Hey all,
I am wondering what you all think about how long I should let my car warm up before I take it to work in the morning? I only drive about a mile to two and I know that it isn't good for the engine to run for such short periods of time, so my thoughts/questions are if it is better for the engine to not even warm up, or to run it for a few minutes before I leave. I have a remote start and it is in an open carport (lame base housing), so I can start it and run it for a bit before I start driving it.
Let me know what you all think.
Thanks!

 

Short commutes are not good for it that is for sure. I think you are doing the best you can by letting it warm a little. When you get a chance got out on the road and drive for about 15-20 minutes. The main concern here is not really engine wear, but moisture accumulating in the oil. Driving and getting the car to operating temperature for a while gets rid of that. I am in about the same situation as you. I live 5.2 miles from my house to the plant I work at.

 

Thanks for the reply! I usually take it out on the weekends to town, 15 miles round trip usually, there is a stretch up to 60, or a different route up to 70, and I usually take one there and the other back . I have a JLT oil separator installed too so I hope that helps.

 

You live in Texas. TEXAS! It never gets cold, ever. Didn't you enjoy all the 88degree F weather last week? ROFL!

I'm just kidding. It's dropped to freezing the past 2 nights.
But for your GT, you do not have to worry about a long warm-up, especially if your engine & tranny are fully broken in.
If you are still under 3000 miles on the odo, warming up your engine for 15min before driving will not hurt it.

But if your engine & tranny are fully broken in, say above 5000 miles on the odo, you can just hop in and drive it. Don't gun it though, even on a fully broken in engine. Just drive it easy and normally until your temps are about halfway to normal operating temps.

If you are in Ft Hood (Army) or in Lackland/Kelly AFB, Loughlin AFB (Air Force), you should be far enough south and your temps should be just above freezing, so no special block heating or warm-up needed.

But if you are further north, like Shepherd AFB (Air Force), your temps might well be in the 20's or lower. You should warm your car up before driving it.
If you are in Amarillo, you might get sub-zero temps. I am not sure if such temps require an engine block heater; I never owned a car in that kind of weather.

 

An oil seperator should be 1st on everyone's list with a 5.0. Sounds like Texas weather is like Alabama weather. You know you live in Alabama if you have used your heater & A/C on the same day.

 

I don't have the same situation, but even up here in Illinois, when i have a relatively short drive, I just let the car idle after start-up, allow the rpms to drop to around 1k, and then I consider things good to go. I've never experienced anything bad, and honestly these cars get to full operating temperature pretty quickly.

 

It has gotten below freezing here at Laughlin for the past few days, and I have 3500 miles on the car, so I have let it warm up at least five minutes every day so far since it has been cold and the heater has blown warm air before I got to work. Thanks for the responses.


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Agreed. Once the RPM's come down after startup, you are good to go. Just wait until full temp before driving it hard.

 

I do the same thing.

 

2 minutes should be plenty to get the oil circulating in all it's nooks and crannies, another 3 minute normal drive before any "beatings" would be ideal. Very tight tolerances in the Ford modular & coyote engines.