Schools are closed. Mail is not being delivered. Wind chills in the negative teens. So, if I'm driving somewhere, how long do I need to wait  or warm up my car before I leave?

Now back in the day of carburetor engines, yes...you had to warm up your car and let it run for a bit.

With today's fuel injector engines, that's not necessarily the case. And folks will still scream and shout you need to start the car and let it warm up before you pull off.

Truth be told most experts dispute that. They say start the car up, clean the snow off your ride, make sure you can see out the windows (a good proper scraping mind you not just an ice hole for you to look out of), and by the time you're done with that you can get in your car and drive off. Driving the car will be more effective to help it warm the engine up quicker. Now, they also say not to put too much pressure on the engine when you get started. Don't ride it too hard. And if you have to get on the highway immediately or go uphill, you might want to let it warm up a bit.

Driving your car is the fastest way to warm the engine up to 40 degrees so it switches back to a normal fuel to air ratio. The best thing to do is start the car, take a minute to knock the ice off your windows, and get going. (Popular Mechanics)

But the myth so to speak of having to warm up the car before you take off is not true. Back in the day it was necessary, but not now.

And if you need a more in depth, technical explanation (for you gear heads lol) please watch our video presentation courtesy of Engineering Explained via YouTube.

And the word from Auto Expert John Cadogan. No. You don't have to warm it up.

 

Credit: AutoExpertTV via YouTube

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