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Thanks for sharing Nelson, never seen this before 
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Wanted to share an inside look at perhaps the coolest car factory in the world: Koenigsegg

Home of the 19 inch 5.9kg (13lb) cf wheel 

 
I just read that we need to stop idling the car in cold weather (to warm it up) when it's cold out

Harsh driving conditions in winter are already hard on your car, but you could be making things a lot worse if you’re turning your vehicle on in the morning so it can “warm up” before you drive off.

If you’re one of the many drivers who thinks it’s important to idle your car — turn it on and let it sit — in these frigid winter months to protect the engine, you’ve likely fallen victim to a myth that may be doing more harm than good.

We spoke with mechanical engineer and former drag-racer Stephen Ciatti about the pervasive myth that you need to warm up your car in the winter.

For the last 26 years, Ciatti has worked on combustion engines — engines that generate power from burning fuel, like gasoline — and currently oversees all of the combustion engine work at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

To get straight to the point, Ciatti said that idling your car in the cold not only wastes fuel, but it’s also stripping oil from critical components that help your engine run, namely the cylinders and pistons.

How it works

Under normal conditions, your car engine runs on a mixture of air and vaporized fuel, gasoline in this case. When that mixture enters a cylinder, a piston compresses it, which — at the risk of oversimplifying — generates a combustion event, powering the engine.

But when it’s cold outside, gasoline is less likely to evaporate. Your car compensates for this initially by adding more gasoline to the air-vapor mixture — what Ciatti calls running “rich” — and that’s where the problem begins. Here’s an animation that shows how pistons drive the cylinders in your car to generate a combustion event:


“That’s a problem because you’re actually putting extra fuel into the combustion chamber to make it burn and some of it can get onto the cylinder walls,” Ciatti said. “Gasoline is an outstanding solvent and it can actually wash oil off the walls if you run it in those cold idle conditions for an extended period of time.”

Over time, that washing action can “have a detrimental effect on the lubrication and life of things like piston rings and cylinder liners,” which are critical to running the cylinders and pistons that breathe life into your engine, Ciatti said.

The bottom line: Contrary to popular belief, idling your car does not prolong the life of your engine, rather it shortens it.

A simple solution


(REUTERS/Arben Celi)

Thankfully, your car doesn’t run rich the entire winter. It only happens when the gasoline is cold. Once your engine warms up to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the car transfers to normal fuel consumption rates.

So you might think by idling your car, you’re warming it up, which will prevent this problem. But don’t confuse warm air coming from your car’s radiator with a warm engine. Idling is, in fact, the root of the problem.

“Idling isn’t really getting the engine up to temperature, and until that happens the little brain box on the engine is going to keep sending rich fuel mixture to the cylinders so that it can ensure that enough is evaporated for a consistent combustion event.”

The fastest way to warm your engine up is to use it, aka drive!

Some might tell you that the power steering fluid — the oil that pushes on pumps enabling you to control the car’s wheels — might be too cold to flow properly. To that, Ciatti said no way.

“You will get the oil warmer, faster so that it’s flowing exactly the way it’s intended if you drive the car lightly reasonably quickly [after turning it on], within say 30 seconds to a minute,” Ciatti said. “The power steering pump is certainly going to groan a little bit … but idling the car for five minutes isn’t doing a thing for the power steering fluid. Nothing. You’re not making the power steering fluid do anything because you’re not steering and moving the pump.”

In the time it takes you to scrape the snow and ice off of your windows, your car will be ready to go.

Don’t gun it


( REUTERS/Darren Staples)
Be gentle with the gas pedal at first. It takes time for your engine to warm up once you step on the gas — between five to 15 minutes depending on driving conditions — and you’ll put unnecessary stress on it if you go racing down the road immediately after turning your car on.

Moreover, because your car is going to run a bit rich before the engine reaches 40 degrees Fahrenheit, you’re going to get lower gas mileage than usual.

In fact, your car will be at least 12% less efficient at burning fuel when it’s cold, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department.

If you put your pedal to the metal straight out of the driveway, you’re just wasting gas, MIT mechanical engineer John Heywood told Business Insider.

“[Idling] does of course use fuel, and the bigger the engine, the more fuel,” he said.

Roots of the myth


(RM Sotheby’s)
Some myths die hard, and the notion that you need to idle your car in the cold is no exception. The basis for this thinking extends to an age when car engines relied on carburetors.

Before 1980, carburetors were the heart that kept car engines pumping.

From the 1980s onward, however, electronic fuel injection took over and is still what powers today’s car engines.

The key difference is that electronic fuel injection comes with a sensor that feeds the cylinders the right air-fuel mixture to generate a combustion event. Carburetor-run cars lacked this important sensor.

Therefore, if your gasoline was too cold, your car wouldn’t run rich, it would simply stall out. In those days, it was important to get the carburetor warm before driving. But those frustrating times met their end long ago, and so too should pointless idling.

Yes, you’re going to be cold during the first few minutes it takes your radiator to warm up and start blowing air that feels comfortable. But you’ll be saving yourself fuel as well as a lot of time and money.

Thoughts? I don't really understand most of the stuff that was said in this article, tbh lol
 
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I just read that we need to stop idling the car in cold weather (to warm it up) when it's cold out
Thoughts? I don't really understand most of the stuff that was said in this article, tbh lol
Yea, we talked about this like 20 pages ago. Its best to just drive it, thats how it warms up. Idling your a car is for those that are like 20 yrs old lol. Just be easy on it, don't rev too high until its warm. For a WRX, I don't rev past 4k rpms until the oil is in the 180's.
 
I don't know fam new engine cost a lot of money. And I hate driving on a cold sluggish engine so that shmuck can miss me with all that I'll continue 5-7 min idling
 
Yeah letting your car warm up for 5-10 minutes in freezing temperatures is not going to do it any harm.

I dont rev past 3.5k until the oil temp is 200.
 
Well I'll say this much

When metal gets cold it shrinks a bit

If that's the case starting your car up and driving it off the bat will result in a little bit of engine blow by because the Pistons and rings will be a bit smaller than they'd be at operating temp

I don't let it run for more than ten but just enough to get it somewhat warm
 
Unfortunately, there are still lots of drivers on the road who either grew up with carbs, or were taught how to drive by people who grew up with carbs, thus the myth persists that you should idle your car for 10min before driving. The engine is happiest (most efficient, least emissions) when it's up to it's normal operating temperature range. Idling an engine puts basically no load on it, so it takes longer to get up to normal temperature. Putting a light load on the engine (read: driving the car with light to moderate acceleration and RPMs) will get the engine to its happy place much, much faster.
 
Even a stickshift car? Feel like the engine isnt as smooth if I dont warm up for a few minutes, and the shifting is kinda meh. Maybe a mental thing?
 
1-3 minutes of idling is more than enough. Then light driving until warm.

Your engine is not the only thing that needs to get properly warmed up and be at optimal performing ranges.
Yup, plus Im sure more than few of us have a couple of lights to hit on our commute or before you hit the highway, more than enough idling time to warm up at the lights lol.
 
yeah driving it cold makes it feel sluggish but it does warm up pretty quick
 
Just get a block heater if you live in some ****** part of the country that gets below freezing 
 
Warm up time when i get in the Civic in the morning is basically however long it takes me to put it in Reverse. 
 
 
Keyword IMO. The sound an 8th gen SI makes with a skunk2 MP RR exhaust and alpha header 
Na man. Depends what your set up is. Invidia Q300 and alpha header sounds pretty clean.

Best sounding civic I heard was at a car meet a few years back. Mugen exhaust and I believe the kid had a custom header made. Sounded just like this. Ofcourse as we all know vids don't do car sound justice

 
Is purchasing an 08 M3 with 80k the same as buying an 08 M5 with 80k? I found the latter for $18k and it has me interested.
 
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