A Tip From The Old Bugger

[oldbugger]

With the weather now being sub-zero I would advise anybody warms their engines up for at least a few minutes before driving.

I always fire the car up and let it run for about 5-10 minutes on idle before driving, as I'm doing with the old '91 827SLi at the moment before the wife drops me off at the garage to pick up the 820SLi from the MOT.

[Richard Moss]

However, if the car is stolen whilst doing that your insurance company may refuse to pay out.

[oldbugger]

Indeed, but I love in and lively village where the chance of that happening is slim.

[metelmickey]

same here, go outside ( 05.15 ) start car leave for 10mins to de-ice, heater on hot ( engines cold so warms up slowly ) set on screen and feet, turn on rear demister, go inside for morning cuppa then set off to work in warm mist free car.

[Nuts4my827]

When you have 2 keys for your car, you can lock it, and leave it running

[Very Tall Brad]

Sorry, but I have a heated and double skinned, insulated 9 car garage on remote control. Hasn't everyone?

[thamestyres]

i have a twenty car workshop but unfortunately or fortunately depending on your thoughts, i only work there and don't live there. generally start the car up and off we go.. regards ricky

[oldbugger]

Sorry, but I have a heated and double skinned, insulated 9 car garage on remote control. Hasn't everyone?

Of course Brad, I'm in the middle of getting a new 100" Plasma television fitted in mine though, needed to take all the cars out to get it through!!

[Richard Moss]

When you have 2 keys for your car, you can lock it, and leave it running

That's what I did.

Sorry, but I have a heated and double skinned, insulated 9 car garage on remote control. Hasn't everyone?

Smug git

[Kyle]

When you have 2 keys for your car, you can lock it, and leave it running

That's what I did.

One smashed window later..and the car is gone though? Possibly need to use a steering lock in combination?

[oldbugger]

If you want to make sure nothing will happen, simply stay outside whilst it warms up.

If you're a smoker, have a cigarette and by the time you're finished it'll be warmed up. If not... Water the hanging baskets?

[DLR]

I don't have a choice in the matter when it comes to letting the car warm up - I work nights and my commutes are at 9pm at night and 6am in the morning (not famed for being the warmest parts of the day at ANY time of the year, let alone winter). Not only do I need to let it warm up because it 'chugs' when cold (barely driveable for the first few minutes, unless you like life at higher revs and lower gears for the journey ) but it ices up on the inside a little, too. I refuse to scrape the INSIDE as well as the outside, so I wait until it melts.

It's fun working in P.I. - the most interesting part of the day is the drive to and from work!

[NONOTE]

I thought the engine warming up thing went out of favour sometime in the 70's when the advice I was given as a learner was to drive off gently as soon as you started the engine (having scraped and deiced the windows). Theory was that this warmed the engine quicker than idling thus preventing wear and also saved fuel. Can't see how that should change with a modern car.
Should we have a poll?
As for Brad's garage, pah! I had one as a kid that had a lift to the top floor with a ramp to go down again and it could easily hold all my Dinky and Corgi toys!

Steve

[Alucard7002]

With the weather now being sub-zero I would advise anybody warms their engines up for at least a few minutes before driving.

I always fire the car up and let it run for about 5-10 minutes on idle before driving, as I'm doing with the old '91 827SLi at the moment before the wife drops me off at the garage to pick up the 820SLi from the MOT.

I've always done the following

Unlock, start up, scrape ice off ALL the windows (number of people I see that only scrape the windscreen or worse just a hole to peek through! ) get in, belt on, brain in gear, radio tuned to something that isn't Radio 1, go.

By the time I get in and pull away she switches onto LPG immediately, even in -7 degree weather we had up here last week. Usually just off the bottom of the temp gauge stop.

Never had a problem with cold starting, only thing is the PAS pump makes a brief noise in cold weather, as I'm fairly sure the steering rack is buggered (well I know it's leaking and feels a bit graunchy - got a new one ready to fit next week)

The only thing I've found in cold weather is it takes about 6 miles to warm up on the gauge to operating temperature.
The biggest problem is the old style block with HUGE waterways and almost 10l of coolant (someone correct me if I'm wrong, I think rave quotes 9.4l coolant capacity for the 820) combine that with a gigantic radiator and it's no wonder the poor thing takes forever to warm up. In the past on the old car I used a big chunk of thick cardboard as a radiator muff, left the top 4" or so exposed and covered the rest, seemed to help alot.

Also everyone with A/C turn it off/onto ECON mode otherwise it runs the cooling fans to keep the condenser cool, thus pulls air through the radiator as well making it warm up MUCH more slowly.

But at 65p/l I'm not complaining about putting on an extra layer to let her warm up and switch over onto LPG!

My mate's celica 1.8l 4 pot all alloy engine with about 5l of coolant takes about 4 miles to get fully hot on the gauge and "feels" warm after 8 (pulls better at 7k).

[Richard Moss]

I thought the engine warming up thing went out of favour sometime in the 70's when the advice I was given as a learner was to drive off gently as soon as you started the engine (having scraped and deiced the windows). Theory was that this warmed the engine quicker than idling thus preventing wear and also saved fuel. Can't see how that should change with a modern car.

The car does need to be warm enough to run the demister, though