Do you warm your car up before driving?

We’ve been seeing some frigid temperatures each morning and of course, no one wants to get into a cold car, but starting it up and letting it idle may not be the best idea.

According to Popular Mechanics, starting your vehicle in the cold and letting it idle may actually be damaging your engine.

Internal combustion engines use pistons to compress a mixture of air and vaporized fuel within a cylinder. That mixture is then ignited to create a little controlled explosion that powers your engine.

When its cold, the gasoline is less likely to evaporate and create the correct ratio of air and vaporized fuel. In vehicles with electronic fuel injection, the sensors will compensate for the cold by pumping more gasoline into the mixture, making the engine run “rich” until it heats up to about 40 degrees.

This creates a problem as the extra fuel can get into the cylinder walls, and gasoline is an outstanding solvent. In other words, the gas can actually wash the oil off the walls of the cylinders if you let it idle for a long period of time.

Piston rings and cylinder liners lives are significantly reduced, not to mention the extra fuel you’re wasting letting the car idle.

Driving your car is the fastest way to warm the engine up and get warm air moving within the vehicle. Its best to start the car, take a minute to scrape the windows, then get in and get going.

We all grew up with our parents going out and warming up the car, but that was in the era of carbureted engines. There hasn’t been a carbureted engine for about 30 years.

Now, unless you’re cruising around in a 1970’s Chevelle, do your engine a favor and don’t leave it idling for 20 minutes before heading off to work.