To Idle or Not To Idle

[stingman123 0]

Afternoon All,

 

this has been bugging me for a while now, with the cold winter snap we had/are having I generally let my VR6 warm up for @10 mins before setting off. I've heard conflicting reports that this can damage bearing's etc and is not generally recommended. However the car is freezing in the morning and by running the motor for the first 10 mins, it allows everything to free up a bit as well as me switching on my car & seat heating.

 

What do you all think, idle or not? :?:

[Supercharged 2]

Absolutely fine...

[iow_corrado_g60 0]

i agree i always do it with the g! unless im stupidly late then just yake it alot easier

[dr_mat 0]

Well. Two sides to every argument. The environmental impact is the biggest issue. The engine is running incredibly rich during this time, pumping fumes out the back and you are getting ZERO work done for the sake of burning all that fuel and poisoning yourself and the neighbours. No doubt we will get the usual responses about "I like paying for fuel just to heat the car up so I get a sweaty crack", but if you consider your actions in perspective, it's a little selfish.

 

Not only this, but the engine tends to clatter more at idle than at 2-3k rpm when extremely cold, and even to my uneducated ear, more clattering = more metal hitting metal = more wear. Whether it's significant or not I don't know.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The engine runs VERY rich for only a very short time, less than 30 seconds and then it gradually leans off during the 2 minute lambda warm up time, then once the lambda kicks in, your beloved Alpine forests and Spring Lambs are free of toxic fumes again.

 

How many cat less, carb fuelled, non lambda Cortinas and Sierras do you see around these days compared with ultra clean modern cars? A few of those (and rickety old buses and trains for that matter) pump more cack into the atmosphere than 10,000 56 plate 1.4 Astras combined! *

 

As for waiting 10 mins. Can't see the point. Just get in it and drive and use the petrol for forward motion instead of warming the drive as Mat says! VW ensured their engines work in almost all conditions, so nothing Britain can throw at them, temp wise, will ever harm them.

 

* Slight exaggo but you get the drift :-)

[timmaaah 0]

A few of those (and rickety old buses and trains for that matter) pump more cack into the atmosphere than 10,000 56 plate 1.4 Astras combined! *

LOL :D

 

Naaah - I like it nice and warm as well, but the main reason is to de-mist the screen for me.

[Dutch24V 0]

I always let her idle for a couple of minutes before driving too.

 

If you heard my engine when she's started after a good nights sleep you'll understand why!!

 

After a minute or so she's totally smooth and silent again though and ready to join the motorway 8)

 

 

Dutch

[StuartFZR400 0]

I just drive off to work; it'd be a waste of fuel and Im sure the car is designed to work from cold. It only sits there if Im scraping ice off the windows, as yesterday.

 

Im just glad I now live in a town; before I lived right near a 60mph, and I'd crawl up to speed. Even now I pootle along upto my 30 and Mrs-X gives me jipp as she burries her foot to the floor in her 206/Saxo/Megan/box. Everything on the C feels slow and cold at start off, the gear change is stiff, so I just take is easy; it soon warms up and everything flows nicely by the time I get to the duel-carriageway/M6. The C seems to start warming after 5mins and is fully warm after 15mins. However, Im sure driving must put more pressure on the moving parts than at idle?