mins may be a tad too long but tbh its better then firing it up and running off straight away. I normally used to let mine idle for around 2-3 minutes while getting the scraper on to the windscreen.

 

The only reason the Skoda manual saying not to let it idle is down to environmental issues. 

 

I never leave it though and if i do plan to leave it for a minute ill lock it with the spare key

If it's an issue and you park it on a drive, then an electric block heater is your friend.

 

Warm oil and warm air, so the engine wears less, burns less fuel and also can demist quickly.

The fuel saved in the warm up period will just about cover the electric cost, although it's not really about that.

I don't bother. I open the garage door and drive out. 

 

electric over night no more than the fuel you are wasting waiting for a diesel to get the coolant hot and the cars heater defrosting.

 

And you don't even need to have it plugged in over night,. just have the heater in the car, the lead to your house and they heater turned on but not plugged into the house socket, then in the morning half an hour before you want to set off plug the lead into the socket and the heater will start. And there you go, warm car and no ice. Might take more than half an hour, I've never tried it but it seams a better option than all night.

I defrost Mrs grrs Fiat on those mornings necessary while she eats

her breakfast. But hers is a petrol car so it does get warm quite quickly.

I do however lock it with the main key while it's running on the drive and only

use the spare in the car.I also watch it from the kitchen window while it's running.

Outofthi5World,

if you do not know when you are going to be up & out & off during the night,

you just put it on when parking up.

 

Greenhouse heater/fan, thermostatically controlled at what you set it at, so if its just keeping the interior above freezing its hardly ever coming on or off,

& if its well below freezing its still hardly coming on or off that much.

When its hoar frost type weather its really useful.

 

Night time is not their only usefulness,

daytime temperatures often never rise above freezing if a car is parked up.

 

george

My Yeti would cool gown if left idling.

My Freelander diesel is no different.

What you need OP is a fuel burner heater. With remote control.

Turn it on. It heats the coolant so when you get in the car it is nice and warm. Problem is the cost of fitting.

I have a Freelander and many of them have one fitted. Unfortunately mine doesn't. But I understand I can retrofit one, which is something I am looking to do in the future. Just buy the parts s/h.

Now that we have got rid of carbs, there is no real need to idle for periods when cold - there is no risk of carb-icing.

 

Oil will get around the engine very quickly once started - so there won't be a lack of lube if left idling (oil pump is designed to ensure that the required volume of oil gets everywhere in the engine at idle).  Modern oils (semi-synths, especially fully synths) won't have much of an issue getting around the entire system in 2-3 seconds, with the oil boundary left from the last run coating everything prior to that.  There is the issue of the higher fuelling during the warm up period causing more bore-wash, which will degrade the protection of the oil.  But again, modern oild deal with this a lot better than 20/50's of old (Dino oil)...

 

The real issue is the extended warm up uses fuel that does not give anything back.  It also takes far longer for the cat to light-off and control emissions.

 

As has been said, engines are designed to run at load and the warm-up period will be much shorter if you just get in and drive the thing.  Obviously you don't want to be bouncing off of the rev-limiter during this period.....

 

Leaving it to idle for 2-3 mins whilst you scrape off ice is fine - but 5-10-15 minutes sitting there is not really required (and it's not good for the wallet or environment).

 

I personally get in and drive when safe to do so - so within 5-10 seconds if no ice to deal with. 

Cheap (£10) electric fan heater on parcel shelf, powered with extension lead from garage.

 

5 minutes running clears windscreen and all windows and you have a warm steering wheel into the bargain.

 

Cheaper than de-icer, doesn't re-freeze, doesn't turn drive into ice rink, no insurance issues leaving car running..........

 

Done it for year on both cars.

 

Simples.

 

Mark

In cold countries majority of drivers who keep their cars outside spend some 3-5 min before driving - depending how long it takes to clean away the snow and ice from the car. Probably it is too difficult to scientifically measure how this affect engine in very long term.

 

From other hand - starting the car and going straight away when it is below -25C or - you can feel that all systems are struggling. So at those temperatures I still spend 1-2 min at idle even if car is clean, keeping clutch pedal pressed - and move the shift stick a bit, also move a steering wheel, just to get all the systems warm a bit. 

I always fire it up, and then de-ice the windows with the blower on full blast at the windscreen to clear that, and heated rear window and mirrors on. If it's bin day and my housemates have been too lazy to sort it then I'll do that quickly before I set off too.  The time I set out there's never anyone else around and I'd see anyone that was trying to nick the car.

Waste of time trying to get heater to clear screen on a diesel on idle. Better to clear screen with spray/hot water and drive off. Ten inutes down the road, the heaterwil be hot enough to get any thing off.

It depends on a car. Many of modern diesel cars have additional heaters which helps to heat coolant after engine is started. I have two cars to clean in the morning, one petrol second is diesel with additional heater - and they both warm up at the same pace. 

 

Waste of time trying to get heater to clear screen on a diesel on idle. Better to clear screen with spray/hot water and drive off. Ten inutes down the road, the heaterwil be hot enough to get any thing off.

It depends on a car. Many of modern diesel cars have additional heaters which helps to heat coolant after engine is started. I have two cars to clean in the morning, one petrol second is diesel with additional heater - and they both warm up at the same pace.

My dad's Audi has one and it makes a noticeable difference.

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