Stop Warming Up Your Mustang!
Save Your Mustang’s Engine by Doing the Complete Opposite of What You’ve Been Taught
Say what! I know what you’re thinking. You’ve always been told to idle your engine to warm it up. Especially if its cold outside. I mean, it makes sense. After all, driving a cold engine could cause additional wear and tear, since the block and its fluids aren’t up to operating temperatures.
Or so you’ve been told. Perhaps by the family’s mechanic, by your dad, by a car magazine you once read when you were 16. On and on and on. But, what’s the reasoning or the logic behind idling your car to warm it up? Well, the guys from Engineering Explained have put together a three minute video about why you shouldn’t idle your car to warm it up.
CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About Warming up Their Mustangs
In reality, idling your Mustang to warm it up isn’t a bad thing. It has to do with how long you idle it that could actually do the damage. The video tells us that doing so for more than a couple of minutes could cause harm, due to excess fuel reaching the cylinder walls. When fuel mixes with the lubrication in the cylinder, it erodes it, and can cause additional friction. You and I know, friction is not your Mustang’s friend.
According to Engineering Explained, this used to be a real need back when carburetor engines truly needed to be warmed up. Nowadays, modern fuel injection systems do all the gas and air mixing automatically, and temperatures don’t rise much, if any, by idling an engine.
What do you think? The real truth, or all lies?