Dear Motor Medics, I heard you guys on a recent show discussing vehicle warm-up times and heard you say it was not necessary to warm up a fuel-injected vehicle. I thought that all vehicles should be warmed up to get the oil flowing at least a little bit. If this is so, how long is a good warm-up time? Brandon in Dayton, Ohio
Dear Brandon, There was more to what we were talking about that you must have missed. While we said that the fuel-injected vehicles manufactured in the past few years could be driven right away due to better parts and efficient injection systems, we still recommend some warm up time.
We have heard some people even say just start them up and drive them to warm them up faster, although we don’t agree with that.
There has to be a proper medium between running a vehicle too long to warm it up which wastes fuel and taking off so soon that the defroster won’t even keep a windshield clear posing a safety hazard.
The owner’s manual will provide a good reference for warm-ups. For us personally we tend to err on the longer side of warm-up times.
We like to make sure everything is lubricated and working as it should. It also gives us a chance to do some important things like adjust those mirrors, fasten our seat belts and, most importantly, turn off our cell phones for safety.
Take care, The Motor Medics
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.